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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/6671.txt b/6671.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3ab5e5c --- /dev/null +++ b/6671.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10292 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Life of Edward Earl of Clarendon V2, by Henry Craik + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Life of Edward Earl of Clarendon V2 + +Author: Henry Craik + +Release Date: October, 2004 [EBook #6671] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on January 12, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII, with some ISO-8859-1 characters + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EARL OF CLARENDON V2 *** + + + + +Produced by Anne Soulard, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + +THE LIFE OF EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON +LORD HIGH CHANCELLOR OF ENGLAND +VOLUME II + +BY +SIR HENRY CRAIK, K.C.B., LL.D. + + + + +[Illustration: John Hampden from a miniature by Samuel Cooper in the +possession of Earl Spencer] + + + + +CONTENTS OF VOLUME II + +CHAPTER + +XIV. THE RESTORATION + +XV. PROSPECT FOR THE RESTORED MONARCHY + +XVI. DIFFICULTIES TO BE MET + +XVII. SCOTTISH ADMINISTRATION + +XVIII. THE PROBLEMS OF IRELAND + +XIX. MARRIAGE TREATY AND RELIGIOUS SETTLEMENT + +XX. DOMESTIC DISSENSION AND FOREIGN COMPLICATIONS + +XXI. THE DUTCH WAR + +XXII. ADMINISTRATIVE FRICTION + +XXIII. DECAY OF CLARENDON'S INFLUENCE + +XXIV. INCREASING BITTERNESS OF HIS FOES + +XXV. THE TRIUMPH OF FACTION + + INDEX + + + + +LIST OF PORTRAITS + +VOLUME II + + +JOHN HAMPDEN +_From a miniature by Samuel Cooper, in the possession of Earl Spencer_ + +GEORGE MONK, DUKE OF ALBEMARLE +_From the original by Sir Peter Lely, in the National Portrait Gallery_ + +GENERAL LAMBERT +_From the original by R. Walker, in the National Portrait Gallery_ + +SIR HENRY VANE, THE YOUNGER +_From the original by William Dobson, in the National Portrait Gallery_ + +JOHN MAITLAND, DUKE OF LAUDERDALE +_From the original by Sir Peter Lely, in the National Portrait Gallery_ + +GEORGE DIGBY, SECOND EARL OF BRISTOL +_From the original by Sir Anthony Vandyke, in the Collection of Earl +Spencer_ + +SIR EDWARD NICHOLAS +_From the original by Sir Peter Lely, in the National Portrait Gallery_ + +ANNE HYDE, DUCHESS OF YORK +_From the original by Sir Peter Lely_ + +JAMES BUTLER, DUKE OF ORMONDE +_From the original by Sir Godfrey Kneller_ + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE RESTORATION + + +After the death of Cromwell, on September 3rd, 1658, there ensued for the +exiled Court twenty months of constant alternation between hope and +despair, in which the gloom greatly preponderated. As the chief pilot of +the Royalist ship, Hyde, now titular Lord Chancellor, had to steer his way +through tides that were constantly shifting, and with scanty gleam of +success to light him on the way. Within the little circle of the Court he +was assailed by constant jealousy, none the less irksome because it was +contemptible. The policy of Charles, so far as he had any policy apart +from Hyde, varied between the encouragement of friendly overtures from +supporters of different complexions at home, and a somewhat damaging +cultivation of foreign alliances, which were delusive in their proffered +help, and might involve dangerous compliance with religious tenets +abhorred in England. The friends in England were jealous and suspicious of +one another, and their loyalty varied in its strength, and was marked by +very wide difference in its ultimate objects. It would have been hard in +any case to discern the true position amidst the complicated maze of +political parties in England; it was doubly hard for one who had been an +exile for a dozen years. To choose between different courses was puzzling. +Inaction was apt to breed apathy; but immature action would only lead to +further persecution of the loyalists, and to disaster to the most gallant +defenders of the rights of the King. With the true instinct of a +statesman, Hyde saw that the waiting policy was best; but it was precisely +the policy that gave most colour to insinuations of his want of zeal. In +spite of his exile, he understood the temper of the nation better than any +of the paltry intriguers round him; to study that temper was not a process +that commended itself to their impatient ambitions. His pen was unresting: +in preparing pamphlets, in writing under various disguises, in carrying on +endless correspondence, in drafting constant declarations. But all such +work met with little acknowledgment from those who thought that their own +intrigues were more likely to benefit the King, and, above all, to advance +themselves. They recked nothing of that sound traditional frame of +government which it was the aim of Hyde religiously to conserve. Few +statesmen have had a task more hard, more thankless, and more hopeless +than that which fell to him during these troubled months. + +Hyde was saved from despair only by the intense dramatic instinct of the +historian that was implanted in him. He could, or--what came to the same +thing--he believed that he could, discern the greater issues of the time, +and what interested him above all was the vast influence upon those issues +of personal forces. When he recalled the events of his time, in the +enforced leisure of later years, it was to the action of great +personalities that he gave his chief attention, and the passing incidents +grouped themselves in his memory as mere accessories to the play of +individual character. All through his history it is this which chiefly +attracts us, and nowhere is it more striking than when he records the +passing of the greatest personal force of the age in Cromwell. It did not +occur to Hyde--and, to their credit be it said, it did not occur to any +even of the more friendly spectators on the other side--to regard Cromwell +as the embodiment of a mighty purifying force in which defects were to be +ignored or even justified on account of the heaven-inspired dictates under +which he was presumed to have acted. Just as little could Hyde conceive of +Cromwell as the great precursor of modern ideas, demanding the obedient +homage of every ardent partisan of popular rights. These were +eccentricities reserved for later historians under impulses of later +origin. Hyde was compelled by all his strongest traditions and most +cherished principles to regard Cromwell's work as utterly destructive, and +he never pretended to have anything but the bitterest prejudice against +him. To his mind, Cromwell was sent as a punishment from Heaven for +national defection, and he never concealed his hatred for Cromwell's +profound dissimulation or his abhorrence for the tyranny which the +Protector succeeded in imposing on the nation. To have assumed an +impartial attitude would only have been, to Hyde, an effort of +insincerity. It is precisely this which gives its weight to the measured +estimate which Hyde forms of his stupendous powers. His appreciation of +Cromwell is a pendant to that which he gives of Charles I. The latter is +inspired with a clear flame of loyalty; but this does not blind him to the +defects of the master for whom he had such a sincere regard. His deadly +hatred of Cromwell leaves him equally clear-sighted as to the Protector's +supreme ability. + +"He was one of those men whom his very enemies could not condemn without +commending him at the same time; for he could never have done half that +mischief without great parts of courage, industry, and judgment." "He +achieved those things in which none but a valiant and great man could have +succeeded." "Wickedness as great as his could never have accomplished +these trophies without the assistance of a great spirit, an admirable +circumspection and sagacity, and a most magnanimous resolution." "When he +was to act the part of a great man, he did it without any indecency, +notwithstanding the want of custom." "He extorted obedience from those who +were not willing to yield it." "In all matters which did not concern the +life of his jurisdiction, he seemed to have great reverence for the law." +"As he proceeded with indignation and haughtiness with those who were +refractory and dared to contend with his greatness, so towards all who +complied with his good pleasure and courted his protection, he used a +wonderful civility, generosity, and bounty." "His greatness at home was +but a shadow of the glory he had abroad." "He was not a man of blood, and +totally declined Machiavel's method." When a massacre of Royalists was +suggested, "Cromwell would never consent to it; it may be out of too much +contempt of his enemies." "In a word, as he had all the wickedness against +which damnation is denounced, and for which hell-fire is prepared, so he +had some virtues which have caused the memory of some men in all ages to +be celebrated; and he will be looked upon by posterity as a brave bad +man." + +These fierce words are inspired by exceeding hatred. But in spite of that, +we can see that Hyde felt himself in the presence of a greatness that +compelled respect. He was himself to exercise, in conformity with law, and +with a profound respect for it, very considerable power for a few years to +come, and was to leave his impress upon a century and a half of English +history. But that influence was only to come after a greater and a more +forceful spirit had passed away, leaving no one fit to wield the same +resistless power. Never has stern denunciation been relieved by a tribute +of more dignified admiration of unquestionable greatness. His warmest +admirers could not place Cromwell on a higher pedestal of acknowledged +grandeur, all untouched by sympathy and all unbending in condemnation +though Hyde's verdict is. + +The same dramatic element is present in Hyde's picture of the scene that +followed. Cromwell's life had closed amidst clouds and thickening trouble. +The Earl of Warwick and his grandson and heir (Cromwell's son-in-law), had +both died. On that side his alliance with the great aristocracy of England +was broken. Another son-in-law, Lord Falconbridge, was alienated from him, +and refused to acquiesce in his later ambitions. Desborough, his brother- +in-law, was at least doubtful in his allegiance; and Fleetwood, a third +son-in-law, was a feeble craven, upon whom no reliance could be placed. +The fear of assassination had haunted him; and the death of Syndercombe in +prison had snatched away from him the chance of making a striking example +of one who had plotted against his life. The death of his daughter, the +wife of Claypole, had sorely tried the tenderness that was mingled with +his stern ambition, and it may be that the story of her grief at the blood +he shed had some foundation, and that the prick of conscience added to his +gloom. At least, it is certain that the sun of his success set in clouds +and darkness, which might portend the crash of the fabric he had raised. + +But Hyde is keenly impressed with the absolute contrast between the +portents and the reality. + +"Never monarch, after he had inherited a crown by many descents, died in +more silence nor with less alteration; and there was the same, or a +greater, calm in the kingdom than had been before." "The dead is interred +in the sepulchre of the Kings, and with the obsequies due to such. His son +inherits all his greatness and all his glory, without that public hate, +that visibly attended the other." "Nothing was heard in England but the +voice of joy." That state might have continued "if this child of fortune +could have sat still." But "the drowsy temper of Richard" was little +fitted to benefit by this apparent acceptance, much as it damped the hopes +of the exiled Court. The engagements already made with Sweden rendered +supplies necessary, and to raise these supplies it was necessary to summon +a Parliament. Cromwell's bold scheme of Parliamentary reform, by which he +had added to the county representatives and diminished those of the +smaller burghs, was departed from, and the burgh representatives were +again increased so as to give to the "Court" better opportunities of +interfering in elections. Parliament met on January 27th, 1658/9, and it +was not long before troublesome disputes again broke out. The votes were +carried by small majorities, and there were so many various parties in the +House that it was never certain when a combination of adverse factions +might outnumber the followers of the "Court." To these followers there was +opposed a strong phalanx of ardent Republicans, and the balance was held +by a nondescript element called the "Neuters," amongst whom there were +some even of Royalist leanings. Hyde was in constant correspondence with +Royalist adherents in England, as to the means by which these different +parties in Parliament might be used to involve the Government of Richard +in trouble, to accentuate such discontent as existed, and, if possible, to +steal an occasional adverse vote. But such schemes had little success. + +Opposition to the Government, however, came from a source more powerful +than a divided Parliament. Lambert had been cashiered by the late +Protector; but he still retained an enormous influence in the army, and +the army had no mind to submit tamely to extinction by Parliament. A +council of the officers met to air their grievances, and Lambert, although +no longer an officer, had a place amongst them. They complained that their +pay was in arrear; that their services were neglected; that "the good old +cause was traduced by malignants"; and that Parliament must be moved to +redress their wrongs. With strange impolicy, Parliament passed a +resolution against any council of officers, and sought to impose its +authority upon a power greater than itself. The ready answer was a demand +for the dissolution of Parliament. Richard Cromwell was allowed no choice +in the matter; if he did not do it, the army, he was told, would do it for +him. He gave an involuntary assent. On April 22nd the dissolution took +place, and Richard found himself virtually deposed. For another year there +was little but anarchy in England, and any semblance of a constitution was +virtually in abeyance. + +As the creature of the army, the old Rump Parliament was restored on May +7th. That was the name given to that section of the Long Parliament which +sat from 1648 (when "Pride's Purge," as it was called, was applied) to +1653, when Cromwell ejected the remaining members and summarily closed the +doors of Parliament. Of 213 members of the Long Parliament only ninety +were thus permitted to sit, and of these only seventy actually did sit. +Those who were not pronounced Republicans were excluded by the rough-and- +ready method of a military guard placed at the door of the House. Such an +assembly could have no respect from the nation, and was clearly only an +instrument by which the Council of the Army might exercise its power. "The +name of the Protector was no longer heard but in derision." [Footnote: +Richard Cromwell submitted himself, with abject and craven weakness, to +the will of this so-called Parliament. Nor did his younger brother, Henry, +the Lieutenant of Ireland, prove to have any larger share of his father's +courage.] But nothing was established to take the place of the authority +thus cast aside. + +Once more, and in even greater degree, the hopes of the Royalists were +cast down. The restoration of the House which had destroyed the monarchy +seemed, in the words of Hyde, "to pull up all the hopes of the King by the +roots." In this despair the Duke of York was ready, at the persuasion of +those about him, to accept from the King of Spain the post of Admiral of +his Fleet. It offered, what there seemed but little likelihood of his +otherwise obtaining, a place of dignity and a means of livelihood. That it +necessarily involved a profession of the Roman Catholic religion was +sufficient to condemn it in the eyes of Hyde, as at once unprincipled and +impolitic. With the Duke's immediate advisers such considerations counted +for nothing. + +Backed by the visible force of the army, of which Lambert, now restored to +his commission, was the virtual leader, the Rump Parliament showed a +temporary vigour. All Cavaliers were banished from London. Monk, who +commanded in Scotland, accepted the Parliament's authority. The fleet gave +in its allegiance, and the relations with foreign powers were for a brief +period renewed under the altered administration. The name of Parliament +sufficed for a time to carry conviction to the people at large that this +was the only means of preserving the Republican institutions which seemed +to embody all that they had fought for. + +But the real popular support to this fantastic substitute for Government +was very small. All over the country discontent was widely spread, and had +penetrated deeply into the hearts of the people. The Royalists, detached +and ill-organized as they were, yet found themselves able to show some +boldness and to appeal more openly for armed support. John Mordaunt, a +brother of the Earl of Mordaunt, was daunted by no difficulties, and was +able without great danger to carry on correspondence with probable +adherents, to pass backwards and forwards between the exiled Court and +England, and to concoct armed risings in various parts of the kingdom. The +King took up his residence _incognito_ at Calais, in readiness to sail for +England and put himself at the head of the levies whose gathering was +confidently hoped for. The Duke of York was close at hand at Boulogne. +To the more cautious counsellors like Hyde the schemes seemed hazardous +and the time unripe for them. But even he could not refuse some response +to affections so warm and efforts so courageous as those of Mordaunt. At +the beginning of August all, it was hoped, would be ready for a series of +successful risings in different parts of the country. + +There was indeed abundance of enthusiasm. From all parts of the country +offers of risings came. Sir George Booth was to seize Chester; Lord +Newport, Shrewsbury; and in Gloucestershire, Devonshire, Herefordshire, +Worcestershire, and North Wales, the Royalists were only too eager for the +work. The ludicrous weakness of the Parliament made it a matter of no +great danger to defy what could hardly be deemed an existing Government. +But the Royalists had been too long depressed and deprived of any share in +administration to take a just measure of the difficulties. They reckoned +without the army that was at the back of Parliament. + +They reckoned also without that treachery which had only too ample +opportunity to work, amidst plans and associates so scattered and so +lamentably disorganized, A traitor was now, as often in these Royalist +plottings, received into their full confidence, and through him a detailed +account of all their plans was sent to Thurloe. [Footnote: John Thurloe +was born in 1616, and became a lawyer. He obtained active employment under +the Parliament, and was Secretary to the Parliamentary Commissioners at +Uxbridge. He acted as Secretary to Cromwell for secret correspondence, and +amassed enormous experience in the intricacies of foreign diplomacy, which +afterwards stood him in good stead when, after the Restoration, he wished +to make himself useful to the new Government, and thus escape the +penalties which his former political attachments would certainly have +involved. Until the Restoration was all but accomplished he gave useful +help to Richard Cromwell, but yet was able to ingratiate himself with the +new Ministers.] Hyde learned that Sir Richard Willis, [Footnote: Sir +Richard Willis had done good service to the royal cause in the war. As a +close adherent of Prince Rupert, he became, when Governor of Newark in +1645, involved in one of the many quarrels between the Civil Commissioners +and the army officers. Charles I. removed him from the Governorship, but +desired to do so without friction by providing him with a post in his own +escort. Willis's insolence in refusing this roused the King's anger so far +as to lead him to banish Willis from his presence. Willis was a good +soldier, rendered mutinous by the bad example of Prince Rupert; but it is +hard to account for his present treachery. As Warburton, in his note on +the _History of the Rebellion_ (Bk. XVI., para. 31) says, "he could +not think of starving for conscience' sake, though he had courage enough +to fight for it."] who had already played a double game of treachery, was +acting as he had acted before, when he betrayed Ormonde's presence in +London to Cromwell, and at the same time enabled Ormonde to escape by +telling him of Cromwell's knowledge. Willis's betrayal gave the +Parliamentary leaders time to collect forces sufficient to meet all +attacks; and when he had thus baulked the attempt, Willis was ready to +discover enough to prevent those whom he had betrayed from falling into +the trap. Messages were sent to delay the rising, and in most cases they +were in time to prevent outbreaks which were fore-doomed to failure. Only +Sir George Booth, in the seizure of Chester, and Middleton, in the North +Wales rising, actually carried out what had been planned. A very brief +campaign sufficed for Lambert to crush the nascent rebellion. Booth and +Lord Derby [Footnote: Son of the Earl who played so noble a part in the +war, and who was executed after the battle of Worcester in 1651.] were +prisoners in the hands of Lambert; and Middleton was compelled to consent +to the destruction of his house, Chirk Castle. Once more a brief gleam of +hope was succeeded by more profound despair, and there was nothing more to +be done by Charles and the Duke of York than to return from the French +coast to Brussels. But there was no Cromwell to crush future attempts by a +policy of ruthless revenge. A few prisoners were taken; but the time was +past for trials and executions. Legal processes were beyond the range of +the sorry faction that stood for administration in England. + +But scarcely had these abortive attempts been crushed before another +avenue of hope opened itself to Charles and his adherents. It was one for +which Hyde had no great liking, and from which he expected little good +result. But obviously it was not to be neglected. After a long, barren, +and destructive war, both France and Spain were eager for peace. Neither +was ready to make the first overtures, and neither would confess an ardent +desire for peace. But an opportunity occurred, now that a wife had to be +found for Louis XIV. The Infanta of Spain offered a consort entirely +suitable, and a marriage might be arranged with the better augury if it +should prove a method of bringing to an end a mutually destructive war. +Mazarin viewed the proposal with suspicion, and was unwilling to conclude +a peace when the success of French arms seemed already secure. But the +Queen-Mother of France ardently desired the marriage, and mainly by her +efforts Cardinal Mazarin and Don Lewis de Haro were induced to treat. Most +men thought that the design was a vain one, fomented only in the +enthusiasm of family ties. But the desire for a cessation of a useless +struggle operated more powerfully than Mazarin was able to perceive; and +that desire overcame the delays and doubts of diplomatic action. The time +and place of meeting to arrange a treaty of peace were fixed; and there +was at least a fair prospect that the two Kings might soon find themselves +with free hands, and with greater power to prosecute the forcible +restoration of Charles II. to his throne. Both had often alleged that only +the poverty of their exchequer and the heavy expenses of the war prevented +any cordial and effective assistance being rendered to the exiled King. +What claim to consideration might Charles not make good, what sound +reasons of policy might it not be possible to suggest, if both were +relieved of the burdens of war? + +Hyde, as we have abundant reason to know, placed no confidence in foreign +aid, and looked with suspicion upon the conditions under which it would be +granted. But he could interpose no obstacles to the present application. +He himself remained at Breda, and held the threads of all the discrepant +and varying negotiations; but he did not attempt to dissuade Charles from +making a somewhat venturesome and hopeless voyage to Fontarabia, where the +Treaty was being discussed in September, 1659. At first Charles attempted +to procure a pass from Cardinal Mazarin. But in the face of opposition by +the Queen this was hopeless, and, accompanied only by Ormonde and Bristol +and a small retinue, he made his way, incognito, through France. Even in +the strain of anxiety Charles's natural disposition showed itself in +wasting time in order to see parts of France which he had not yet visited. +The pleasure of the moment always weighed with him more than the +prosecution of business. Adversity, perhaps happily for himself, made him +callous rather than despondent. + +The business of the treaty between France and Spain meanwhile advanced +more quickly than any one had ventured to hope. The difficulties as to +France's pledges to Portugal, and those of Spain to the Prince of Condé, +were somehow settled--or, at least, ignored. If France had to yield to +some pressure on the part of Don Lewis de Haro, she avenged herself by +retaining her hold on those former Spanish possessions in Flanders which +the fortune of war had placed in her hands. Sir Henry Bennet represented +Charles in Spain, and was sorely perplexed when the final ratification +approached, and the King made no appearance. Ormonde had been sent to +Fontarabia, but Charles lingered at Toulouse, before proceeding from there +towards Madrid. His presence there was not desired, and he found himself +compelled, after roundabout journeys, to put in an appearance at the scene +of the treaty. Both France and Spain held out delusive hopes of aid. Don +Lewis presented him with a dole of seven thousand pistoles, and promised a +good reception on his return to Flanders. There was nothing for it but to +make his way back to Brussels, and join once more in the plans of Hyde and +his council there. He found the prospect no more cheerful than before. + +During the autumn matters had moved forward in England. Lambert had +strengthened his hold upon the army, and now pressed its authority more +urgently upon the discredited Parliament. He demanded that Fleetwood +(whose weakness made him an easy tool) should be General, and that he +himself should be Major-General. The Parliament, under the leading of +Hazlerigg and Vane, still resisted his claims, and attempted to defy him. +Their resistance was easily overcome. Lambert met Lenthall, the Speaker, +on his way to the House, compelled him to return home, and by main force +closed the Parliament. In its place was established a Committee of Safety +of twenty-three members, to which the administration was entrusted. +Besides officers of the army and some London citizens, certain +representatives of the Parliament were granted seats upon it. Lambert +seemed, for the moment, to be completely master of the situation, and the +Royalists conceived hopes that they might secure for their own cause the +assistance of the leaders of the army. Fleetwood, however, lost his head, +and would not act without the permission of Lambert. In December he +escaped from responsibility by resigning his commission. Lambert would +have been a stouter ally; and overtures seem to have been made that he +should declare for the King, and that his daughter should be the wife of +Charles. Such proposals met with no encouragement from Hyde, and were +quietly dropped. Once more Lenthall, and the remnant of Parliament which +he represented, recovered their courage and showed some energy. They met +again on December 12th, and were able to assert their authority enough to +cashier some of the officers, and commit Lambert to the Tower. Such was +the position when Charles returned to Brussels with the scanty fruits of +his mission to Fontarabia. It looked as if once more that Rump Parliament, +which had crushed the monarchy and abolished the House of Lords, was +master of the situation. To one watching events from a distance like Hyde, +parties and persons must have appeared to chase one another in a +bewildering dance, like antic figures reflected on a screen. + +[Illustration: GEORGE MONK, DUKE OF ALBEMARLE (_From the original by Sir +Peter Lely, in the National Portrait Gallery_)] + +Then it was that there came forward on the scene the man who, under the +guidance of circumstances rather than of any fixed line of policy, was to +be the main instrument of the restoration of the King. General Monk +[Footnote: George Monk was born in 1608, and very early sought his +fortune in war abroad, where he showed conspicuous bravery. In 1629 he +served for a time with the Dutch; but came back to England when the army +was levied in 1639 to act against the Scots. He was afterwards employed +against the Irish rebels, but joined the King at Oxford, and when fighting +in the Royalist ranks was taken prisoner, and committed by Parliament to +the Tower. He was afterwards released to serve in Ireland, apparently with +no settled purpose of deserting the Royalist cause. He served there long, +and in 1650 went with Cromwell to Scotland, commanding a new regiment, +which afterwards became the Coldstream Guards. From that time he became +the close friend of Cromwell, and at one time commanded the fleet in some +successful actions against Van Tromp. In the later years of the +Commonwealth the Government of Scotland was virtually in his hands. His +military powers were far greater than his discernment or capacity as a +statesman. His wife was the daughter of John Clarges, a farrier in the +Savoy, and, to a reputation that was none of the most savoury, added the +manners of a kitchen-maid and a slut, and the avarice of a usurer. Her +brother, who was an apothecary, became employed through the influence of +Monk. He carried over to Charles the flattering message from Parliament in +May, 1660, and was then knighted. As Sir John Clarges, he had a long and +active Parliamentary career, and did not die till 1695.] was now supreme +in Scotland, where Cromwell had placed him in command. Parliament looked +to him as the only possible counterpoise to Lambert. Hyde placed no great +reliance upon him, and shrewdly judged that he was one whose actions would +be governed by events rather than one whose foresight and initiative would +direct the progress of those events. He had abundant military experience, +was a competent commander, and not only by family tradition, but by his +own early action in the war, he was judged to be no obstinate enemy to the +royal cause. But long association with Cromwell had committed him, to all +appearance, indissolubly to the opposite cause; and, if he had no +political prescience, he was, nevertheless, eminently cautious, and was +not liable to be led astray by any fervent attachment to special views +either in politics or religion. His wife, who was a coarse and low-born +drudge, was guided by the fervour of her Presbyterian advisers; but her +religious zeal had no influence over the calmer temper of her husband. At +a juncture like the present it required no abnormal sagacity to convince +Monk that the only possible course open to him was that of impenetrable +secrecy as to his designs--even had he been more certain himself as to +what these designs might be. With admirable deliberation--for intellectual +dulness, on rare occasions, can assume the aspect of Machiavellian design +--he laid his plans for a non-committal policy. He made himself safe in +Scotland by inducing the Scottish Parliament to give him a considerable +grant of money, and by leaving behind him a sufficient portion of his army +to maintain a firm hold on the Government there. With a moderate force of +about 5000 men, he slowly advanced towards London. Parliament had invited +him; but they soon saw that Monk was not likely to be their obedient +servant, and would fain have induced him to return. Monk none the less +advanced; but it was with the utmost deliberation and circumspection, +crossing no Rubicon, and breaking no bridge behind him. No word in favour +of a royal restoration passed his lips. He frowned on all who ventured to +suggest such a course. At each stage in his advance he pronounced, with +edifying conviction, his determination to maintain the authority of +Parliament; and if the announcement bore also the condition that the +Parliament should be free, that was a condition to which none could fairly +object, and which did not seem to lessen the soundness of Monk's +Republicanism. If his sphinx-like attitude proceeded more from inability +to discern the line of least resistance, than from conscious +dissimulation, or any deliberate concealment of a far-seeing policy, it +nevertheless was pursued with much adroitness, and no other course of +action could have enabled Monk to accomplish all he did. It was this which +secured for him an apparently grateful and cordial reception from the +Parliament, although it dreaded his presence, and would gladly have heard +that he had begun his march back to Scotland. He arrived in London early +in February; and his unwilling hosts had no alternative but to bow to an +outwardly friendly authority which they had no means of resisting. + +In the whole proceedings, from this time forward, there is a distinct +element of comedy, which comes as a welcome relief after the long tragedy +of Hyde's narrative, and which, even though he wrote it looking back over +an interval of checkered years, is apparent in the altered tone of that +narrative. Monk had marched slowly on the capital. When he arrived at St. +Albans, he halted there, and sent to Parliament to represent the +inconvenience that might arise from the presence of troops that had proved +unfaithful, and to ask for their removal. There was nothing for it but to +obey. Even this was not easy, because the discarded troops proved restive +and were on the point of mutiny. But their officers had disappeared, and +they were at length persuaded to leave the City clear for Monk's approach. +When that was arranged, he marched through the City and the Strand to +Westminster, and took up his appointed quarters at Whitehall. He was +received in the House of Parliament with every honour. The man whose +intentions they more than suspected, and whose presence they would gladly +have dispensed with, was told that he was a public benefactor whose happy +intervention had saved the State. "His memory would flourish to all ages," +and Parliament would ever be grateful for his support in time of need. + +"The general was not a man of eloquence, or of any volubility of speech," +But he assured them of his unalterable fidelity. He told them of the +addresses that had reached him at every stage of his southern march, and +of the general desire "for a free Parliament." As that was just what they +were not, the avowed profession of his ardent agreement with this desire, +however constitutional, was hardly fitted to remove their uneasiness. They +were in the utmost straits for money. The exchequer was empty, and their +authority was not sufficient effectively to impose taxation. They demanded +advances from the City, and were roughly told that no advances would be +made except on the authority of a freely elected House. Would Monk support +them in this contest? He was asked to march into the City, to restore +order, and, as a sign of it, to destroy the ancient city gates. So far +Monk seemed to comply with the demands of his nominal masters. He overawed +the citizens, and executed the orders of the Parliament upon their +portcullises and gates. For the moment Parliament conceived its authority +to be vindicated. But with singular folly they accepted, with favour, an +absurd petition from Praise-God Barebone and his friends, who inveighed +against all who would question the power of the Rump Parliament, and +pressed for stern measures on all who presumed so much as to name the +restoration of the King, or who would not abjure any Government in the +hands of a single person. This roused the keen animosity of the officers, +and decided them to press on Monk an alteration of his course. Once more +he visited the City; but this time not as an enemy, but as a friend. In +good round terms he rated the Parliament for countenancing the wild +ravings of a dangerous rabble. He demanded that by a certain date they +should issue writs for a free Parliament and bring their own sittings to +an end. Their hopes were at once scattered to the winds; and in the wild +tumult of bonfires and rejoicings with which Monk's declaration was +celebrated in the City, they saw the death-knell of their own power. In +the licence of recovered liberty many toasted the King's health, and there +was none to say them nay. + +Monk returned to Whitehall, and summoning some of the members to his +presence, he delivered to them in writing his views--equivalent to his +commands--as to the course which must be followed. He pointed out how all +Government was now subverted, and how necessary it was that it should be +repaired. He indicated his preference for a Commonwealth, and saw in a +moderate Presbyterianism the most promising religious settlement. But, in +truth, these were only hints as to the future; the immediate matter was +the issue of writs for a new Parliament which should decide as to the +ultimate arrangement. Only he was careful to give no sign of any readiness +to restore the King. At this stage, that might have proved a compromising +definition of his intentions. + +The first step was to restore to their places in Parliament all who had +been excluded in 1648 by Colonel Pride. On February 21st, all those who +remained of the Long Parliament once more assembled at Westminster, and +the majority soon reversed the action of the Rump. Military commands were +taken from the sectarian fanatics, and replaced in the hands of men of +station throughout the land. Temporary provision was made for revenue, and +the city readily advanced what was required upon the credit of the +Parliament that was yet to meet. Writs were issued for a new Parliament to +meet on April 25th. On March 17th the Long Parliament was finally +dispersed. + +The Court of Charles at Brussels had meanwhile undergone all the anxieties +of alternating hope and despair. Monk's action against the city had +confirmed their worst forebodings; but "these fogs and mists," says Hyde," +were soon dispelled." It was only a few days later that better news +reached Hyde. Late one evening, Ormonde brought a young man to the Lord +Chancellor's lodgings, which were just beneath those of the King. The +young man [Footnote: "The man's name was Baily; he had lived most in +Ireland, and had served there as a foot-officer under the Marquis +(Ormonde)" (_Hist. of Rebellion_, Bk. xvi. p. 139).] looked "as if he +had drank much, or slept little." He had just travelled with all +expedition from London. From Lambeth, where he had been in a sort of +nominal confinement, with others of the King's friends, he had heard the +sound of the bells which had rung out when Monk came back to the city as a +friend, and had pronounced for a free Parliament. He had crossed the river +and viewed the scene of rejoicing in Cheapside; had seen the bonfires, and +heard the health of the King toasted. He had joined in open proposals for +the restoration of the rightful sovereign; and straight from those +unwonted experiences he had taken post for Dover and crossed to Ostend. + +It was hard to say how much comfort could be drawn from this report. The +messenger had brought a copy of Monk's published declaration; but that +contained no word about the restoration of the King. Even were his friends +encouraged to action, it was idle to hope for success in arms without +foreign aid; and Charles and Hyde knew how small were the chances of such +aid. Were the unpurged Long Parliament restored, what better could be +hoped from them than that they would open negotiations upon the basis of +the old treaty at Newport, which the late King "had yielded to with much +less cheerfulness than he had walked to the scaffold"? + +The portents, however, continued to be favourable. Addresses were received +from many whose favour for the royal cause had, hitherto, been +unsuspected, and whose new-found loyalty might well be accepted as an +indication of a change in the temper of the nation. Patience was still the +watchword urged by Hyde. The issues were ripening, and even now he may +have anticipated that bloodless restoration towards which the current was +quickly carrying the people. + +A new danger suddenly arose, by the escape of Lambert from the Tower in +April. His influence in the army was unrivalled, and he alone could raise +a counterpoise to the power of Monk. So long as his rival was at large, +Monk could not, except at imminent risk, have declared himself more +decidedly. To do so would have aroused opposition that would have +strengthened that rival's hands. But Lambert's efforts were unavailing. +Had he been able to remain in London, Hyde thinks he might, in time, have +organized an effective opposition. Instead of this he felt it needful to +strike at once. He made his way to Buckinghamshire, and from that county +and Warwickshire he was able to collect a considerable force. Colonel +Ingoldsby was despatched in pursuit of him, and soon overtook him at +Daventry in Northamptonshire. Ingoldsby had been a strong adherent of +Cromwell, and (as he asserted, against his will) had been forced to sign +the death warrant of the King. He had now an opportunity of rendering a +service that might wipe out some heavy scores against him. Lambert at +first endeavoured to detach Ingoldsby from his allegiance to Monk, by +offering to espouse the cause of Richard Cromwell. But Ingoldsby rightly +judged that such a scheme was doomed to failure. Lambert's troops refused +to fight and fast deserted him, and he was easily made prisoner and once +more committed to the Tower. + +[Illustration: GENERAL LAMBERT. (_From the original by Robert Walker, in +the National Portrait Gallery._)] + +During the interval between the Dissolution on March 17th, and the meeting +of the new Parliament, the administration was in the hands of a Council of +State, which acted with Monk's concurrence. The hopes of the Royalists +grew apace, and prominent members of the party no longer hesitated to take +an open part in political discussion. The command of the Fleet was put +into the hands of Monk--"the General," as he was called--and Admiral +Montague, and the latter was known as one well disposed to the King, and +ready, even at an earlier date, to have taken active steps for his +restoration. Monk alone kept up his prudent reserve. Even in April he +continued to express himself as strongly averse to the restoration of +monarchy, A conference of some leading men took place at Northumberland +House. The Earl of Northumberland, the Earl of Manchester, Sir William +Waller and others whose political inclinations were in sympathy, joined in +that conference, and Monk took part in it. Even then, amongst men whose +leanings were all in favour of the King, he deemed it necessary to +maintain an attitude of doubt, and refused to consider the possibility of +a Restoration without conditions as stringent as those that had been +pressed in the last stages of the civil war. + +The final steps were carried out through the agency of well-tried +adherents of the King, who were connected by old ties of friendship with +Monk. A gentleman of Devonshire--with which county Monk was closely +connected by ties of property--named William Morrice, had there spent a +studious life, but was understood to have leanings towards the Royalist +party, A friend of that unsullied loyalist, Sir Bevil Grenville, Morrice +had been left in charge of his family, now represented by young Sir John +Grenville, the son of Sir Bevil. Monk and Morrice had both been chosen +members of the new Parliament, which was to meet on April 25th, and +Morrice, who was in close touch with Monk, was vexed to find that all +proposals for the restoration of the King were coupled with severe +conditions, and were to be based upon acknowledgment of the binding force +of the Covenant. Monk took note of the dominance of the Royalist party in +that new Parliament, and soon concluded that matters were likely to move +in the direction of a Restoration, whether with his aid or no. Day by day +he became more inclined to be the foremost instrument of that now +inevitable Restoration. Grenville was of too pronounced Royalist +tendencies to be given any active part in what were still unavowed +designs; but he might be a useful instrument in the confidential +negotiations. He had credit enough with Hyde and the counsellors of the +King to be accepted without those written credentials with which it would +have been dangerous to entrust him. Morrice brought him secretly to Monk, +who bade him confer with Morrice as to the terms of the communication to +the King. Morrice fully instructed him as to the position. Monk's good +inclinations were to be conveyed to Charles, and he was to write in terms +which Monk could make public at the convenient time. The King was to +promise a very wide pardon for past offences, full liberty of conscience, +the payment of arrears of pay to the army, and the confirmation of all +sales of forfeited lands. Without such stipulations, the waverers, it was +thought, would be driven by despair to resist any scheme of restoration. +As a special charge, Monk bade Grenville insist that Charles should move +from Brussels to Breda. No trust could be placed in the fickle favour of +the Spanish Crown. Thus primed, Grenville sailed, early in April, with +Mordaunt, and arrived in due course at Brussels. The over subtlety of the +Spanish ministers made them believe that the Restoration, if accomplished +at all, would be brought about by the Levellers and Independents, who +would bring back the King with nothing more than a semblance of power. An +alliance with them alone, it was thought, would be the safest course for +Spain. Nothing could persuade Cardenas and Don Lewis de Haro that Charles +would be restored on conditions that virtually obliterated all the changes +that the civil war had brought about. + +It was evident to Hyde that the conditions laid down by Monk could only be +complied with under very strict reservations. There was no wish to revive +old quarrels, or to deny any fair measure of indemnity, and just as little +did Charles desire to alienate the whole body of religious feeling outside +the Church. But it was not consistent with the honour of the King that the +indemnity should extend to the murderers of his father; nor was it +possible to leave order in the Church at the mercy of contending fanatics. +It was not difficult to devise a course which should make every reasonable +concession to the proposals of Monk, and yet not destroy the hopes of +those who looked forward with passionate earnestness to the restoration of +the old order, and were not prepared to accept as partners in their future +Government those who had formed the Court which had condemned the King. In +spite of his long absence from England, Hyde had kept himself well +informed on the trend of general feeling, and he judged that such matters +could safely be left to the national tribunal. All the disputed points +were left to be settled by Parliament. The action of the King was left +free; but on the other hand no constitutional objection could be raised to +the reservation of doubtful matters for the judgment of a free Parliament. + +It was on these lines that the letters which Grenville was to carry from +the King to Monk were drafted by Hyde. One letter was addressed to Monk +and the Army; one to the House of Commons, and one to the House of Lords. +Montague received one addressed to the Navy; and the last was addressed to +the Lord Mayor and the City of London. When these letters were prepared, +the return of Grenville and Mordaunt from their secret mission was delayed +only in order that they might carry back word to Monk that the condition +upon which he insisted would be carried out, and that the King would move +from Flanders to Dutch territory. That design had to be carried out +promptly if it were to be carried out at all. There was good reason to +fear treachery on the part of Spain, and she might even so far break the +laws of hospitality as to prevent the King's change of abode, and so +cripple negotiations that might spoil her alliance with the anti-Royalist +party. It was only by the unexpected promptitude of the move that Charles +and his little Court were saved from possible delays which Spain could, +under the guise of punctilious courtesy, have interposed. Hyde had sure +information from an Irishman, then in Cardenas's employment, that such a +design was on foot. He at once communicated with Charles, and by three +o'clock in the morning, the King had started from Antwerp--which he had +already reached in his journey from Brussels to Breda. Before his +departure was known, he had already crossed the border. + +From Breda, Grenville and Mordaunt were despatched to England, with their +batch of all-important letters. No pains were spared to confirm the new- +found loyalty of the General, and to assure him of the gratitude of the +King. It was in compliment to him, and on Grenville's suggestion, that +William Morrice was appointed to the Secretaryship of State, vacant in +consequence of the Earl of Bristol having joined the Roman Catholic +Church. All the letters were entrusted to the General, and although those +other than his own were sealed, copies were supplied to him, so that he +might know their contents before they were delivered and read. At the same +time a Declaration was issued under the Privy Seal, pledging the King "to +grant a free and general pardon" to all his subjects who, within forty +days, should throw themselves upon his mercy, "excepting only such persons +as shall hereafter be excepted by Parliament." For religious differences, +it was provided that they should be settled by Act of Parliament, to which +the King pledged his consent. + +The messengers reached London a week before Parliament was to meet. The +General approved the letters, and found no difficulty in the reference to +Parliament of those points on which the King was not prepared to give an +unlimited pledge. The fact was that the time was already past for haggling +about terms. The tide of loyalty was now flowing with a rush that nothing +could stem. A month ago, careful observers might say that the question was +no longer whether the King was to be restored, but only as to the terms on +which the Restoration was to take place. Now, the question of terms was +already settled; the only point remaining was, who were to have the +prominent parts as agents, and were to be counted as deserving the chief +share of gratitude. + +On April 25th the new Parliament met, and Sir Harbottle Grimston, who had +been one of the Long Parliament members, excluded in 1648, was chosen +Speaker. There was no long doubt as to the spirit of the new House. The +memory and the deeds of Cromwell were condemned with no uncertain voice. +They waited only for the oracle to speak before they resolved to take the +final step, and vote the restoration of the King. Not till May 1st did +Monk think fit to disclose his intention. He then announced that Sir John +Grenville was present with letters to himself and to Parliament. With +almost unnecessary parade of ceremony he stated that both were sealed and +that he would read his own only by their direction. With due gravity the +pretence was carried out, and the letters and Declaration produced a joy, +which arose not so much from their terms as from the fact that their +delivery by the General opened the door for the free flow of pent-up +loyalty. It was no moment for weighing details, or for balancing +conditions. The nation was sick to death of the heavy burden that had +crushed their life for twenty years. The voice of the constitutionalist +was silenced as effectually as the murmurs of the fanatic and the growls +of the defeated republican. The Presbyterians spoke in vain of the +Covenant; the more moderate found themselves little heeded when they spoke +of taking securities before the King was restored. "The warmer zeal of the +House threw away all those formalities and affectations." They were not +"to offend the King with colder expressions of their duty." The letter +that was sent left nothing to be desired in the lavishness of its loyalty. +Sir John Grenville was complimented, and before he was despatched with +their reply to the King's letter, he was presented with £500, "to buy a +jewel to wear, as an honour for being the messenger of so gracious a +message." "So great a change was this," says Hyde. Three months before +Grenville might have suffered a shameful death if he had been known to +have interviewed the King; he was now rewarded for bringing a message from +him. + +Amidst the general rejoicings the sons of the great Protector passed +ignominiously and unheeded from the scene. Never had a great edifice of +power, raised by consummate strength of will, and proud ambition, toppled +so easily to the ground. Richard--that "child of fortune" as Clarendon +calls him--and his brother Henry, the Lieutenant of Ireland, were puppets +in the hands of each successive faction. They had readily yielded any +phantom of power they possessed into the hands of the army officers, and +when the Restoration took place they did not receive even the compliment +of notice, as items to be counted in the sweeping change. Amidst the +national joy, the poor wretch upon whom there had descended an inheritance +that he was not fit to bear, "found it necessary to transport himself into +France, more for fear of his debts than of the King, who thought it not +necessary to inquire after a man so long forgotten." [Footnote: +_Rebellion_, xvi. 374.] Clarendon points the dramatic contrast of +this contemptible exit by introducing a story of a later day. In his +subsequent wanderings abroad, Richard Cromwell visited Pezenas, in +Languedoc, where the Prince of Conti was Governor, and according to usage +he waited upon the Prince, but had the caution to make the visit under +another name. The Prince "received him with great civility and grace, +according to his natural custom, and, after a few words, began to +discourse of the affairs of England and asked many questions concerning +the King." He proceeded to discuss the late Protector. "Well," said the +Prince, "Oliver, though he was a traitor and a villain, was a brave +fellow, had great parts, great courage, and was worthy to command; but +that Richard, that coxcomb, _coquin, poltron_, was surely the basest +fellow alive. What is become of that fool? How was it possible he could be +such a sot?" His visitor did his best to lay the blame of the miscarriage +on the betrayal of Richard by his advisers. But, fearing to be known, he +speedily withdrew, and next day left the town. To such abasement had the +name of Cromwell fallen; and with this strange episode it disappears from +Clarendon's pages. + +On May 8th, the King was proclaimed at Westminster Hall and in the city; +and bonfires and rejoicings took place, on a scale more prodigious even +than when Monk had declared for a free Parliament. The happy news soon +spread, and the exiled court was the resort of those who came post-haste +to renew old bonds of loyalty, or to lay the foundations of a reputation +for new-born zeal for their King. It was not long before those very +lukewarm allies, Spain and France, broke down the barriers of their +selfish caution, and vied with one another in protestations of friendship +and offers of help that was no longer necessary. The unaccustomed warmth +of their congratulations adds a new touch of comedy to the surprising +scene. The Marquis of Carracena, Governor of Flanders, who had turned a +deaf ear to all suggestions of alliance, and had not been slow to hint the +inconvenience of the King's prolonged stay in Flanders, now craved his +return to Brussels, and when the invitation was politely declined, could +only vent his rage on Cardenas, whose dense stupidity had left him so +ignorant of all English affairs, after a residence there of sixteen years. +Cardinal Mazarin persuaded Queen Henrietta to send Jermyn (now Earl of St. +Albans) to invite the King to France. Against that suggestion also, good +excuse was pleaded--"the King had declined to return to Brussels, and +could not therefore pass through Flanders in order to go to France." The +mockery of these shameless overtures of belated friendship might well add +to that cynicism which his experiences had done so much to imprint on +Charles's heart and brain. + +Crowds now came to Breda, no longer as disguised fugitives, but in eager +rivalry to have their loyalty published and recognized. Their money +offerings were welcome, as they enabled the King to pay his servants their +arrears of wages and clear himself from the burden of debt to which he had +been long accustomed. The States-General of Holland besought him "to grace +the Hague with his royal presence," and received him with all the honour +that an anxious ally could display, and all the pomp of magnificence which +their wealth enabled them to lavish on the festivities with which they +marked his visit. A few days later, letters were brought from Montague, +who commanded the fleet, to announce his presence on the Dutch coast, and +to ask the orders of the King. The Duke of York assumed the supreme +command, and a day was passed in receiving the catalogue of the Fleet, and +renaming those ships which recalled dismal memories of the Commonwealth. +Soon after, the deputation from the Lords and Commons arrived at the +Hague, bearing the supplication of both Houses "that his Majesty would be +pleased to return, and take the Government of the kingdom into his hands," +and as an earnest of their loyal duty they presented £50,000 to the King, +£10,000 to the Duke of York, and £5000 to the Duke of Gloucester. A +deputation from the City attended at the same time, to tender their +loyalty to the King, and to make an offering of £10,000. It was little +wonder that the King, who a few weeks before was hard put to it to borrow +a few pistoles, and was deep in debt for the maintenance of his household, +should receive such messengers with overflowing welcome. The citizens of +London were sent home rejoicing in the honour of knighthood--in abeyance +for twenty years, and now conferred on the whole of the deputation. + +At the same time there arrived a deputation of the Presbyterian clergy who +had different aims in view. They could lay no lavish offerings at the +King's feet, and could bring no contribution to the tide of spontaneous +loyalty. But they could plead that they had had no lot or part in the +fight against the monarchy or in the murder of the King, and that they had +given some effective aid in the resistance to the Commonwealth. Could they +not manage to secure beforehand some compliance with their religious +views, some concessions to tender consciences, some hope that the +ceremonies, which their souls hated, would be dispensed with? The Book of +Common Prayer had been long disused; might it not be relegated to +permanent abeyance, like the feudal tenures, which all agreed should be +swept away? Might not, at least, only parts of it be revived, to be +mingled with more edifying forms of extempore prayer? + +This was precisely what Hyde was not prepared to concede, and Charles +answered in the spirit that he would have wished, and must have prompted. +The King was ready to give toleration to tender consciences, but he +claimed liberty also for himself. In his own presence and by his own +chaplain, the Common Prayer Book should certainly be restored. "He would +never discountenance the good old order of the Church in which he had been +bred." We can have little doubt by whom this answer was inspired. The +Presbyterian ambassadors were forced to return with the consciousness that +the day of their triumph was gone, and that the Church would oppose to +their pretensions a front of resistance as determined as that of the +Independents. + +On May 24th, Charles sailed in the ship, lately named the +_Protector_, but now rechristened as _The Prince_. On the 26th he landed +at Dover, and on May 29th, he was back in the Palace of his fathers, and +the universal acclaim evinced the heartfelt joy with which his people +hailed the restoration of their King. The ship which Hyde had steered so +long and warily was safe in port. A new and perhaps harder task awaited +the pilot. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +PROSPECT FOR THE RESTORED MONARCHY + + +The task which fell to Hyde during the early months of 1660, in gauging +the various influences at work in the country from which he had been +banished for fourteen years, was one of acute difficulty. He had been, it +is true, in constant correspondence with men whom he could trust; but the +letters which reached him from Sheldon, from Lord Mordaunt, from +Grenville, and from Brodrick--to name only a few of those who gave him +their impressions from week to week--had spoken in various degrees of hope +and fear, and given him very different accounts of the state of parties. +These parties had greatly shifted their attitude during the years of his +banishment. Many of those upon whom dependence had to be placed--such, for +instance, as Morrice, the close adherent of Monk, and now Secretary of +State--were personally unknown to him. Some of the strongest supporters of +a restoration were men who had been conspicuous as adherents of Cromwell, +and yet it became increasingly clear to him that their support was even +more valuable than that of some whose loyalty was of older date. The +Presbyterians and the Roman Catholics had specious claims to advance for +consideration; and even the Levellers, the Anabaptists, and the +Independents had motives, which dexterous manipulation might foster, and +which might make them ready to support the cause of the King, especially +now that it was in the ascendant. Amidst the strong tides which were +running under the influence of shifting currents of popular opinion, +principles were thrust to the wall, and each party, like each individual, +was chiefly occupied in looking after personal interests, and adjusting +views so as to suit the change of the national situation. No one was sure +of anything except that the political quicksands were moving rapidly, and +that it behoved them not to be behind others in forming advantageous +alliances. + +The mood of the time could not be painted in more impressive words than +those which Hyde uses, after the manner of Thucydides in describing the +moral effects of the Peloponesian war. + +"In a word, the nation was corrupted from that integrity, good nature, and +generosity, that had been peculiar to it, and for which it had been signal +and celebrated throughout the world; in the room whereof the vilest craft +and dissembling had succeeded. The tenderness of bowels, which is the +quintessence of justice and compassion, the very mention of good nature, +was laughed at and looked upon as the mark and character of a fool; and a +roughness of manners, or hardheartedness and cruelty, was affected. In the +place of generosity, a vile and sordid love of money was entertained as +the truest wisdom, and anything lawful that would contribute towards being +rich. There was a total decay, or rather a final expiration of all +friendship; and to dissuade a man from anything he affected, or to reprove +him for anything he had done amiss, or to advise him to do anything he had +no mind to do, was thought an impertinence unworthy a wise man, and +received with reproach and contempt. These dilapidations and ruins of the +ancient candour and discipline were not taken enough to heart, and +repaired with that early care and severity that they might have been, for +they were not then incorrigible; but by the remissness of applying +remedies to some, and the unwariness in giving a kind of countenance to +others, too much of that poison insinuated itself into minds not well +fortified against such infection, so that much of the malignity was +transplanted, instead of being extinguished, to the corruption of many +wholesome bodies, which, being corrupted, spread the diseases more +powerfully and more mischievously." [Footnote: _Life_, i. 360.] + +The ignoble struggles of callous selfishness were made all the more +desperate by the bewildering confusion of the political situation. The +most difficult problem had been the attitude of Monk, and that was all the +more baffling from the fact that Monk had no clear discernment of his own +line of policy, and with all his accidental command of the situation, was +too obtuse to choose his own course and follow it consistently. The +Presbyterians were monarchical in sympathy, and dreaded the Independents +too much to be willing to revert to republican forms; but their +determination to alter the ecclesiastical traditions of the Church could +not be encouraged without losing the support of the main body of Royalist +opinion. The Roman Catholics hoped for toleration, but their hopes could +not be indulged without arousing the anti-Catholic prejudices of the +nation. The reviving aspirations of the Church had to be fostered, but the +extravagance of her hopes of revenge for past wrongs had to be kept in +severe check. Hyde himself was too little known by the new generation to +be cordially trusted, and he had to reckon on the implacable opposition of +those who believed that his influence over the King would make him +absolute as Minister. He was left in no doubt as to the slanders which +gathered round his name, and as to the personal jealousy of his power. For +a time it seemed doubtful whether the Restoration could be accomplished +without an express condition that the King should return without his chief +adviser. Between Hyde himself and the Presbyterians the feud was too old +to be appeased. The Roman Catholics recognized that their hopes of +toleration from the King might be frustrated by Hyde's sturdy +Protestantism. Monk was jealous of his influence, and his jealousies were +fostered by his wife, who was under the dominion of the Presbyterian +clergy. No pains were spared to stir up suspicion against him. "By stories +artificially related both to the General and his Lady," writes Lord +Mordaunt to him on May 4th, 1660, "your enemies have possessed them both +with a very ill opinion of you, which has showed itself by several bitter +expressions very lately uttered at St. James's." The Duke of Buckingham, +[Footnote: George Villiers, second Duke of Buckingham, was born only a few +months before his father's assassination, in 1628, and, from his affection +to the Minister whom he had lost, Charles had his son brought up with his +own family. Curiously enough, William Aylesbury, brother-in-law of Hyde, +was at one time the tutor of the young Duke. Buckingham took part in the +war as a very young man, and was one of the leaders in the second Civil +War, in 1648. His property had before this been confiscated, but he had +secured favourable terms by an arrangement with the Parliament. This time +it was again confiscated, and he narrowly escaped death by flight to the +Continent. He was a prominent member of the exiled Court; but his open +irreligion, his flighty character, and his continual plotting as an +adherent of Prince Rupert, alienated him from the party of Hyde. His wit +and personal charms won for him many friends, but his life was one +perpetual succession of reckless schemes and bitter quarrels, in which his +Royal master was often involved. He fought at Worcester, but his arrogance +prompted him to demand the generalship of the army, and he resented the +King's refusal by boyish sulkiness. In 1658, he again returned to England, +and married the daughter of Fairfax; but this was in defiance of Cromwell, +from whose vengeance he was probably saved only by the Protector's death. +He was restored to his vast possessions after the King's return, and then +began that long and restless career of varied intrigue, which won for him, +in later days, the character of Zimri, in Dryden's Satire, and during the +next few years made him the embittered foe of Clarendon.] ever a zealot in +any design of mischief, was doing all he could, wrote Mr. Brodrick, to +spread evil tales of him, and to inspire the Royalists with the opinion +that Hyde's influence would destroy their hopes. Hyde himself was ready to +remain in exile rather than that his return should prejudice the cause of +the King. But the very malice of his enemies overshot the mark. He had +friends who knew his worth, and Ormonde and Southampton were staunchly +loyal to him. It is to the credit of the King that he spoke in no +uncertain tone. + +"It is not to be wondered at," he wrote to Sir Arthur Apsley on April +29th, "that at the same time that I have so many enemies, those that are +faithful to me should have some; and it is from some of those who are not +much my friends, that the report comes that the Chancellor should have +lost my favour. The truth of it is, I look upon the spreaders of that lie +as more my enemies than his, for he will always be found an honest man, +and I should deserve the name of a very unjust master if I should reward +him so ill, that hath served me so faithfully." + +Hyde's strict constitutionalism was dreaded by those whose ideal of a +Restoration Government was one which would lavishly reward its adherents +without concerning itself with observance of the law. It was his fidelity +at once to the King and to the Constitution that inspired the opposition +to his return. Friends and enemies alike recognized that if he returned +with the King, his must be the guiding hand in the administration, as his +had been the chief task in setting the policy of the exiled Court. + +Hyde accompanied Charles on his return to England. The King embarked at +Scheveningen, on May 24th. On the 26th, as we have already seen, he landed +at Dover amidst the thunder of cannon, and that day took coach to +Canterbury. The great cathedral had suffered sorely from sacrilegious +hands, but there gathered within its walls a goodly company of the +notables of the kingdom to join their King in a Service of Thanksgiving. +Upon General Monk, the Marquis of Hertford, the Earl of Southampton, and +Admiral Montague, [Footnote: Montague was created Earl of Sandwich next +month.] he conferred the honour of the Garter; and amidst the acclamations +of his people, he proceeded next day to Rochester. On the 29th, his +birthday, he entered London, "all the ways from Dover thither being so +full of people, and acclamations, as if the whole kingdom had been +gathered." At Greenwich he was met by the Lord Mayor and Aldermen "with +all such protestations of joy as can hardly be imagined." All the city +companies lined the road from London Bridge to Temple Bar, "giving loud +thanks to God for his majesty's presence." + +At Whitehall "the two Houses of Parliament cast themselves at his feet +with all vows of affection to the world's end." Well might the King +exclaim, as he saw the fervency of welcome, "It had been his own fault he +had been absent so long; for he saw nobody that did not protest he had +ever wished for his return." Hyde saw a dramatic accompaniment of this +happy consummation of a long and doubtful struggle, in the death, within +three months, of the chief Ministers of France and Spain--Cardinal Mazarin +and Don Lewis de Haro--whose schemes of policy it seemed to ruin, and who +saw in it the failure of their machinations. + +In the beginning of June, Hyde took his place as Speaker of the House of +Lords, and presided in the Court of Chancery. To the business of that +Court a great part of his labours were now to be devoted; but while he +studiously avoided the name of First Minister, he exercised, in addition +to his judicial functions, far more of the authority of supreme Minister +than fell to the lot of any officer of the Crown for some generations +after his day. For a few years he seemed to enjoy the unbounded confidence +of the King; but that confidence he had earned by no subserviency, and in +spite of marked lack of sympathy. For the first time in our history a man +of no high birth or commanding station, to whom the personal favour of his +sovereign had so far brought nothing but hardship and exile, found himself +indisputably marked out, by a long course of services devotedly given, for +what was virtually the position of First Minister of the Crown. His +judgment and his experience of men taught him how exposed such a position +was to every blast of envy. It was partly owing to his consciousness of +rectitude, partly to a certain unbending rigidity of character, that Hyde +neglected the caution that might have enabled him to shelter himself +against these blasts. With all his experience of Courts, Hyde never +learned the arts of a courtier. He was naively unconscious how little the +steadfast honesty of his purpose could render his blunt plainness of +diction palatable to a master, the chief feature of whose character was +callous selfishness, and whose self-love might for the moment allow him to +overlook, but never permitted him to forget, the liberty that presumed to +curb his caprices or to criticize his conduct. + +But for the time the relations between Charles and his Minister were +cordial enough; [Footnote: These relations, in their intimacy and apparent +freedom from restraint, are perhaps best reflected in what are known as +the "Council notes," preserved in the Bodleian, and consisting of scraps +of memoranda passing between Charles and his Chancellor. Most of them are, +no doubt, mere notes passed across the table during a discussion in the +Council, and abound in those hieroglyphics on the margin, which sufferers +from tedious colloquies are impelled to make, and which perhaps indicate +the frequent boredom of the King. But others are evidently messages +transmitted from Whitehall to the Chancellor. In all alike there is a +singular lack of formality, or even of orderliness, and they might have +passed between business colleagues, who were on terms of close intimacy +and easy familiarity. Clarendon's tone is almost uniformly brusque and +off-hand, and he must have tried the King's patience terribly by the +infamous illegibility of his handwriting. Charles's writing is a schoolboy +scrawl, but it is uniformly legible.] and amongst his colleagues Hyde +could count some who were his warmest and most trusted friends. They +formed an inner circle, with common sympathies at once in their memories +and in their aims, and unassailed as yet by the coarse profligacy, the +vulgar buffoonery, and the ignoble selfishness that were soon to become +dominant in Charles's Court. Such were Ormonde, now Lord Steward, whose +loyalty was as untarnished as his position was above the assaults of +slander and envy, and whose unbroken friendship was a powerful buttress to +Hyde, and warded off the slights to which his own more humble birth might +have subjected him. Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, represented the very +best type of courtier of an older generation, and his acceptance of the +post of Lord High Treasurer gave security that the full tide of +corruption, which bid fair to spread its taint over the Court, should find +some check so far as the financial administration was concerned. In even +closer relation to Hyde's official sphere was Sir Edward Nicholas, the +Principal Secretary of State, between whom and Hyde there was the sacred +tie of common service and common veneration for the late King. Nicholas +was no brilliant statesman, and had no ambitious schemes to serve. But +amongst those who played an active, albeit unselfish, part in the varied +field of administrative work from the days of Strafford downwards, there +was none more industrious, none more loyal, and none less selfish than he. +It was all to his credit that he was unlikely to consort on easy terms +with the motley crew that now thronged the Court. + +Hyde saw, without any displeasure, the Earl of Manchester [Footnote: +Edward Montague, second Earl of Manchester, who succeeded to the title on +the death of his father, in 1642, very early joined the Puritan, and +afterwards the Presbyterian party. He was one of the leading Parliamentary +generals until the Self-Denying Ordinance deprived him of command. He was +a man much beloved, and with marvellous suavity of manner. But to this +there was not added any marked ability, or any firmness of will. He had +long ceased to be in sympathy with the leaders of the Commonwealth, and +rendered powerful assistance in the Restoration. "By his extraordinary +civilities and behaviour to all men, he did not only appear the fittest +person the King could have chosen for that office (Lord Chamberlain) in +that time, but rendered himself so acceptable to all degrees of men, that +none, but such who were implacable towards all who had ever disserved the +King, were sorry to see him so promoted. He was mortally hated and +persecuted by Cromwell, even for his life, and had done many acts of merit +towards the King; so he was of all men, who had ever borne arms against +the King, both in the gentleness and justice of his nature, in the +sweetness and evenness of his conversation, and in his real principles for +monarchy, the most worthy to be received into trust and confidence"-- +_Clarendon, Life_, i. 368. Manchester was hardly the stuff out of +which effective revolutionists are made.] created Lord Chamberlain, +although he was the avowed patron of the Presbyterian party; and +Manchester's easy courtesy and recognized probity were no unwelcome +ingredients in the Court. But there were others within the official pale, +not reckoning the newer courtiers who were destined soon to push their way +to power, who were less congenial partners for Hyde and his friends. Monk +had earned an unquestionable right to lavish reward, and the King bestowed +it with no grudging hand. But Monk's ambition aimed rather at wealth and +position than at administrative power; and as Duke of Albemarle, as Lord +Lieutenant of Ireland--an office of which the duties were left to others-- +as Commander-in-Chief, and as Gentleman of the Bedchamber, Monk found +himself with titular rank, and with financial gains, which were more in +accordance with the tastes of himself and his wife than would have been +the burden and responsibility of laborious State business. Between the +Duke and the Chancellor there could never be close sympathy, and, for a +time, slanderous tongues came near to making active mischief. [Footnote: +We find a certain Thomas Dowde writing to Hyde on May 4, 1660, to tell him +how Edward Progers had been questioned by Mrs. Monk about Hyde, who had +been represented to her as "proud, insolent, contemning all counsel but +his own, disposing of all monies for his pleasure, and the delicacies of a +riotous table." The authority given is that of "a person of the French +interest," whom we may perhaps identify as Jermyn (_Bodleian MSS_.).] +But as they knew one another better they learned mutual toleration at +least, if not respect. Others were still more distasteful to Hyde. Sir +Anthony Ashley Cooper, [Footnote: Afterwards Earl of Shaftesbury.] +destined to play a leading part at a later day, as leader of dangerous +factions both for and against the Crown, and to figure in Dryden's Satire +as Achitophel, was scarcely likely, with his spirit of restless intrigue +and of daring cynicism, to prove a congenial colleague, even had he not +been prominent as a member of the clique which lost no opportunity for +undermining the influence of the older statesmen. He was now made +Chancellor of the Exchequer, with some hope that "his slippery humour +might be held in check by Southampton, whose niece he had lately married." + +In the Comptroller, Lord Berkeley, [Footnote: John Berkley or Berkeley, +belonged to the house of the Berkeleys of Bruton, and was employed as +ambassador in Sweden, in 1636, after which embassy he was knighted. He +fought in the Royalist army, and at the close of the war, attempted to +carry out some unsuccessful negotiations between the army and the King. He +accompanied Charles in the escape from Hampton Court, and must share with +Ashburnham the folly or treachery which betrayed the King into the hands +of Hammond, and made him a prisoner at Carisbrooke. Afterwards he went +abroad, and managed to gain the post of Governor to the Duke of York, by +whose influence he was created Lord Berkeley of Stratton, in 1658. After +the Restoration, he contrived to secure lucrative posts. His mansion was +on the site now marked by Berkeley Square. The names of the streets in +that neighbourhood sufficiently indicate the localities inhabited by the +aristocracy of the Restoration. + +He was uncle to Sir Charles Berkeley, afterwards Lord Palmouth, the +favourite of the Duke of York, whose foul slanders against the Duchess +have earned for him a lasting infamy.] Hyde found one for whom he had a +profound contempt, and of whose vile kinsman, Sir Charles Berkeley, he was +soon to have very odious experience. Hyde writes of the elder Berkeley, +"If he loved any one it was those whom he had known a very little while, +and who had purchased his affection at the price of much application, and +very much flattery; and if he had any friends, they were likewise those +who had known him very little." [Footnote: _Clarendon State Papers_, +vol. iii. Supp. p. lxxx.] + +In the earlier part of the reign the business of Government was chiefly +transacted by a committee, nominally for the consideration of Foreign +Affairs, but really bearing a fairly close analogy to the more modern +Cabinet Council. The King and the Duke of York were constantly present at +its meetings, and the other members were the Chancellor, Ormonde, +Southampton, the Duke of Albemarle, and the Secretaries of State, Nicholas +and Morrice. Its deliberations extended far beyond the sphere of foreign +affairs, and really comprised every branch of the executive, as well as +consideration of the policy which was to be followed in Parliamentary +affairs. Hyde was unquestionably the dominant power in that Council, and +however much a careful observer might have detected the signs of coming +dissension, his influence was as yet unimpaired. It rested upon his well- +tried loyalty, his unrivalled administrative capacity, and his thorough +command of detail; and while it was cemented by the cordial friendship of +some of his colleagues, it was smoothed, for the present at least, by an +absence of marked friction with any. + +We must, however, guard ourselves against a misconception which has +imposed itself upon many in forming their estimate of Hyde's new position. +It would be utterly wrong to fancy that he entered upon these heavy +responsibilities with any sense of triumph or elation, and inspired by any +pride of power. This would have been singularly out of harmony with his +character and disposition. Though he was ready to assume the burden of +administration from a sense of duty, we shall look in vain, throughout all +the critical epochs of his life, for any grasping after the prizes of +ambition. No letter and no utterance of Hyde's can be adduced in which he +put forward a claim for advancement or bargained for any office for +himself. The political arena had strong attractions for him, and his +principles, or, if we please to call them so, his prejudices, were +definite and keen. He was willing to spend his strength in the effort to +realize these, and success in that effort brought him rich satisfaction. +But he was too proud to make them aids in his own personal advancement. +Greatness was thrust upon him; and if disaster chafed him, it was not +because of the loss of personal advantages, but because the spirit of the +combatant felt defeat to be irksome, and because it involved a suspicion +of disgrace. The cause for which he fought was always more to him than his +own fortunes; and to plead on his behalf the excuse of natural elation at +his triumphal return to power is a singular ineptitude. [Footnote: +Strangely enough, this plea is advanced with little sense of proportion by +that most luke-warm of all biographers, Mr. Lister. Hyde's fame owes +little to such misplaced apologies.] + +Apart from Hyde's own history, and from the character which stands out so +clearly at once from his actions and his own record, such a conception is +unsupported by the actual facts of the case. Severe as had been the +hardships of his exile, tangled as had been the mazes through which he had +to steer his course, and baffling as had been his difficulties, we may +well doubt if Hyde did not, in the years that now follow, look back with +regret on the days when he had to fight against heavy odds with an ever- +growing confidence in his ultimate success. Against overwhelming forces, +his pen had successfully maintained the righteousness of the cause of his +late and of his present master, and had, by its undisputed superiority, +earned the fear and hatred of his triumphant foes. He had done much to +compose restless animosities in the exiled Court, and had introduced +something like order into its tangled economy. He had handled with +marvellous dexterity the selfish intrigues of foreign Courts, which he +could approach only as the powerless agent of a discredited and bankrupt +exile. From first to last he had insisted that the Restoration should not +be brought about at the expense of conditions to any foreign Power. He had +imparted much of his own undying confidence to his English correspondents, +and had kept alive the flame of loyalty under untoward circumstances. He +had compromised the cause by no dangerous engagement, and had maintained, +with unswerving rectitude, his own convictions of constitutional +principle. He had been sustained by the sure confidence that, in poverty +and exile, quite as much as when in the possession of ample power, he was +making history, and was shaping the foundations of a restored monarchy. + +But the hour of apparent triumph brought with it none of the solaces of +the long struggle. No one appreciated more fully the splendid chances that +were offered to the restored King; no one discerned more plainly how +blindly these chances were thrown away. Nor had he long to wait to realize +the depth of his disappointment. The blaze of triumph which surrounded the +Restoration; the universal joy with which the King was welcomed; the +strength of the tide of loyalty that swept over the nation--all these were +visible enough. But Hyde was under no delusionment as to the canker that +was soon to wither all his hopes. He draws no flattering picture of the +work in which his own part was so large. He recognizes that there "must +have been some unheard-of defect of understanding in those who were +trusted by the King with the administration of his affairs." [Footnote: +_Life_, i. 315.] His disappointment is too great to permit him to +waste words in any attempt to dissociate himself from the failure. + +Hyde saw clearly enough the danger that lurked in the very suddenness with +which the nation allowed itself to be swept away by the tide of loyalty. +It did not blind him to the wide diversity of opinion which prevailed, and +which made the royal authority so much smaller in fact than "the general +noise and acclamation, the bells, and the bonfires, proclaimed it to be." +A sedulous cultivation of his own dignity on the part of the King, a +respect for public opinion, the most unwearied attention to public +business, might indeed have allowed the seeds of loyalty to grow into a +strong plant. But the King had need not only of character and industry on +his own part, but of a high standard of public spirit and of duty in those +who were to be his Ministers. It is hard to say in which of the two the +failure was most complete. No one had better opportunity of measuring its +extent than Hyde; and it is in this that the tragedy of these few years of +gradually increasing disappointment consists. He saw how "all might have +been kneaded into a firm and constant obedience and resignation to the +King's authority, and to a lasting establishment of monarchic power, in +all the just extents which the King could expect, or men of any public or +honest affections could wish or submit to." [Footnote: _Life_, i. 321.] + +It is in these last words that we have the keynote of Hyde's deliberate +policy. He never lost what had been his guiding principle from his first +entry into the world of politics--a balance between Crown and Parliament, +and the maintenance of a constitutional monarchy. It is true that Hyde +assigned to the Crown a far more preponderating weight in the balance than +later constitutional theories admitted. Parliament, according to his +theory, was to be kept in a sort of tutelage, and the limits of its power +were to be strictly observed. But he felt that the Crown and the +Parliament were essential complements, one of the other; and he had no +wish to go back to the days when Parliament might be suspended, or the +Crown relieved from its dependence on the grants of the nation's +representatives. No underlying prerogative was to impose itself as +ultimately supreme. King and Parliament were alike to be subject to the +law; and the law courts were to be independent of dictation either from +one or the other. The last generation had seen each party alike attempting +to trample under foot that supremacy of the law; and Hyde hoped that each +had learned the lesson of their error. What he did not recognize was, that +new guarantees were necessary before the limitations of constitutional +monarchy were fully established. He had yet to learn how much the lessons +of adversity had been wasted on Charles II., and how mere shiftiness and +lack of principle might betray the Crown into errors even more fatal than +those of Strafford and of Charles I. These last had striven after an ideal +which was inacceptable to the English people, and they failed in the +struggle. Charles II, with incomparably better chances, threw these +chances away in mere wantonness, and he brought upon the Crown not defeat +only, but what was much worse, contempt. It was the very result from which +Hyde most recoiled. + +Hyde had not had long to wait for experience of one sort of difficulty +which he and his master had to meet. Charles had reached Canterbury about +three hours after he landed at Dover; and there he had been met by a host +of prospective recipients of royal favours. Some of them were too powerful +to brook denial; and first amongst these stood General Monk. + +The crowd of those who saw their own merits in an exaggerating mirror, and +whose shamelessness in urging their claims was often in inverse proportion +to their merits, roused only the contemptuous cynicism of the King. But +Monk was a claimant of another type; and it startled the King when Monk +placed in his hands a list of some seventy names as proper recipients for +the dignity of Privy Councillors, Some of these names were of such +unquestionable weight that application on their behalf was so unnecessary +as to be ridiculous. It did not need Monk's advocacy to recommend +Southampton and Ormonde and Hertford for any honour which the Crown could +bestow. But with their names were found those of men whose advancement +would have provoked a storm of opposition, and whose reputation for +loyalty rested upon the flimsiest basis. Charles thrust the paper in his +pocket, and dismissed Monk with the most flattering commendation of his +own merits. In his perplexity he turned to Hyde, and desired him to +expostulate with the General, and his dependant, Mr. Morrice. Hyde had +never before met either Monk or Morrice, and his first interview promised +to be a disagreeable one-preceded, as it was, by suspicions which had been +sedulously impressed upon Monk by Hyde's ill-wishers. He addressed himself +first to Morrice, whose character he soon learned to respect, as that of +an honest and capable man, although something too much of the scholar and +recluse, and with some lack of experience in action. To his surprise, he +found the difficulty less than he expected. The General, said Morrice, had +no thoughts of his recommendations being accepted wholesale. He had been +compelled to promise his favour, and had included many names only to +redeem that promise. But the King was not to understand that all these +names were meant for his acceptance. The difficulty was solved for the +time. But it had taught Hyde how slippery was the ground on which he +stood, and how fatal it would be to interpret, as sincere, suggestions +which were only formally made, and which might breed anger rather than +gratitude if accepted to the letter. + +Incidents like this--one only amongst many--soon disillusioned Hyde. The +great hopes which he had formed from estimating the splendid chances +opened by the Restoration, were grievously dispelled. He learned how +selfish and how flimsy was much of the noisy loyalty. He soon learned, +also, to take a just estimate of the character of the King. During the +time of exile he had formed a high opinion of Charles's abilities, and had +frequent cause to appreciate his tact and abundant fund of humour and of +common-sense. What he had not fully observed was the extent to which the +canker of cynicism had undermined the King's character, and how low was +his judgment of his fellow-men. He now discovered this, and found how +little he could depend upon him for that careful attention to business, +and that sense of responsibility, which, amidst all his errors, had never +been lacking in Charles I. It was a splendid opportunity. The Church had +recovered its power, and, it might be hoped, had learned wisdom from +adversity. The reign of that fanaticism which Hyde detested had passed +away. The Crown was restored, and its dignity and solid influence might be +increased and not diminished, by the recognition of the constitutional +limits on the power of the monarch. Parliament was again strong, and it +had learned enough to know that a straining of its powers to a tyranny was +distasteful to the people, and in reality, a danger to those very powers. +Law, which Hyde regarded as the keystone of the arch, was, he might fondly +fancy, fixed on a surer foundation. The sound principles which, as he had +once hoped, had been attained in the early days of the Long Parliament, +were again in sight. Parliamentary government had been vindicated, and yet +the dignity and influence of the Crown were safe. As trusted Minister of +the Crown, it might be his task to buttress securely the elaborate and +delicate mechanism of a free and constitutional monarchy, resting upon the +aid of Parliament, but secured in all amplitude of loyalty and reverence. +A few years--nay, rather a few months--served to show him how far the +reality was to fall short of his ideal. + +How did matters really stand between Charles and his people? Weariness, +full as much as loyalty, was the operative cause of the mood that brought +about the Restoration. Only a few weeks before, the gaunt and serried +ridges of national conflict stood out as threatening as ever. The grim +rocks of Episcopalianism and Presbytery, of Independence and Anabaptism, +of divine right and republicanism, stood opposed to one another. Suddenly, +almost like a dream, the wave of a new and over-mastering impulse had +risen and submerged them all. For the moment it was strong and deep enough +to overpower all other currents. On its smooth surface, Charles had +floated back to the throne. But the favouring wave had only covered for a +time--it had not swept away--the rocks underneath. These were soon to be +once more exposed. + +Charles had accepted the tribute of adulation with the smooth smile, the +superficial good-nature, the half-contemptuous courtesy, and the inherent +insincerity, of the cynic. His ruling passion was the innate selfishness +of the libertine. For constitutional principles, or even for any settled +ideas of government, he knew and cared nothing. If he had any ideal of +kingly power, it was framed according to the model of the French Court, +and was shaped to suit the gratification of his own tastes, and the +satisfaction of his appetites. The constitution was best neither as it +extended the limits of his own power, nor as it met the aspirations of his +people, but as it ensured the security of a sensual Court, and did not +interfere with his own love of ease. To this all thought of kingly +prerogative or of parliamentary influence, all care for the privileges of +the Church or of toleration, were alike subservient. The Minister who +desired to govern according to settled principles, and who based his +confidence on Charles, was building on the veriest quicksand. And yet of +all Ministers, Hyde was the one in whom temperament, tradition, taste and +sad experience, had most implanted the belief in rigid adherence to +principle. The ill-effect of such a conjunction could not be long +postponed. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +DIFFICULTIES TO BE MET + + +With that genial self-complacency, which sits so well on him, Hyde records +that he took his seat in the House of Lords as Lord Chancellor (but not a +peer) "with a general acceptation and respect." He found on the benches +round him those who had been his associates in the days before his exile, +or their sons. The old peers, or their successors, excluded from +Parliament so long, now took their places without any formal resolution, +and as a matter of routine; so easily had things slid back into their old +position. In the other House, there was a preponderance of "sober and +prudent men," after Hyde's own heart. Those who had but lately been +declared to be "malignants and delinquents" now gloried in the name; and +the ordinances which had, at the very summoning of the Convention, +excluded them, were now treated with contemptuous neglect. + +There was, indeed, a considerable leaven of the Presbyterian element, and +against its adherents Hyde bore a prejudice which even his prudence could +not suppress. Their disaffection to the Church was cloaked by an emphatic +assertion of their zeal for the Crown. They claimed, with some justice, no +mean share in the Restoration. The Covenant, they argued, assured their +loyalty, and its admission to the Churches, from which Cromwell had +banished it, had, they averred, contributed powerfully to the success of +the Royalist cause. Hyde refused to acquiesce in the theory that a common +hatred of the Independents ensured the continued alliance or the sure +loyalty of the Presbyterians, or that the Covenant, under the cover of +which they had levied war against the King in his own name, was a proper +object of grateful recognition. But, for the moment at least, their self- +interest was a sufficient safeguard against their proving troublesome to +the royal cause. + +In his first speech, Hyde, in the name of the King, urged upon both Houses +the necessity of passing the Bill of Indemnity and Oblivion, as necessary +in order to calm alarms, which might at any moment have disturbed the +public peace. That Bill of Indemnity and Oblivion had to be shaped in +accordance with the Declaration issued by the King from Breda. Personally, +Hyde had endeavoured to restrain the impulse which tempted the King to +clinch a promising bargain by over-lavish concessions. He always held that +the dignity of the King could not be satisfied without vengeance on the +murderers of his father, and that the security of the Crown rendered a +severe example necessary. But if his caution led him to look askance on +extravagant promises, his sense of honour taught him that whatever +promises were given, must be fulfilled. The question was, To what did +Charles's Declaration at Breda pledge him? + +Not once, but many times, from 1649 onwards, when his affairs were in the +most hopeless plight, Charles had clearly announced that he could make no +terms with those "who voted or acted in that bloody murder." Amongst the +vast majority in all parties who accepted the Restoration, there were few +who ever contemplated oblivion for that act. The Declaration had promised +a free pardon to all who, within forty days, "shall lay hold upon this our +grace and favour, and by any public act declare their doing so." It +excepted "only such persons as shall hereafter be excepted by Parliament." +Technically, this did not close the door even upon the agents in the death +of Charles I. Practically, it must be interpreted in the light of previous +Declarations. Strictly interpreted, it did not reserve to the Crown the +right to reject any proposed exemption, even for a regicide; and this, +perhaps, involved that Court influence should not be used against such an +exemption. [Footnote: In the letter from the King enclosing the +Declaration, words were used which served as a sort of gloss upon it: "If +there be a crying sin for which the nation may be involved in the infamy +which attends it, we cannot doubt but that you will be as solicitous to +redeem and vindicate the nation from that guilt and infamy as we can be." +These words were clear enough.] As a fact, there is no evidence that the +mercy which Parliament was disposed to show was in any way restricted by +such influence. Hyde, at least, made no effort to curtail the exemptions +made by Parliament. His only anxiety was that the Act should pass +speedily, so that the sense of insecurity should disappear, and the path +of reconciliation should be open. In his own words, "It was then, and more +afterwards, imputed to the Chancellor, that there were no more exceptions +in the Act of Indemnity, and that he laboured for expedition of passing +it, and for excluding any extraordinary exceptions; which reproach he +neither then, nor ever after, was solicitous to throw off." Not the least +of Hyde's trials was the difficulty of curbing the zeal--often prompted by +selfish motives--of the more hot-headed Royalists. + +As to the actual number of exceptions, the opinion of Parliament varied +and gradually increased in severity. Before the King's return it was +resolved that seven of the King's judges should be excluded from pardon. +After his return, on June 6th, a Proclamation was issued (after the +presentation of a joint address from both Houses), summoning all regicides +to surrender within fourteen days on pain of exclusion from pardon. This +was held to mean only that obedience to the proclamation would exempt them +from punishment without trial, and from exclusion from hope of pardon; +and, indeed, the Declaration had given up the King's power to do more +without the assent of Parliament. But as time went on, the mood of +Parliament became more severe. Three more--not the King's judges--were +excepted; and subsequently twenty more were made liable to punishment +short of death. The Peers proceeded still further in the direction of +severity; and when the Act received the Royal Assent in August, it +excepted forty-nine persons who were instrumental in the death of Charles, +with a proviso that nineteen, who had surrendered, should not suffer +death, without the sanction of an Act of Parliament; and certain others +were made amenable to punishment short of death. Finally, in October, the +excepted persons were brought to trial. All were found guilty, but of +these, ten only actually suffered death. Hyde's influence is plainly to be +seen in this degree of leniency, which certainly went beyond the +prevailing mood of Parliament. + +The two chief offenders whose fate had to be settled were Sir Henry Vane +and General Lambert. The Convention Parliament had petitioned that their +lives should be spared, and Clarendon, at least, was not unwilling that +this should be done. But the new Parliament, [Footnote: The Convention +Parliament met again in November, 1660, after its short recess. It was +dissolved on the 29th of December, 1660, and the new, and duly elected, +Parliament met on the 8th of May, 1661.] when it met, was in a more angry +mood, and repeatedly applied to the King that they should be brought to +trial. These petitions were referred by the King to the Chancellor, whose +answer indicates that he was inclined to find pretexts for delay. + +[Illustration: SIR HENRY VANE, THE YOUNGER. (_From the original by +William Dobson, in the National Portrait Gallery_.)] + +To follow their fate, we may anticipate a little the sequence of events. +The trial ultimately took place in June, 1662. Vane took what may have +been the courageous, but was certainly not the prudent, course of +defending his own action, and defying the Court. He was protected, so he +argued, by the Statute of Henry VII., which gave exemption from a charge +of treason to those who had served a King _de facto_, even against a +King _de jure_. It was clear that no such plea was valid in the case +of one who, by compassing the death of a King, had aided in establishing a +Commonwealth. Vane was convicted, and met his fate with marvellous courage +on June 14th, 1662. + +Vane was a strange compound of incongruous qualities--at once enthusiast +and philosopher, statesman and intriguer, a model of chivalrous courage, +and a profound dissembler. We cannot compass his character by adopting the +wayward estimate given of him by Anthony a Wood, who tells us that his +common nickname was Sir Humorous Vanity, and who dismisses him as "a +hotchpotch of religion," "an inventor of whimseys in religion, and +crotchets in the State." Just as little can we trust to Milton's lavish +praise: + + "Vane, young in years, but in sage counsel old + Than whom a better senator ne'er held + The helm of Rome." + +Perhaps the soundest judgment, albeit an unsympathetic one, is that of +Hyde: [Footnote: _Rebellion_, vii. 267.] "He was, indeed, a man of +extraordinary parts; a pleasant wit, a great understanding, which pierced +into and discerned the purpose of other men with wonderful sagacity, while +he had himself _vultum clausum_.... If he were not superior to Mr. +Hampden, he was inferior to no other man in all mysterious artifices." + +Lambert showed no such bold front to his judges. In his case imprisonment +was substituted for death, and he was kept in honourable and easy +confinement in Guernsey. In a subsequent letter, he expressed his +gratitude to Clarendon for his good offices in procuring this degree of +mercy. [Footnote: Bodleian MSS. Printed by Lister, vol. iii. p. 310.] + +But the question of settling the measure of indemnity to be granted was +only the first of many difficulties that craved wary walking on the part +of Hyde. Other weighty problems faced him. The most urgent of these was +the settlement of the Revenue, in regard to which Hyde had again to +mediate between two extremes. There were, doubtless, some who wished that +the complete supremacy of Parliament should be secured by making the Crown +depend entirely upon casual and arbitrary Parliamentary grants. In Hyde's +view this was inconsistent with the dignity of the Crown, was certain to +lead to friction, and would inevitably make Parliament the sole sovereign +power in the State. But just as little did he wish to fix a Revenue which +would have made the Crown entirely independent of Parliament, and would +have dispelled the scheme of a limited monarchy. However little it might +be to the taste of Charles and the crowd of grasping courtiers, Hyde +determined that, for all extraordinary expenses, the King should be +obliged to have recourse to the generosity of Parliament, and that the +ordinary expenditure should be kept within reasonable limits. If we are to +believe the account given to Pepys by Sir William Coventry, [Footnote: See +Pepys, _Diary_, March 20, 1669.] the Lord Treasurer, Lord +Southampton, would gladly have postponed the Indemnity Bill until an ample +revenue had been settled upon the King, so as to secure his independence. +According to Burnet, [Footnote: _Hist. of His own Time_, i. 286.] Hyde +could readily have obtained the consent of Parliament to a revenue of +£2,000,000, and deliberately refrained from doing so. + +A much more moderate, and, as it turned out, an inadequately secured, +revenue was fixed. Inquiries were instituted, which showed that the +revenue in the years immediately preceding the Civil War had been rather +less than £900,000, and that the expenditure had been £1,100,000. The +necessary expenses had, since then, materially increased, and could not +now be placed at less than £1,200,000. Towards this, the existing sources +of revenue, with the deduction of the Feudal dues and wardships, which it +was proposed to abolish, would not contribute more than one-half, or +£600,000. The remaining half was to be supplied from Excise--a new device, +as we have seen, contrived by Parliament during the Civil War, and +destined, as Hyde foresaw, to become a permanency. But, as a fact, the +assigned resources did not reach this amount of £1,200,000. Further, it +had to be taken into account that, when existing debts were added to the +necessary cost of disbanding the army, a burden of debt, amounting to +about two millions and a half, would have to be met. It must be kept in +mind also that there was no clear distinction between the Civil List, or +the personal expenses of the King's household, and the General Revenue. +All these circumstances, combined with the lavish extravagance of the +Court, soon led to financial deficits, and to hopeless confusion of +accounts. Such a condition of matters was certain to swell all other +causes of discontent. To meet them, an economy of administration, which +Hyde vainly hoped for and strove to bring about, was the only possible +expedient, assuming that the King were not to be made financially +independent. Possibly it would not have been beyond Hyde's power to adopt +the latter course; and that he had failed to provide the easy resource of +a lavish revenue was one of the causes that contributed to his subsequent +unpopularity at Court. He soon found that under such a master, and in such +a Court, economy of administration was a hopeless ideal. He irritated the +crowd of selfish and grasping sycophants, and yet he failed to lay a +secure foundation of sound financial administration. The difficulties of +the situation rendered that an impossible task. The financial settlement, +such as it was, was not reached till December, after a short adjournment +in September and October. Meanwhile, another, and equally threatening, +problem had to be faced, and it was faced with promptitude and success. +The Restoration found a force of 60,000 trained and seasoned men under +arms. Had the Chief Minister of Charles felt it consistent with his duty +to conciliate that force and keep it embodied, the hopes of constitutional +monarchy would have been vain. The cost would have been heavy, but it +would have been itself the best security against resistance. It would, +doubtless, have rallied to its paymaster, and would have been an effectual +check upon the growing power of Parliament. But such a course would have +been absolutely contradictory to Hyde's deepest convictions of +constitutional rectitude, and it would have been in deadly opposition to +all the traditions of the nation--traditions which were tenaciously held +even after the institution of a standing army had become a necessity of +the European position of this country, and after the necessary absorption +of that army in the stirring tasks imposed upon it abroad had made its use +as an instrument of tyrannical power impossible. Hyde saw that his ideal +of Government demanded that the army should be disbanded, and that +promptly. He did not conceal from himself the danger that the disbanding +involved. It was soon apparent that the political leanings which had been +submerged in the rest of the nation survived in threatening force amongst +the ranks of the army. There were many in the ranks who disliked monarchy +in any shape, and Monk, who had been their all-powerful leader so long as +his designs were uncertain, was now the object of their sullen hatred, and +his life was threatened by designs of assassination cherished amongst his +old soldiery. The army, it was evident, must be master of the nation, or +it must cease to exist. Hyde dealt skilfully with the problem in his +speech to Parliament on the eve of the adjournment on September 13th. The +King, he said, did not resent the common belief that he would not disband +the army. + +"It was a sober and a rational jealousy." "No other prince in Europe would +be willing to disband such an army--an army to which victory is entailed, +and which, humanly speaking, could hardly fail of victory, wheresoever he +should lead it. And if God had not restored his Majesty to that felicity +as to be without apprehension of danger at home or from abroad, and +without any ambition of taking from his neighbours what they are possessed +of, himself would never disband this army--an army whose order and +discipline, whose sobriety and manners, whose courage and success, have +made it famous and terrible all over the world." + +The words were admirably framed to conciliate the army, to indicate the +danger, and to show clearly the moderate policy of the Crown. No financial +straits were allowed to prevent the prompt disbandment, which was carried +out with singular success. Before November more than half of that army was +peaceably paid off; and a few months more saw the end of almost the whole +force. The disturbances which soon after arose led to the retention of +Monk's Coldstream Guards, a regiment of Horse Guards, and another regiment +from Dunkirk. These formed the King's guards, deemed essential for the +security of the King's person; and they were the nucleus of the future +standing army. During Hyde's later administration they never exceeded 5000 +men. The magic of discipline and cohesion gone, Cromwell's Ironsides +ceased to be an effective instrument of war. But, spread throughout the +villages of England, they powerfully leavened the national character, and +prevented the effacement of a type which the strain of Civil War and the +white-heat of religious enthusiasm had served to create. The threatenings +of a sullen temper on the part of the army, who found their occupation +gone, were happily averted. But Hyde recognized that a deeper danger lay +behind, in the still more sullen and dangerous temper of many amongst the +Royalist party. They represented every type. There were the old Cavaliers, +who had fought in the earlier years of the war, had seen their dearest and +best fall in the King's service, and had permanently crippled, or entirely +lost, their estates for the Royalist cause. Twenty years of poverty and +hardship, if it had not slackened their loyalty, had taught them caution. +They knew by experience the hopelessness of plots, and had recognized that +the Royalist cause must look, not to forlorn hopes, but to a slowly +ripening change of national feeling. In the dark days they had distrusted +the feverish energy of younger men, whose record of loyalty was short, and +who had sought to retrieve the lateness of their adherence to the Royalist +cause by its restless zeal. Amongst these last, there were, indeed, many +whose services could not be disparaged, such as young Lord Mordaunt, who +had repeatedly risked his life in passing between England and the quarters +of the exiled Court. But it was no selfish motive that prompted caution to +men like Ormonde, Hertford, and Southampton. Ormonde himself, as we have +seen, had ventured to visit London secretly under Cromwell's rule, in +order to keep alive the zeal of the Royalist party. Hertford and +Southampton had refused all overtures from the Protector, and their +loyalty was beyond cavil. But much as they had suffered and were ready to +suffer again, they dreaded, with good reason, the recklessness of the more +militant section, and knew the risks that it involved. Repeatedly they had +urged the King "to sit still, and expect a reasonable revolution, without +making any unadvised attempt;" and their policy had been consistently +maintained by Hyde. Hyde's own position and his influence with the King +was, as we have seen, suspected by the more daring spirits. The Royalist +party, amidst all its depression, had been injured by inherent defects and +crippled by its own inappeasable dissensions. Many of the older Royalists +were dead, and those who had taken their place had no experience in public +affairs, were unknown to one another, and were suspicious of those whose +views in any way differed from their own. The most trustworthy were +cautious, and, before they declared their adherence to any scheme, had +made it a condition that their designs should be imparted only to Ormonde +and Hyde. But negotiations could not be confined to them, without +discouraging those whose zeal was undoubted. The network of suspicion +increased and left permanent marks. + +All these various and mutually suspicious groups in the Royalist party +had, now that the cause had triumphed, to be satisfied in some way or +other, and their deserts had to receive such recognition as would leave +only a minimum of rankling discontent. The first question that had to be +settled was the restitution of property. How far was it possible, +consistently with the claims of justice and the paramount supremacy of +law? + +Claims of restitution arose from three sources--the Crown, the Church, and +the impoverished adherents of the cause. The Crown lands had been seized +by Parliament in 1648. No claim of prescription could be allowed to +operate there; and the Crown was reinstated in possession of these lands, +whether they had been granted or sold to their present possessors. The +same summary method was applied to estates of which the original owners +had been dispossessed, and which had passed as rewards for services to +Parliament, or had been sold by that authority. But a much more +troublesome question arose with regard to lands which had been sold by +Royalist owners, in order to meet their own necessities, to satisfy the +exactions levied by Parliament on "malignants," or to permit the loyal +owner to contribute to the necessities of the Crown. Such cases involved +fully as much hardship, and it made little difference to the impoverished +landlord whether his estate had been impounded by the triumphant rebels, +or had been sold by himself in order to meet the fines imposed by the +usurping power. But it was felt that, except by a dangerous unsettlement +of all legal process, and by destroying all public confidence, no +universal cancelling of voluntary and legal transactions could take place. +The Declaration of Breda had left all such matters to the decision of +Parliament; and Hyde refused to depart from it, or to face the certain +destruction of all public confidence which more drastic action in the way +of restitution would have produced. But the murmurings of those whose +sufferings were in no wise lessened by the technicalities of the law, were +deep and enduring. The King was deemed to be ungrateful for the +sacrifices, and careless of the sufferings of his adherents; and the +heaviest part of the blame fell upon Hyde. Burnet tells us, repeating the +talk of the day, that the Act of Indemnity was currently spoken of "as an +Act of Indemnity for the King's enemies and of Oblivion for his friends"; +and he avers that "the whole work, from beginning to end, was Hyde's." +[Footnote: Burnet's _History of His own Time_, i. 298.] There is no reason +to accept anything on Burnet's sole authority; but at least there is +nothing in this inconsistent with Hyde's general attitude, nor is it, +indeed, easy to see how any other course could have been followed without +leading to widespread confusion and an undermining of public credit. + +An even more crucial question, and one bristling with difficulties, arose +with regard to Church property. Upon none had the sufferings of the time +fallen with more severity than on the Church and her clergy. She had +shared the tribulations of the Royal Martyr, and the best tribute that +could be paid to his memory was surely to secure that she should now feel +the sunshine of a new dawn. If the history of these twenty years had +proved anything, it had proved how faithfully the Church reflected the +spirit of the English people, and how deeply their traditional love for +that Church was implanted in their hearts. She, too, had produced her own +martyr in Laud, and the aims with which he had inspired her were +recovering their hold over the nation. The pages of Pepys's _Diary_ tell +us how even his sprightly self-complacency could be moved to enthusiasm by +the revival of her dignified ceremonial; and the harmony of her ritual had +charms for those who had none of Pepys's musical taste and skill, but +might well have a deeper love for its essential beauty, and a better +appreciation of all that it meant for the heart of the nation. The +survivors amongst her scattered bishops, and the long train of her ejected +clergy, represented not only a tale of individual suffering, but an insult +offered to the cherished traditions of a people singularly prone to be +touched by an appeal to history. The yoke of the Presbyterians and +Independents had been a hard one, and the Church Restored was the outward +sign of release from bondage to those whom that yoke had galled. Her +dignitaries had suffered the direst straits of poverty, and her clergy had +sought a meagre livelihood in menial employment, or had lived in +dependence upon the secret benevolence of impoverished loyalists, in whose +households they were often well-loved inmates. They had full need of +money, not only for their own subsistence, but to repair their desecrated +shrines and to obliterate the marks which civil strife and an iconoclastic +spirit had left upon those great cathedrals and those well-loved parish +churches that symbolized the faith of the nation. They would have been +more or less than human had they not been stirred by zeal to repair the +ravages which sacrilegious hands had wrought upon the national Sion, and +eager, with that end, to seize upon the booty which the plunderer was to +be made to disgorge. To share that zeal was one of the constituent +elements in Hyde's character, and he was not likely to abandon it in the +face of a careless group of profligate courtiers, to whom the Church +Restored was at best but a sign of the triumph of their party, and who +were ready to toast the Church in their cups, but in their sober hours to +allow it to starve as a new form of martyrdom. + +Hyde's task in this matter was one of no small difficulty. The +Presbyterians were able to point to their services to the Crown and their +adherence to the principles of monarchy. In many cases they had proved +acceptable to their parishioners, and where the Episcopal incumbent no +longer survived, the removal of the existing pastor might seem to involve +needless hardship, and would certainly irritate a large section of the +nation. Even where the incumbent did survive, it would have been hopeless +to demand the repayment of tithes over a long series of past years. The +surviving clergy must be restored, but restored without payment of +arrears. The bishops entered on their sees, and policy demanded that in +dealing with the revenues they should interfere as little as might be with +the rights of existing tenants of Church property. + +But the constitution of the Church of England permitted the observance of +no arbitrary rule, however expedient, in dealing with the revenues of +individual bishops or incumbents. They possessed rights which the law must +uphold, and they had abundant need of the resources placed at their +command. Dilapidations had to be made good; debts necessarily incurred +left little room for generosity. On the whole, their rights were not +unduly strained, and Hyde declares that special instances, where bishops +or incumbents pressed with rigour on their tenants, were comparatively +rare, however much they were magnified by the rancour of their enemies. It +was suggested that some of the revenues of the larger sees should be +diverted for the benefit of the smaller incumbencies. To do this would +have been to alter the constitution of the Church, and the moment of +restitution after long suffering was not the time for such a change. Nor +was there any machinery of the law by which it could have been carried +out. Some of the surviving bishops were old and inactive. Others were +appointed from the ranks of Royalist adherents on grounds of ardent +partisanship rather than of fitness for the position; and it would have +been too much to expect that in reaching a haven of prosperity after the +storm of persecution they should not have been, at times, unduly attentive +to worldly advantage. Hyde had long been conscious that wary and wise +policy could not always be looked for from the clerical profession. But he +had no wish, even had he possessed the power, to deprive them of the +advantages which were theirs by law. + +Behind the question of material interests there was another of far more +consequence. What was to be the texture of the restored Church, and how +far could a compromise be reached between the Church and the +Nonconformists? + +There can be no doubt that the position was affected by the terms of the +Declaration of Breda, which constituted a sort of treaty between the Crown +and the Parliament. That Declaration gave a full promise of toleration. +But it is idle to maintain that toleration for tender consciences involved +a reconstitution of the Church to suit those consciences. [Footnote: It is +the failure to distinguish between these two things that vitiates the +arguments of those who, in our own day, have reflected most severely on +the action of Hyde. He had not the power, even if he had had the desire, +to alter the framework of the Church. With regard to toleration, he had to +take account of the fears of the nation, that such toleration was a device +of Charles in favour of the Roman Catholics, and of the conviction that, +as an act of the Crown alone, it was illegal. After his day, it was aided +by the compliance of the most corrupt and unscrupulous Ministry which +England has ever known. This confusion is the flaw which runs throughout a +careful and painstaking monograph on the subject, published in 1908, by +Mr. Frank Bate, under the powerful _ægis_ of Professor Firth.] There +was a large body of Presbyterian clergy whose incumbencies were not +interfered with by any claims of ejected and surviving Episcopalians. If a +compromise could be reached which would bring these incumbents within the +pale of the Church, it might be well. But they could not found a claim to +such a compromise on the terms of the Declaration. That secured to them +only toleration for their scruples, not a revolution in the Church to suit +their views. Charles II., while distinctly asserting his intention of +maintaining the ritual of the Church in his own chapel, was ready, with +his usual complaisance, to indicate a willingness to accept a compromise +and to modify some of the usages of the Church, which, under Laud's rule, +had become a part of her constitution. But in doing so he really went +beyond, not only the terms of the Declaration, but the power of his own +prerogative. The alteration desired could only be carried out by the +action of Parliament; and it remained to be seen whether the temper of +Parliament would permit it. As a fact, the ready compliance and easy +temper of the King raised hopes in the breasts of the Presbyterians which +were doomed to disappointment. At their first interview some of their +appointed representatives shed tears of joy for the happy settlement which +it seemed to portend. For a time a compromise seemed possible; but it +could only have been achieved by offending the strongest party within the +Church. Sincerely as he was attached to the ceremonies of the Church, Hyde +was statesman first, and churchman only second. According to his view, the +Church, as an institution of the State, was subject to the Civil power. He +would have resented the intrusion of the State into fundamental points of +doctrine; but if, upon non-essential matters of ceremonial, a working +compromise could be attained, he was anxious that such a compromise should +receive confirmation at the hands of the State. It soon appeared that such +a consummation was scarcely to be hoped for. Angry debates arose in +Parliament when the question of religion was touched. The proposals made +by the Presbyterians might well provoke the anger of those who saw in them +the subordination of ecclesiastical tradition to the tenets of a party +which had been overbearing in their hour of triumph, and were ready now, +by a cunning appeal for peace, to make their austere and unattractive +ritual trample over the cherished customs of the Church. The fact that +ritual, rather than doctrine, was concerned, made the fight only the more +real, and the passions on either side the more eager. For one man who +cared for doctrine there were a hundred to whom the familiar ritual of +their Church embodied and represented its very essence. Apostolical +succession and the Real Presence were matters for theologians. A stately +liturgy, the dignity of worship--nay, even the wearing of the surplice-- +these stirred the hearts of the average Englishman ten times more deeply. +Surrender on these matters would have meant that at every Sunday's service +they would have been reminded that the usages that were enshrined in their +memories had passed away, and that the Church they had fought for was +transformed at the will of her triumphant enemies. The Convention +Parliament was adjourned on September 13th, before any settlement was +reached, and leaving any placating of the Presbyterians as unpopular as +ever. + +Charles still desired compromise from very weariness of the fight. Hyde +was ready to help that compromise so far as it could be gained without +substantial injury to the Church. Meetings took place at Worcester House, +[Footnote: The house built by the Marquis of Worcester. It was confiscated +during the Commonwealth, and had for a time been occupied by Cromwell.] +where Hyde resided as Chancellor, at which the King himself was present, +with certain of the bishops and the leading Presbyterian divines. +Difficulties soon arose. It was no part of Charles's scheme that the +Presbyterians should have the triumph all to themselves. In terms of the +Declaration of Breda toleration was to be granted to all, and Hyde +distinctly announced that it was the intention of the King to carry out +that obligation to all. That was no part of the Presbyterian view, and +portended a laxity which their consciences would not permit them to +accept, and which might even embrace the hated Roman Catholics. If it was +Hyde's intention by this announcement to countercheck their demand for a +compromise which, in the pliancy of the King's temper, might have conceded +all their main tenets, and to expose the hollowness of their demand for +release from an over-strict conformity, his design succeeded admirably. +The Presbyterians were forced into an illogical position. At the moment +when they prayed for lenient treatment which was to help them to share in +Church endowments, they were shown to be ready to enforce a yoke of +intolerance upon those Dissenters who stood outside their own pale, and +who sought only for liberty to carry on an unendowed worship after their +own fashion. + +But the hopes of compromise were even yet not at an end. Charles was still +eager for it as an escape from harassing disputes. A Declaration was +published which went strangely far in its concessions to the +Presbyterians, if Hyde is to be considered as concurring in its proposals. +Episcopacy was recognized as worthy of support because it was established +by law, was expedient for the circumstances of the nation, and had a long +tradition--but not as being a matter of divine institution. Its framework +was to be modified so as to reduce materially the aristocratic government +of the Church, and regulations were to be introduced which savoured +strongly of Presbyterian republicanism of rule. The Liturgy was to be +revised, and the outstanding accompaniments of ritual--genuflection, the +sign of the Cross, the wearing of the surplice--were not to be enforced. +Subscription to the Thirty-Nine Articles was not to be required. + +If Hyde really assented to these proposals, it proves how urgent he +considered the necessity of some settlement to be. The devout adherents of +the Church might well suspect a betrayal of their cause. The Presbyterians +were elated, not without due reason. All that they asked for seemed to be +conceded; and perhaps, in the circumstances, they might have deigned to +overlook the laxity which permitted toleration to those whose doctrines +they held to be intolerable. Their triumph seemed so assured that they +might look forward with confidence to the time when the Independent and +the Anabaptist would be crushed out of existence. No wonder that one of +their number, Reynolds, was persuaded to accept the Bishopric of Norwich, +and that others found no reason to resent a similar offer to themselves, +although their Presbyterianism did not, at the moment, fully warrant its +acceptance. + +But there remained a danger to be faced by this specious scheme of +compromise. Parliament met after the adjournment, on November 6th. No +Declaration could prevail until it had received Parliamentary +confirmation; and Charles was to find that a Royalist Parliament might +refuse to endorse even a royal compromise which sacrificed principle for +the sake of an apparent peace. The Church was able to prove herself +stronger than the King, and, at her bidding, Parliament declined to +surrender the distinctive character of her Government and her ritual. It +required no great prescience to foresee that concessions to Nonconformity +were apt to have, as their chief result, the speedy formulating of new +demands for modification at once of government and of ritual. Whatever was +the motive, Parliament declined to accept the Bill which embodied the +terms of the King's Declaration. Its second reading was rejected by 183 +votes to 157. This happened at the close of November, and a month later +the Convention Parliament was dissolved. It had still to be seen what +further negotiations might lead to, and whether a new Parliament would be +less zealous in maintaining the prerogatives of the Church, or whether new +events might not sharpen the vengeance of the now dominant faction. As for +Hyde himself, he knew well how much easier his task would be made if any +compromise or conciliation could be effected. But such ease would have +been bought too dear if it involved undue concessions to that +Presbyterianism which his soul detested, a weakening of the Church which, +in its broad features, he held to be indissolubly bound up with the +constitution, or a betrayal of the cause for which Charles I and Laud had +given their lives. Besides his own convictions, loyalty to these memories, +that were sacred for him, kept Hyde true to the Church. + +Before following further the events which were to shape his policy as +Minister, it is well to turn to others which had a more immediate personal +concern for him. The first of these struck home to his feelings as a +father, and was to have far-reaching consequences in a wider field. +Separated though he was, during most of the long years of exile, from his +family, Hyde had none the less kept the warmest domestic affections. These +affections were now to be hardly tried; and the manner in which he bore +the trial was strangely characteristic both of the man and of the age. + +We have already seen how Anne Hyde, his eldest daughter, had, during the +years of exile, attracted the favour of the Princess of Orange, the eldest +sister of Charles II. When a vacancy occurred amongst her Maids of Honour, +the Princess had offered the post to Anne Hyde. The offer, however +flattering, did not attract her father, who dreaded, for his daughter, the +slippery paths of Court life and appreciated the envy which such an +appointment might excite. He knew that the Queen-Mother, with her usual +desire for domination, would wish to choose her daughter's confidants, and +he strove, as far as respect for the Princess would permit, to avoid the +pitfalls that it might involve for his daughter. He pleaded the +consideration that the appointment might not be acceptable to Queen +Henrietta; but the Princess had insisted upon her exclusive right to +select her own household. Driven from this refuge he had alleged the +difficulty of separating mother and daughter, and agreed to refer the +decision to his wife in full confidence that she would share his own +fears. But if she had doubts they were overcome, and to Hyde's surprise, +she cordially accepted the gracious offer of the Princess. [Footnote: +Amongst the Bodleian papers there is a submissive letter from Anne Hyde to +her father, dated October 19th, 1654, in which she states her readiness to +accept any decision which he may make, and to accept the new life, much as +she dreads the parting from her mother (_Calendar of Clarendon Papers_, +vol. ii. p. 401.)] Anne Hyde possessed no special charm of person, and had +no claim to rank amongst the beauties of the Court. But she was gifted +with much sprightliness and humour, and although the scandals that +assailed her virtue were triumphantly refuted she was frank enough not to +hide such attraction of manner as she possessed, nor harshly to reject +advances. She soon made a deep impression on the morose spirit of the Duke +of York, and in the autumn of 1659, there was a secret but solemn contract +of marriage between them, and they regarded themselves as man and wife. It +was not till September 3rd, 1660, that they were secretly married at +Worcester House, the residence of Hyde, although her father knew as little +as any one of the contract; and on September 22nd their eldest son was +born. Already the Duke had confided the secret to his brother, the King, +and Charles received it with that complacent humour that redeemed many of +his faults. + +Before this, Hyde had welcomed his daughter to her English home with +special joy. "He had always had a great affection for her; and she, being +his eldest child, he had more acquaintance with her than with any of his +children." [Footnote: _Life_, i. 377.] + +He had a project of marriage for her, which he deemed advantageous, and +according to the notions of the days of his own youth, such arrangements +were best made by parents. Other views had become current since these +days, and the Chancellor's matrimonial schemes were rudely shattered. + +It was not surprising that rumours as to the marriage were rife, although +they did not reach the Chancellor's ears. His absorption in his work +perhaps prevented him from gaining that confidence in his own family which +an idler man would have commanded. Such stories were soon spread abroad by +the gossip of the Court, and shrewd observers guessed the truth. Ashley +Cooper, on one occasion soon after the Restoration, quitting the dinner- +table of the Chancellor, in the company of Lord Southampton, declared to +him that he was convinced that Anne Hyde was married to one of the +brothers. The half-suppressed respect with which her mother treated her, +and carved to her of every dish, had revealed the state of affairs to him. +Pepys and Burnet repeat to us the tittle-tattle of the circles in which +they moved, and the various estimates which were made as to the effect of +the impending disclosure upon the Chancellor's power. The ambition which +made her mother accept for Anne the post of Maid of Honour to the Princess +of Orange, now made her an abettor in the scheme, which she evidently +concealed from her husband. + +Charles had imbibed too much of the vagrant humours of his own Court in +exile to feel any tragic indignation over his brother's confidences. We +can fancy what view would have been taken of such a daring breach of royal +etiquette, either at the Court of James I., or of Charles I., where lesser +matrimonial crimes had received the punishment of life-long imprisonment. +But alien as such bygone theories were to the temperament of Charles II., +yet even he felt that the complication was awkward. The humour of the +situation might appeal to him; but he knew his Chancellor well enough to +be sure that such a revelation would come as a thunderbolt to him. Hyde's +principles were those of the older generation. The intrigue would be +hateful to him no less as treason to the Crown than as a trespass upon the +good name and dignity of his own family. That ideal of simplicity and +directness which he regarded as the very essence of domestic morality had +been blurred and marred within his own home by the taint of that poison +which he believed to threaten the perversion of English life. From its +encroachments he would fain have kept his own household free; but it was +in that household that he saw that poison first assert itself, and even +encroach upon the royal dignity which, by tradition and by principle, was +to Hyde a sacred thing. Charles correctly gauged the storm that was +brewing. In his perplexity he sent for Ormonde and Southampton, the +Chancellor's dearest friends, and bade them broach to him the revelations +of the Duke. + +The meeting accordingly took place. Ormonde told the Chancellor "that he +had a matter to inform him of that he doubted would give him much +trouble," and advised him to compose himself to hear it. He then gave him +the news: "That the Duke of York had owned a great affection for his +daughter to the King, and that he much doubted that she was with child by +the Duke, and that the King required the advice of them and of him what he +was to do." + +The result was, as they had good reason to expect, and as they did expect. +"The manner of the Chancellor's receiving this advertisement made it +evident enough that he was struck with it to the heart." Most fathers +would have felt such indignation; but to appreciate Hyde's feelings, we +must remember at once the ideas of the time with which Hyde's memories +dwelt, and the distinctive features of his own character. The monarchy for +which he had wrought and suffered, and which he would fain have seen +restored in all its ample dignity, even if curbed by the supreme authority +of the law, and by the balance of the constitution, was one which, even in +the days of his own manhood, had been draped in "the divinity that doth +hedge a King." For him, behind the frivolous and wayward personality of +Charles II., there loomed, clear and distinct, the imperishable +stateliness and dignity, and the unapproachable pride, of his father. + +That presence, made sacred by martyrdom, was enshrined in Hyde's heart of +hearts, and shaped his ideals. His aim was to restore the monarchy to all +its former dignity and stateliness, secured and not weakened by +constitutional limitations. But if this were to be accomplished, there +must be no stain on the royal prestige by an alliance with a family which +was little above bourgeois rank. What he would have deemed worthy of dire +punishment in another, now presented itself to him as something in which +his own family was primarily involved. It was in violent antagonism to all +his traditions and convictions; and men like Hyde do not lightly suffer a +shock to their convictions. + +We must not forget that there was another and even more natural cause for +his anger. Because Hyde's family held no high place among the nobility of +England, it did not follow that he had no legitimate ground for family +pride. He belonged to the proudest stock in existence--the ancient +yeomanry of the land. Men of his race had held high and responsible +office, and their name was without a taint. The Chancellor could not but +realize that his own work had even already made history, and that it had +secured for his family name a high and permanent place in the annals of +England. He had no mind to learn the lesson of a new and foreign fashion, +and to find in left-handed alliances with royalty a flimsy pretext to +consideration and a stepping-stone to power. It must be noted, also, that +in the story, as presented to him, there was a mere tale of unguarded +love, and that his daughter's honour was to be at the hazard of any +arrangement that might be patched up on grounds of policy and convenience. +He might not unreasonably deem that honour which was to be so preserved +was scarcely worth preserving. His soul abhorred the fetid turpitudes that +stained the purlieus of the Court, and if he served in that Court, he was +determined that his own character, and that of his family, should not be +besmeared. Hyde was no strait-laced moralist. He had been familiar in his +earlier days with a society that was by no means puritanical, and he could +discern fine points of character, and find attractive friendships, amongst +men whose morality was avowedly lax. But it was the vulgar obscenity of +Charles II.'s Court that moved his contempt; and he was suddenly brought +face to face with the announcement that his own family was involved in it, +and that, too, in circumstances which must inevitably give rise to the +suspicion that laxity of morals was allied with the sordid promptings of +selfish ambition. For a man so proud as he, it was the chief tragedy of +his life. + +We need not, then, be surprised that his indignation knew no bounds. The +love he had borne for his daughter only increased his anger. He broke out +against "her wickedness," and swore "that he would turn her out of his +house, as a strumpet, to shift for herself." Ormonde and Southampton +strove to moderate his rage by telling him that they believed his daughter +to be already married to the Duke. + +His answer was astounding enough. + +"If it were true, he was well prepared to advise what was to be done; that +he had much rather his daughter should be the duke's whore than his wife; +in the former case nobody could blame him for the resolution he had taken, +for he was not obliged to keep a whore for the greatest prince alive; and +the indignity to himself he would submit to the good pleasure of God. But +if there were any reason to suspect the other, he was ready to give a +positive judgment, in which he hoped their lordships would concur with +him; that the King should immediately cause the woman to be sent to the +Tower, and to be cast into a dungeon under so strict a guard, that no +person living should be admitted to come to her; and then that an Act of +Parliament should be immediately passed for the cutting off of her head, +to which he would not only give his consent, but would very willingly be +the first man that should propose it." + +"And who ever knew the man," adds Hyde, in all the leisure of +reminiscence, and of exile, "will believe that he said all this very +heartily." + +A strange and frenzied utterance, indeed, to come from a father's lips! No +wonder that, on the King entering the room, Southampton should have made +the comment, "That his Majesty must consult with soberer men; that he +(pointing to the Chancellor) was mad, and had proposed such extravagant +things, that he was no more to be consulted with." We can only try to +judge the words with such leniency as we may, bearing all the +circumstances in mind. + +The tidings had first come to Hyde as an announcement of his daughter's +dishonour. After that first blow had fallen, a new aspect was given to the +case, by the avowal of his friends that his daughter had covered her +dishonour by a formal marriage, and by becoming a participant in a plot, +which, to the mind of Hyde and his contemporaries, was of a treasonable +character. The Act which prevented any member of the royal family from +contracting a marriage without the formal assent of the King was not +passed until the following generation. But its absence from the Statute +Book was due only to the fact that such an offence against the dignity of +the Crown was forbidden under weightier sanction, and the treason it +involved admitted of no doubt. The days were past when the crime of a +secret marriage within the royal line could be punished, as in the case of +Lady Arabella Stuart, by life-long imprisonment; but it did not follow +that to one nurtured on these traditions the crime had lost its +heinousness. It struck a deadly blow at that ideal of the royal dignity +which it was Hyde's chief aim to restore. By a freak of frivolous +licentiousness, he saw the foundations of his life's work sapped. Into +none of the love affairs of Charles II. and his brother did the tragedy of +passion ever enter. Like the rest, this was a bit of vulgar, commonplace +intrigue. It was scarcely wonderful that the revelation of its sordid +details stirred to frenzy that temper the heat of which Hyde himself so +often laments. + +But the resolution of the Chancellor, frantic as it might appear, was not +to be shaken. The King personally called for his advice, and it was +repeated to exactly the same effect. He would rather, he said, submit to +the disgrace than that it should be repaired by the Duke's making her his +wife: + +"the thought whereof," he said, deliberately, "I do so much abominate, +that I had much rather see her dead, with all the infamy that is due to +her presumption." "I beseech you," he said to the King," to pursue my +counsel, as the only expedient that can free you from the evils that this +business will otherwise bring upon you." + +With still greater freedom he went on, noticing that the King did not +relish his advice. + +"I am the dullest creature alive, if, having been with your Majesty so +many years, I do not know your infirmities better than other men. You are +of too easy and gentle a nature to contend with those rough affronts which +the iniquity and license of the late times is like to put upon you before +it be subdued and reformed. The presumption all kind of men have upon your +temper is too notorious to all men, and lamented by all who wish you well; +and, trust me, an example of the highest severity in a case that so nearly +concerns you, and that relates to the person who is nearest to you, will +be so seasonable, that your reign, during the remaining part of your life, +will be the easier to you, and all men will take heed how they impudently +offend you." + +Whatever we may think of the Chancellor's advice, it was unquestionably +sincere. Hyde was not the man to make a show of severity merely in order +to clear himself of the suspicion of being privy to the plot. It is hardly +necessary to say that, as a practical matter, his advice was extravagantly +absurd. Charles's sense of humour, if nothing else, would have saved him +from any such proposal. The day was gone when the machinery of English law +could be used to magnify an intrigue of gallantry into the dignity of +tragedy. Anne Hyde's head was perfectly safe; and had any other suggestion +ever been made public it would have been laughed out of Court. Her +character might, indeed, have been ruined; she might have been denied +recognition as a wife; and steps might have been taken for her quiet +seclusion from public life. But a State trial would have been a grotesque +absurdity; and Charles was acute enough to take the frenzied advice of his +honest Minister at its just value. + +Meanwhile the Chancellor tried to put into operation within his own house +his drastic views of parental authority. His daughter was commanded "to +keep her chamber, and not to admit any visitors." Even the remonstrances +of the King and the Duke of York did not avail to make him abate this +exercise of his rights. It is not surprising that his severity was +rendered nugatory, and that his daughter found means of admitting her +husband's visits "by the administration" (as Hyde quaintly puts it) "of +those who were not suspected by him, and who had the excuse, that they +knew that they were married." Lady Hyde evidently thought that there were +better ways of arranging matters than the dungeon and the block. + +But there were other exalted personages to be placated, and they were less +likely to take a lenient view. The Princess of Orange could scarcely be +expected to see with equanimity her protégée and maid of honour advanced +to a position superior to her own. Queen Henrietta was not apt to tolerate +any invasion of her rights. Both these ladies were soon to visit England, +and between them poor Anne Hyde stood little chance of a welcome within +the guarded circle of royalty. + +It was partly to smooth the way for the alliance, and partly out of no +unnatural gratitude, that Charles now declared his intention of conferring +a peerage on the Chancellor, and gave him a grant of £20,000 out of the +amount which Parliament had sent to him at the Hague. Hyde had previously +refused the peerage, as likely to provoke jealousy; but now the juncture +seemed opportune, and he accepted it with gratitude. On November 6th, he +took his seat in the House of Lords as Baron Hyde of Hindon. [Footnote: +Hindon is a small village in Wilts, surrounded by down lands, and situated +a few miles from Hatch House, the home of Lawrence Hyde, and from Dinton, +the Chancellor's birthplace. Until the Reform Bill of 1832, it returned +two members to Parliament.] + +But this moderate step of advancement in no way mitigated the sense of the +degradation of the alliance felt by the Princess and the Queen. Henrietta +was not in the habit of veiling her feelings in any language of +moderation; and her anger was shown at once, by action and by words. Once +more she allowed full swing to the fury of her temper against the +Chancellor, who had experienced it before. Her irritation was speedily +observed, and the baser spirits that haunted the Court readily discerned +and welcomed a means by which they could earn a degrading gratitude. +Scandals were soon propagated against the virtue of Anne Hyde, and they +were forced upon the ears of the Duke by those who were his intimate and +trusted friends, and who professed themselves impelled, forsooth, by +conscience and loyalty, to betray to him their own share in the +infidelities of his wife. It is a picture of revolting turpitude, and not +the least strange feature about it is the tolerance with which that +turpitude was treated, in a society, and at a Court, where honour and +manliness were professedly esteemed, and where, even if morality was +little regarded, a standard of polite manners was supposed to be observed. + +According to Hyde's own account, there was one man only who took upon +himself the degrading task of fabricating lies which might satisfy the +prejudices of the Queen, and might afford to the Duke a convenient pretext +for breaking his plighted faith. This was Sir Charles Berkeley, [Footnote: +Sir Charles Berkeley was the nephew of Sir John Berkeley, created Lord +Berkeley of Stratton (see ante, p. 40). This Charles Berkeley received, by +the doting favour of the Duke, promotion of which he was entirely +unworthy. He was given high command in the Fleet, and created first Lord +Hardinge, and then Earl of Falmouth. Few regretted the cannon-ball that +ended, in 1665, his brief and ignoble career.]captain of the Duke's guard, +and notable, even in that dissolute Court, for his pre-eminence in +licentious disorder. He, at least, was prepared to publish himself in two +of the most contemptible characters which human nature knows--the seducer +who proclaims his stolen love, and the wretch that accepts the cast-off +mistress of his patron. The author of the "Mémoires de Grammont," adds +Lord Arran, [Footnote: With regard at least to Lord Arran, the son of +Hyde's own chosen friend, Ormonde, we prefer to believe that the Grammont +scandal is a falsehood.] Jermyn, Talbot and Killigrew--whom he +characterizes as "all gentlemen of honour"--in making up a vile crew of +conspirators. But whether the infamy was that of one man, or was shared +amongst these gentlemen of honour, it prevailed for a time to shake the +faith of the Duke, who was further persuaded, against the evidence of his +own ears, that it was the Chancellor's intention to insist upon his +daughter's rights, and to appeal to Parliament. That threatened +opposition, the Duke met by cowardly bluster, which the Chancellor was +easily able to rebuff by an indignant denial of such tales. For the injury +the Duke had done him, he said, he was answerable to "One Who is as much +above him as his highness was above him." The Chancellor's sense of +proportion is curious, but may perhaps be condoned as of a piece with the +fulsomeness of the day. + +"He was not concerned," he added, "to vindicate his daughter from any of +the most improbable scandals and aspersions; she had disobliged and +deceived him too much for him to be over-confident that she might not +deceive any other man, [Footnote: Brabantio's words were doubtless ringing +in his ears: "She has deceived her father, and may thee."] and therefore +he would leave that likewise to God Almighty, upon Whose blessing he would +always depend, whilst himself remained innocent and no longer." + +The Duke had the grace to see that he was in the wrong, and that, whatever +the truth of Berkeley's story, he had no grievance against the Chancellor. + +Anne Hyde's attraction consisted, not in personal charms, but in a +sprightliness of humour, and in no inconsiderable mental gifts; and she +certainly played her cards well at this juncture. When her fate was at its +crisis; assailed by the vilest and most unscrupulous calumny; the object +of her father's indignation, and of her husband's suspicion; the mark of +the Queen's violent jealousy--she kept her head, and managed to reach +harbour safely. The royal family was visited by other griefs. The Duke of +Gloucester and the Princess of Orange both died of smallpox within a few +days of one another. Queen Henrietta found that her comfortable return to +France was unlikely, if she came back in avowed hostility with her sons. +For her, even the violence of her temper never obscured what was for her +personal advantage; and her jealousy of a plebeian daughter-in-law began +to wane. She no longer swore that "when that woman entered Whitehall by +one door, she would leave it by another." By degrees she became less +obstinate; and the propagator of the scandal found that his lies were +likely to cost him dear. With the changed atmosphere, Berkeley learned +that safety lay in recantation; and, with undiminished shamelessness, he +now sought reconciliation with the new Duchess, the victim of his doubly +loathsome lies. With craven hypocrisy he represented to the Duke that +these lies had been the fruit only of over-eager solicitude for his +master's peace. Now that the marriage was to be recognized, he confessed +the baselessness of his charges, and made his humble amends to the Duchess +and her father. The Duchess received him graciously; "he came likewise to +the Chancellor, with those professions that he could easily make; and the +other was obliged to receive him graciously." A reconciliation was patched +up between the Queen and the Chancellor. All agreed that the best must be +made of what was a bad business; and the Chancellor was content to find +that he could drag himself out of a degrading business with his personal +honour unassailed, and that his power was confirmed by the failure of his +enemies' intrigues. In April, 1661, he was raised to the further dignities +of Earl of Clarendon, and Viscount Cornbury. [Footnote: Evelyn tells us +"that his supporters were the earls of Northumberland and Sussex; that the +Earl of Bedford carried the cap and coronet, Earl of Warwick the sword, +and the Earl of Newport the mantle," The new earl did not look amongst his +oldest comrades for those who were to assist him in his accession to new +rank. His new title was taken from the famous Royal domain of Clarendon, +near Salisbury, of which a lease had been granted to Hyde. He appears +never to have held the fee simple of the manor from which he drew the +title by which he is known to history. + +His second title of Viscount Cornbury was taken from the Manor of +Cornbury, in the Royal forest of Wychwood, in Oxfordshire, of which +Clarendon was made Ranger, on August 19th, 1661. Cornbury Park had been +occupied in the past by men great in English history, including +Elizabeth's favourite, the Earl of Leicester. Some parts of the house date +from the sixteenth century. Hyde planned, and began, large additions, +which were not completed until after his death, and no part of which he +ever saw. The architect was Hugh May, who was employed in the repairs of +Old St. Paul's. The stone of the Cornbury quarry was of peculiar +excellence, as is shown in the present fabric. May, no doubt, used the +stone which he had there tested, for St. Paul's, as well as for Clarendon +House, in St. James's; and this easily gave rise to the scandal that +Clarendon had used the stone intended for St. Paul's for his own +residence. + +Hyde was greatly attached to Cornbury, and he probably had as much reason +to blame himself for lavish expenditure on that, as he admits that he had +for the extravagant scale of his town house. Cornbury was sold to the Duke +of Marlborough in 1751. + +An admirable account of Cornbury has recently been given in a splendid +volume privately printed by the present owner, Mr. Vernon Watney, of which +there is a copy in the Bodleian.] A further offer from the King of 10,000 +acres of Crown land, he respectfully declined; and knowing well how easily +he could stir the envy of other courtiers by receiving too lavish honours, +he also declined the offer of the Garter. Even more firmly he repelled the +suggestion of Ormonde that, in the place of the Chancellorship, he should +accept the position of Prime Minister. The proposal was absolutely opposed +to Clarendon's theory of the English Constitution, and savoured, too much +for his taste, of the fashion of the French Court. He knew better than his +friends, how uncertain was his hold upon the fickle disposition of the +King. + +"England," he said, "would not bear a favourite, nor any one man who +should out of his ambition engross to himself the disposal of the public +affairs." "No honest man would undertake that province; and for his own +part, if a gallows were erected, and he had only the choice to be hanged +or to execute that office, he would rather submit to the first than the +last." + +It was characteristic of Hyde to give dramatic expression to his own +objections. + +"The King," he reminded Ormonde, "was so totally unbent from his business, +and addicted to pleasures, that the people generally began to take notice +of it; that there was little care to regulate expenses when he was +absolutely without supply; that he would on a sudden be so overwhelmed +with such debts, as would disquiet him and dishonour his counsels." "The +confidence the King had in him, besides the assurance he had of his +integrity and industry, proceeded more from his aversion to be troubled +with the intricacies of his affairs than from any violence of affection, +which was not so fixed in his nature as to be like to transport him to any +one person." + +New men would soon supplant him in these fickle affections; "it being one +of his Majesty's greatest infirmities, that he was apt to think too well +of men at the first or second sight." Without the Chancellorship, he +"would haunt the King's presence with the same importunity as a spy upon +his pleasures, and a disturber of the jollity of his meetings; his Majesty +would quickly be nauseated with his company, which for the present he +liked in some seasons." If the King were happily married, and his revenue +settled, they might have some hope of better things. Meanwhile he could +only try to wean the King from his pleasures, to habituate him to +business, and so to prevent the worst consequences of ill-company. He gave +the same answer to the Duke, when he pressed the same suggestion. +[Footnote: It may be well here to refer to the Treatise of Advice to +Charles II. written in 1660 or 1661, which is preserved amongst the +Clarendon MSS. in the Bodleian, and which was long accepted as the work of +Clarendon. This view is discredited by the production itself, which +appears to me to be stupid, vapid, commonplace and silly, and, in some +respects (_e.g._ the Government of Scotland) is actually opposed to +Clarendon's known views. But I am indebted to that eminent master of this +domain of history, Professor Firth, of Oxford, for the guidance which, on +sound and conclusive reasons, assigns the authorship to the Duke of +Newcastle, who had been tutor to Charles II., and to whose views and +diction it is much more akin. In the Duchess of Newcastle's Life of her +husband, some of the observations ascribed to him are taken from the +"Advice," to which she incidentally refers. There is another MS. copy at +Welbeck.] + +Clarendon was under no false impression. He knew well how slippery was the +path before him, and how slight was the hold he had upon the wayward +humours of the King. His friends might urge that he might, by becoming +First Minister, secure his position and render himself impregnable against +attack. He knew better the virulence of his foes, and could only hope to +disarm it by conforming to those constitutional principles which his +conscience told him were the only hope of an issue from the present +entanglements. He soothed, as well as he might, the susceptibilities of +the Duke, who thought his refusal proceeded from his being too proud to +accept promotions suggested by his son-in-law. He could only promise that +he would receive no advancement that was not procured by the Duke's own +aid. As a fact, he accepted no further honours. + +Amidst such treacherous currents Clarendon could only trim his sails as +best he might, and steer the course his sense of duty taught him. He was +not deceived as to the dangers that threatened him. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +SCOTTISH ADMINISTRATION + + +The Chancellor had declined the suggestion that he should change his +present office for the doubtfully constitutional one of Prime Minister. He +would fain have confined himself to his legal duties, and have only +interfered by general advice in regard to matters of administration. But, +as a fact, such abstention was not possible. A thousand questions had to +be settled; if any consistency of policy were to be maintained the +influence of one guiding spirit must be felt. Order had to be reduced out +of chaos, and some semblance of business methods must be observed. If that +could be done by any one, it must be by the Chancellor. It forced him into +many uncongenial spheres. Amongst these none was more out of the reach of +his sympathy than the turbid stream of Scottish politics. + +Under the rule of Cromwell all that had been distinctively national, +either in religion or civil Government in Scotland, had been rudely and +unsparingly crushed under foot. English law was administered by English +deputies. The pretensions of Presbyterian autocracy had, for the time at +least, been effectually curbed. English garrisons terrorized the country. +The nobility and the commonalty alike had been disciplined into obedience +with a rigour that speaks volumes for Cromwell's coercive power. A very +moderate representation in such English Parliaments as had occasionally +been summoned by Cromwell, was all that was permitted to Scottish claims. +In the death of the Protector and the fall of his successor all parties in +Scotland alike saw the birth of new hopes. All were alike monarchical in +sympathy, and made speed to avow that sympathy, as soon as Monk withdrew +his adherence to a Commonwealth. But, beyond that, what shape was the +Restoration to take in Scotland? Were the older cavaliers to be uppermost, +and with them was Episcopacy to be restored? Or was Presbytery to assume +its former domination, and to dictate to the sovereign the terms on which +he was to be permitted to reign? The whole thing came too suddenly for any +settled plan to be formed. At Breda no such terms were even discussed for +Scotland as were embodied in the Declaration for England. Repression in +Scotland had produced its natural fruit, a host of men for whom politics +meant little else than adroit deception and cunning intrigue. Political +morality was at its lowest ebb, and amongst the motley crew it is hard to +pick out one man whose standard of decency of life or honesty of principle +can face even lenient criticism. + +The various claimants addressed themselves, very early in the day, to +Hyde. In adversity he had learnt to suspect the honesty of Scotsmen, had +been alienated from them by their religious views, and dreaded the +obstinacy of their political independence. He was not likely to welcome +its revival now that the Cromwellian yoke was removed; and all the +overtures that came from them were to his mind open to suspicion of +duplicity. Even at Breda he found himself courted by different applicants +for his favour. The chief of these was the Earl of Lauderdale, who, in +spite of his former close association with the Covenanters, and his +pretence of rigid Presbyterianism, had solid claims to Royalist +consideration. He had supported the present King during the rigorous days +of his nominal reign in Scotland, had marched with him to Worcester, and +had been kept a prisoner by Cromwell since 1651. Such titles to +consideration Lauderdale was eminently fitted to turn to good use. Under +an uncouth exterior, with a clumsy frame and a gross countenance, further +disfigured by a tongue too big for his mouth, Lauderdale concealed a power +of crafty insinuation in which he repeated some of the dexterity of his +kinsman of a former generation, Maitland of Lethington, known in the +Courts of Elizabeth and James VI. as "the Chameleon." To natural talent +Lauderdale added a scholarship and linguistic acquirements which were rare +in his age. Intellectually he towered above his contemporaries. Creeds and +principles, for which his countrymen were ready to do battle or to die, +were for Lauderdale mere playthings in the game of intrigue. The Covenant, +the orthodox standards of Presbyterianism, nay even the foundations of +religion, were subjects of his mockery. The liberties of his country were +only useful to him as a specious pretence, which might be roughly trampled +on when the opportunity came. To Hyde he had always been an object at once +of suspicion and dislike. At times during the days of the royal banishment +they had come to an open rupture. Now Lauderdale was full of flattery to +the Chancellor. He recognized, as the products of wisdom, schemes of +Hyde's which he had before derided. He endeavoured to appease Hyde and he +managed to capture Charles. He derided the Covenant; laughed at his own +folly in formerly supporting it; confessed his repentance for his days of +rebellion; was convinced of the sound loyalty, and episcopalian compliance +of his country. But, only, caution was necessary. Nothing must be done too +quickly. And Lauderdale alone was fitted to advise as to time and +opportunity. + +Hyde had other applications from Scotland. Lauderdale had some strong +adherents. The old Earl of Crawford had just claims to consideration. He +was a stout fighter and a strong and faithful Royalist, whose Presbyterian +sympathies did not shake his loyalty. His son-in-law, the Earl of Rothes, +had attracted the friendship of Charles, and his coarse profligacy had not +yet had time to weigh down his reputation. The Earls of Tweeddale and +Kincardine were both respectable in comparison with many of their +political associates, and if they did not bring great talents to their +party, they at least were not the source of flagrant scandal to any cause +to which they adhered. All these represented that section of the nation +which did not drop its Presbyterianism with its assumption of increased +Royalist zeal, and which claimed to have made ample atonement for any +former rebel sympathies by the efficacy of its new adherence to the cause +of the Crown. They all belonged to the party which supported Lauderdale. + +But there was a very different faction which was bitterly jealous of +Lauderdale and his party. These were the older Royalists, who had never +been tainted with Cromwellian sympathies, and who had forgotten any former +acceptance of the Covenant which might now have been brought up against +them. They reflected with almost greater bitterness the jealousy with +which the older English cavaliers regarded those who had gained their +influence at Court by a belated, and, it might be held, selfish, adherence +to the Restoration schemes. Amongst them were the Earl of Glencairn, who +had kept strictly aloof from the late _régime_, and had withdrawn to +the Highland fastnesses from the reach of Cromwell's troops; the Earl of +Middleton, a rough soldier of fortune, who had none of the dexterity nor +of the learning of Lauderdale; and Sir Archibald Primrose, who supplied to +his party some of the eloquence and political experience which his +companions lacked. + +For the moment all parties vied with one another in a common desire to +pose as the enemies of Argyle. He was looked upon, by all alike, as the +craftiest and most powerful enemy of monarchical power. The carefully +limited deference--approaching closely to thinly veiled insolence--which +he had shown towards the King during his stay in Scotland, was now +recalled as at once overbearing and deceitful. His grasping ambition, and +the marvellous dexterity with which he had overreached all parties in +turn, made him the object of a common hatred and jealousy--perhaps of a +common fear. All these passions might now be satisfied by an obtrusive +assumption of heartiness in resenting his former treatment of the King, +and his early sympathy with the rebels. As Clarendon himself says, +[Footnote: _Life_, i 425.] "They were all, or pretended to be, the +most implacable enemies to the Marquis of Argyle; which was the +'Shibboleth' by which the affections of that whole nation were best +distinguished." + +The two most interesting figures in Scotland during the twenty years just +past had unquestionably been Montrose and Argyle. The first had been well +known to Clarendon, and the spell of Montrose's heroism and romance had +earned his enthusiastic admiration. Argyle had been the object of his +suspicion from days long past; and striking as were Argyle's abilities, +his character was as little fitted to rouse enthusiasm in Clarendon as it +was to command the veneration of posterity. Montrose and Argyle offered +the strangest contrast. The one was a type of high-souled chivalry; a +consummate strategist, whose genius was inflamed by the very hopelessness +of the cause for which he fought. His was no half-hearted loyalty, and in +his later years he had been proud to sacrifice himself for the causes that +were dear to Clarendon's soul. To Clarendon, Montrose was the one +conspicuous example of the unselfish Scottish Royalist, and Argyle was +regarded not only as the contriver of Montrose's death, but as the +insulter of his latest hours. Argyle was the most finished type of crafty +politician, pursuing a selfish game of duplicity. His insinuating manners +and the superficial humour with which he could cloak his designs did not +in any degree compensate for the ugly taint of personal cowardice which +could not but be distasteful to an age of fighting men. With extraordinary +skill Argyle had managed to conciliate popular support, while he remained +the one overpowering territorial magnate in Scotland, whose unquestioned +sway over the western islands was as dangerous to popular liberties as to +the authority of the Crown. Clarendon fitly paints him in the words with +which Virgil describes Drances:-- + + "Largus opum, et lingua melior, sed frigida bello + Dextera, consiliis habitus non futilis auctor, + Seditione potens." + +But unfitted as he was to shine in camp or to attract enthusiasm, Argyle +none the less commands our respect by the abilities which raised him far +above the crowd of smaller men around him. He was under no delusion as to +the extent of hatred which his power had bred, and as to the vengeance to +which Montrose's death prompted all who had been Montrose's friends. But +he could still base hopes upon his own dexterity, and he faced the danger +with a courage which showed that his lack of warlike prowess did not prove +him altogether a coward. He repaired to London and sought to throw himself +at the feet of the King, hoping to recover some of that personal influence +which he had managed to exert even in the irksome days before the fight at +Worcester. He was met by a solid front of irreconcilable hostility, and +instead of being received at Court he found himself a prisoner in the +Tower. From thence he was sent to Scotland to await his trial at the hands +of those who were determined on his final ruin. There was no Act of +Indemnity to protect him, and he knew well that no party in the State was +prepared to sacrifice its own interests for his preservation. Standing at +bay against his foes at home; deserted by those amongst whom he had once +exercised supreme sway; betrayed by the treachery of Monk, who did not +scruple to send to Scotland some compromising letters which involved +Argyle in plots against the King, Argyle was at length reduced to one last +resource. He knew the dominating influence of Clarendon, and he knew also +that, although his enemy, Clarendon was not likely to press a mean +advantage or to act under the influence of personal revenge. To him he +turned when all other hope was gone; and in a letter, [Footnote: Printed +by Lister, vol. iii., p. 129, from the Bodleian MSS.] which must have been +written after Hyde was created Earl of Clarendon, in April, 1661, he +appeals to the Chancellor's well-known wisdom and justice against those +who-- + +"From a pretence of zeal to his Majesty's service have been so prodigal of +their informations against me," and who desired "to lay the blame at one +man's door (though more innocent than many others) rather than put it +where it ought justly to lie." "Although," he proceeds, "I lay no claim of +merit upon any of my endeavours for his Majesty's service, being no more +nor my duty, yet, I may say, I was ever faithful and sometimes useful, and +never disloyal to his Majesty or his interest, though I might be carried +away in a spate by human imbecillity. What assistance your Lordship shall +be pleased to contribute in bringing me within the compass of his +Majesty's mercy, shall be acknowledged as a perpetual obligation upon the +family of your Lordship's most humble servant, ARGYLE." + +He had already offered a price for mercy by promising to communicate +"somewhat that would highly concern his Majesty's service." + +Even those to whom his actions and his character have no attraction, must +acknowledge that in these words Argyle advances no undignified appeal. +Whether Clarendon would have aided that appeal it is impossible to say. +Argyle's power, he might not unreasonably have judged, would have been +incompatible with any settlement leaving adequate authority to the Crown. +But however that might have been, Clarendon's intervention was never +called for. Within forty-eight hours of the sentence of a court in which +the influence of his enemies was dominant, and before there was time to +appeal to London, Argyle was executed. Montrose was avenged; and just as +his greatest rival fell, his own scattered quarters were gathered from the +ports where they had been exposed, and buried in an honoured grave. The +two great protagonists were gone, and Clarendon had to manage Scottish +affairs through lesser men. + +In that task he was handicapped by one serious disadvantage--his own +absolute ignorance of the country and its conditions, and as its natural +consequence an impenetrable lack of sympathy. To him Scotland was simply +the home of deep-rooted and obstinate rebellion. Her Church represented to +Clarendon the sternest and most repulsive form of Presbyterianism, the +very antithesis of all Clarendon's ecclesiastical ideals. The national +character was to him a mere amalgam of obstinacy and unblushing treachery. +Her territorial nobility were to him a selfish caste, who had bargained +away all their real influence over their countrymen in their greedy race +after plunder. Their religious zeal was to him--and that on no mistaken +grounds--merely a hypocritical cloak for coarse and besotted profligacy, +not less vicious and much more degraded than the more flaunting and +luxurious licentiousness of the English Court. Of the fundamental aims of +the nation, of the deep-seated traits of their character, he was +profoundly ignorant. At once turbulent and mean-spirited, pharisaical and +profligate; poverty-stricken and yet proud; bigoted in its beliefs, and +yet careless of all the decencies of religion--such is the aspect which +Scottish national character bore to Clarendon. To a superficial and +distant observer there was not a little which justified such a judgment; +and in the case of Clarendon it was buttressed by a solid mass of honest, +however perverse, prejudice. + +The agents in the Government of Scotland were the Earl of Middleton, Lord +Commissioner; the Earl of Glencairn, Lord Chancellor; the Earl of Rothes, +President of the Council; the Earl of Crawford, Lord Treasurer; the Earl +of Lauderdale, Secretary of State; and Sir Archibald Primrose, Lord +Register. They were split into two bitterly opposed factions, that of the +older Royalists, and that of more recent adherents, who were tainted with +suspicions of intractability at once in Church and State. The first was +led by Middleton; and he was no match in dexterity for Lauderdale, who led +the opposite party. Clarendon had to manage an ill-harnessed team. By +sympathy and former friendship he was inclined to the older Royalists; but +he often found them untrustworthy agents. And we must remember that in +English politics he was by no means of opinion that the King should look +with suspicion on recent converts. + +The first question to be settled was that of Indemnity. No previous +stipulation prescribed it; but Clarendon was too shrewd not to perceive +the certain ill-consequences of a terrorism of vengeance. The influence +that chiefly worked against any complete Indemnity was the ignoble desire +of those in power to profit by the slower process of forfeitures. +Lauderdale did all he could to push forward a settlement of the terms of +Indemnity; Middleton and his adherents delayed it, and endeavoured to +compound with delinquents in a spirit of barefaced huckstering. A second +question related to the maintenance of the English garrisons in Scotland. +As a curb upon the national spirit of rebellion, Clarendon thought that, +although they were monuments of Cromwellian rule, the garrisons were +essential. He did all he could to maintain them; but Lauderdale was able +to carry the King with him in their abolition on the plea of their injury +to national pride, and their certain result in national discontent, and +Clarendon's advice was set aside. The popularity which thereby resulted +was a strong asset in Lauderdale's favour. + +A question of even more importance was that of the method of +administration. Although the Scottish Parliament was restored, Clarendon +was no favourer of unrestricted Home Rule, and rightly discerned its +dangers at once to the Crown and to responsible Government. He insisted +that the Committee of Privy Council, which dealt with Scotland, should +meet in London, and that six English Privy Councillors should be members +of it. Here, again, it was an easy matter for Lauderdale to urge the +offence that would thus be given to Scottish feelings. His real motive for +resistance was the curb that would thus be placed on that power which he +was plotting to engross in his own hands. Had it been preserved, that +council would have formed a defence of Scottish liberties; its tincture of +impartial statesmanship would have checked the growth of the petty local +tyrants, and limited their influence. For two or three years Clarendon was +able to maintain this independent council; it was only when his vigilance +failed, and when his attention was otherwise engaged, that Lauderdale's +pertinacity was rewarded, and a pernicious system of local tyranny +admitted. [Footnote: It is not unimportant to note that even Burnet's +Scottish sympathies and confirmed Whiggism did not prevent his outspoken +preference for Clarendon's plan over that of Lauderdale.] + +But the central point of combat was that regarding the restoration of the +Episcopal form. It was only natural that Clarendon, from his own tastes +and traditions, as well as from the memory of his first master's desires, +should have placed this object first. Even at Breda, Sharp--afterwards +Archbishop of St. Andrews--had obtained audience of Clarendon, and as the +accredited agent of Middleton and Glencairn, had shown a readiness to +transfer his own allegiance from Presbyterianism to Episcopacy. +Clarendon's sympathy led him to give to Sharp a trust that was little +merited, and he became, through Sharp's means, involved in an intricate +maze of double-dealing which sought to lull the suspicions of the +Presbyterians to sleep, while secretly paving the way for a complete +Episcopal restoration. Sharp's dominating motive was unabashed personal +ambition. He was ready to make compromising concessions in points of +principle, in order to obtain the outward recognition of Episcopacy, and +the re-establishment of the Episcopal sees. Clarendon knew well, from old +experience, the danger of exciting national susceptibilities, and was wise +enough to urge caution to his subordinates; but cautious and wary +statesmanship was the last thing to be expected from the double dealing of +Sharp, or in the drunken counsels of Middleton and his adherents. + +Meanwhile Lauderdale, while he did not hesitate to decry the Covenant, and +to make eager profession of his own recantation of its bigotry, urged that +no premature steps should be taken for restoring Episcopacy. That it would +come in time he had no doubt; but it would be the height of folly to +arouse susceptibilities that might easily be soothed by cautious dealing +into a peaceable acceptance of the ecclesiastical forms that were approved +at Court. + +[Illustration: JOHN MAITLAND, DUKE OF LAUDERDALE. (_From the original by +Sir Peter Lely, in the National Portrait Gallery._)] + +But Middleton and his adherents were now determined to carry matters with +a high hand. Clarendon must have chafed to see a policy, with which in +general he agreed, pressed with a recklessness that was certain to defeat +itself. An Act was passed rescinding at one stroke all Acts passed since +1633. Burnet's phrase about it is, for once, scarcely too strong. "It was +a most extravagant Act, and only fit to be concluded after a drunken +bout." In that it agreed only too closely with other projects devised by +Middleton and his convivial band. Lauderdale protested; and this time, if +we are to believe Burnet, Clarendon found himself obliged to side with the +Scottish Minister whom he most profoundly suspected. + +In this course matters proceeded. In 1662, by an Act drafted by the +suspicious hand of Sharp, Episcopacy was restored, but restored under +auspices that reflected little credit on the statecraft that guided its +restoration. The details of Scottish political intrigue--culminating in a +deadly struggle of irresponsible tyranny with all the forces of +enthusiastic religious frenzy--do not belong to Clarendon's life. But he +could view their progress, so far as he himself was concerned in it, with +nothing but disappointment. He was powerless to break down what he +believed to be the narrow-minded obstinacy of national prejudice. He saw +that the apparent triumph of Episcopacy was achieved by agents who made +themselves contemptible in the eyes of their countrymen, and that it was +bought at the price of arousing indomitable and stubborn resistance. He +saw his own more immediate adherent, Middleton, playing into the shrewder +hands of the far abler Lauderdale, by every error of tactics, by perverse +neglect of the simplest rules of statecraft, by blundering deceptions and +undisguised self-seeking. Again and again he found that the King, who, +after all, cared but little for the distinctions between the sects of +Protestantism, was alienated from the work by the folly of his own agents. +By a strange freak of miscalculation Middleton and his friends thought to +end Lauderdale's influence by excluding him from the Indemnity, and +pronouncing him incapable of holding office. It was an easy matter for +Lauderdale to turn the tables upon them. They incurred the censure both of +Charles and of Clarendon. Before Clarendon's fall came, the triumph of +Lauderdale over his rivals was assured; but before Clarendon's life ended +he might have learned to what a height of self-aggrandizement, and of +unscrupulous oppression, the popular wiles of that astute tactician had +helped him to attain. Had Clarendon been blessed with agents wiser than +Middleton and more honest than Archbishop Sharp, the Government of +Scotland might have been consolidated; the bitterness, to which her +religious fanaticism was goaded, might have been assuaged; and one of the +darkest pages in her annals, which was to follow within the next few +years, might have been left unwritten. The Union might have been brought +about thirty years earlier than it was, and it might not have bequeathed +so many seeds of jealousy, and so much offence to national pride. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE PROBLEMS OF IRELAND + + +If the conditions of the new settlement in Scotland were a problem hard of +solution to Hyde, the entanglement was even greater in the case of +Ireland. He was ignorant of the real characteristics of Scotland, and +alienated from the country by his antipathy to Presbyterianism. But +Ireland was a hot-bed of faction, the intricacies of which baffled his +discernment. There was no party there which was not honeycombed with +treachery, and none to which there was not imputed, on fair grounds, +actions of flagrant cruelty and injustice to one another, and of +disloyalty to the Crown for whose favour they were now keen competitors. +No wonder that the Chancellor, in his own words, "made it his humble suit +to the King, that no part of it might ever be referred to him;" and that +even the Duke of Ormonde, whose own interests were most deeply concerned +of all in the future settlement there, "could not see any light in so much +darkness that might lead him to any beginning." In the whole of Ireland it +was difficult to find any one upon whose wholehearted loyalty the Crown +could rely. The best were those who could allege some fancied injury from +the late authority, which might atone for their own repeated acts of +opposition to the Royalist interests. The Presidents of the two provinces +of Munster and Connaught were Lord Broghill--who was created Earl of +Orrery in 1660--and Sir Charles Coote. Both had been in close confederacy +with Henry Cromwell, the son of the Protector, and both had "depended upon +him and courted his protection by their not loving one another, and being +of several complexions and constitutions, and both of a long aversion to +the King by multiplications of guilt." Under the short administration of +Ludlow, [Footnote: Ludlow, full of hope that true Republicanism was now in +sight, after Cromwell's death, had been sent over to Ireland as Commander- +in-Chief, in July, 1659, and remained there till October, during which +time he had established a regime that satisfied him, but that quickly fell +to pieces after his departure. + +Edmund Ludlow's long life, from 1617 to 1692, saw many changes, in which +he was himself no inconspicuous actor, and for some part of which his +_Memoirs_ add considerably to our knowledge. He belonged to a family +of some importance, although its political sympathies alienated it from +its own class. His father, Sir Henry Ludlow, was a member of the Long +Parliament, and was referred to in one of the King's Declarations drawn by +Hyde (May 26, 1642) as having said in Parliament that the King was not fit +to reign; and he was one of those whose impeachment the King desired +(_Rebellion_, Bk. v. 280, 441). By that father's persuasion, Edmund +Ludlow joined the Parliamentary army when war broke out, and he proved +himself a zealous and doughty fighter. But he was stubborn and +quarrelsome, and fanatically attached to an abstract scheme of +Republicanism which was the abiding object of all his life. To him the +question involved was, "whether the King should govern as a god by his +will, and the nation be governed by force like beasts; or whether the +people should be governed by laws made by themselves, and under a +government derived from their own consent." It could hardly be possible to +express the dispute in terms more distant from the truth. But with all the +fanaticism of a narrow and pedantic nature he pursued this will-o'-the- +wisp to the end. He afterwards, in 1646, entered Parliament as member for +the village of Hindon, from which Hyde took his first title, of Baron Hyde +of Hindon (then returning two members), and attached himself to the party +led by Henry Marten. He was bitterly opposed to all compromise, and was +one of the most conspicuous of the regicides. He could not see how any +view but one was possible to any man who did not desire to be a slave; and +yet, in his fanciful scheme of liberty, he did not hesitate to apply +coercive measures to Parliament. The nation was to be governed by its own +consent; but its consent was to be interpreted by the will of his own +little clique. When Cromwell assumed more than monarchical power, he +fiercely opposed him, and hailed his death as offering new hopes for +Republicanism. He had long been employed in Ireland, and on this account +assumed its administration in 1659. When the Restoration took place, he +fled to Switzerland: and so active had he been, that his machinations were +dreaded for many years. In 1689 he returned for a time; but the memory of +his misdeeds as a regicide made even the Parliament under William III. +unwilling to receive him, and he was obliged again to withdraw. + +He was a zealous, narrow, pedantic, but honest partisan, whose +enthusiastic belief in his own abstract ideas seemed to him to justify the +most ruthless cruelty in Ireland.] which followed the fall of Richard +Cromwell and his brother Henry, who had been Lieutenant of Ireland, they +had managed to hold their places and authority, and when Ludlow's power +crumbled it was a race between them who might first proffer their +obedience to the King, and enhance the value of that obedience by most +effective promises. They watched assiduously the action of Monk. Each was +anxious that his offers might be concealed from his rival. Each managed to +secure some informal recognition of his offers of loyalty, and presumed +himself authorized to make proposals to others on the King's behalf. They +both professed a single-hearted endeavour to settle the King's authority, +and each managed by underhand influence, and by lavish promises, to secure +some powerful support. Lord Broghill was the abler of the two, and by his +profuse devotion "quickly got himself believed." The Chancellor's scorn of +such a man is best expressed in his own words. Lord Broghill, he says-- + +"Having free access to the King, by mingling apologies for what he had +done with promises of what he would do, and utterly renouncing all those +principles as to the Church or State (as he might with a good conscience +do) which made men unfit for trust, made himself so acceptable to his +Majesty that he heard him willingly, because he made all things easy to be +done and compassed; and gave such assurances to the bedchamber men, to +help them to good fortunes in Ireland, which they had reason to despair of +in England, that he wanted not their testimony upon all occasions, nor +their defence and vindication when anything was reflected upon to his +disadvantage or reproach." + +It was the familiar picture of which the Chancellor was already tired, of +a King whose experience had taught him that Government was a thing of +subterfuge, and of balancing between professed adherents whose loyalty was +to be valued according to the estimate which trickery could place upon it. +These new adherents vied with one another in promoting measures for +restoring the bishops, and the laws of the Episcopalian Church, of which +they had lately been bitter opponents. No wonder that the Chancellor has +more respect for such a man as Sir John Clotworthy, who did not dissemble +his dislike of bishops and their rule, even while he laboured honestly to +restore the prerogatives of the Crown. + +The central difficulty in this seething mass of jealousy, corruption, and +self-seeking was the question of land settlement. A reckless system of +forfeitures and new grants, carried out under the successive supremacies +of different interests, had left an inheritance of hopeless confusion, +destined to be the lasting curse of Ireland. Twenty years of the +bitterness of civil war had ended in a rough and ready settlement under +the rule of Cromwell, where the spoils had been ruthlessly handed over to +the victors. The Irish had been evicted with a cruelty that had no thought +of justice, and those who had not been sent abroad to seek death or a +precarious livelihood in the ranks of foreign armies, had been driven into +the barren tracts of Connaught, any of them found outside those limits +being hunted down like wild beasts. To have shown any sympathy with the +Royalist cause, or even to have resisted the fierce rule of the +Cromwellian soldiery, was enough, when added to their adherence to a +tabooed religion, to mark them as beyond the pale of humanity. It was +counted even as a mercy that they were allowed to earn a scanty +subsistence in the most barren corner of the island. Strongly as he +disliked their deep-rooted attachment to the Roman Catholics' religion, +the Chancellor never deemed it an excuse for ruthless cruelty, and, in +spite of their religion, their occasional display of enthusiastic loyalty +to the Crown won for them something of his sympathy. But he is compelled +to admit the appearance of prosperity which was reared upon the military +oppression--an oppression which was rendered the more heinous in his sight +because it involved also the absolute forfeiture of their vast estates in +the case of Ormonde and other loyalists, against whom no suspicion of +Roman Catholic leanings could be alleged. Its very ruthlessness gave it an +appearance of outward settlement and peace. + +"It cannot be imagined," says Clarendon, "in how easy a method, and with +what peaceable formality this whole great kingdom was taken from the just +lords and proprietors, and divided and given amongst those who had no +other right to it, but that they had power to keep it; no man having so +great shares as they who had been instruments to murder the King, and were +not likely willingly to part with it to his successor." "Ireland," he +tells us, "was the great capital, out of which all debts were paid, all +services rewarded, and all acts of bounty performed. And, what is more +wonder, all this was done and settled within little more than two years, +to that degree of perfection that there were many buildings raised for +beauty, as well as use, orderly and regular plantations of trees and +fences and enclosures throughout the kingdom, as in a kingdom at peace +within itself, and where no doubt could be made of the validity of titles. +And yet in all this quiet there were very few persons pleased or +contented." + +It was the sort of settlement for which history has exacted, as it always +exacts in such cases, a rigid and long-drawn-out retribution. + +But however specious might be the appearance of prosperity under the +recent settlement, it was beyond all question that it must be disturbed. A +Royalist Restoration could not leave in possession those whose property +was held as a reward for fighting against the Royalist cause. Certain +claims were of necessity revived, and no prescription could prevail +against them. The Church lands must be resumed, and the Episcopal domains +must be wrested from those who had gained them as the avowed enemies of +the Church. About these there could be no question. Crown lands also must +revert to the Crown, and had this source of revenue been duly husbanded, +it might have supplied a means of dealing with many claims that proved a +source of endless and insoluble difficulty. There were certain outstanding +Royalists, like Ormonde, whose loyalty was so indisputable, and whose +claims were so easy of proof, that restitution in their case was simple, +and any resistance to it would have amounted to a confession of rebellion. +Lord Inchiquin [Footnote: Murrough O'Brien, Earl of Inchiquin, had been +much concerned in the curbing of the Irish Rebellion, in which he acted as +the ruthless enemy of the Roman Catholics, whose religion he detested, and +upon whom he inflicted the most merciless vengeance. His ardent +Protestantism brought him to an understanding with the Parliament, and he +acted sometimes as their agent rather than that of the King. But, in 1654, +he had become as ardent a Roman Catholic, and managed to recover favour at +Court, and was restored to his property after the Restoration. He died in +some obscurity in 1674.] was able to bring himself within the same +category on somewhat more doubtful grounds. Fortunately large tracts of +domain had been retained by Cromwell, nominally as the property of the +State, and in reality to secure his own power; and out of these many of +the most indubitable claims could be met. But the harder questions were +those involving claims which were more doubtful, between claimants whose +rivalry rested upon more assailable grounds. Were all genuine Royalists to +have a right to claim what was once their property? If forfeitures were to +be redressed, were those who were forced to sell at nominal prices, or +under the pressure of innumerable fines, to have no redress? Which +Royalist support was the more valuable, that which had been steadfast from +the first, and had been crushed by Cromwell's soldiers, or that which had +atoned for rebellion in the past by opportune and efficacious support +during the last few months? Much of the land had been granted to the +"Adventurers," as those were called who had advanced money on the faith of +Parliamentary pledges to meet the expenses of crushing the Irish +Rebellion. The Adventurers could allege the security of an Act of +Parliament, to which the assent of the King had, however unwillingly, been +given. But it was well known that the most of the money so raised had been +employed, not to fight Irish rebels, but to crush English Royalists; and +those Adventurers alone had been able to retain their claims who had been +found ready to supplement their original contributions by payments +avowedly made to the war chest of the Parliament, when civil war in +England engaged all their attention. How were such grants to be dealt +with, and how was a due balance to be kept between condoning rebellion and +undermining the faith built upon an Act of Parliament? Others held their +lands in lieu of military pay long in arrear; and the fact that they had +not turned their arms against those who were contriving the Restoration, +might seem to give them a claim to generous treatment. The Irish Catholics +could adduce many instances of their own conspicuous loyalty in the past, +and it was difficult to furnish convincing proof of what might fairly be +suspected, that such loyalty was prompted more by bitter hatred of the +Presbyterians and Roundheads than by fervent devotion to their King. + +The Chancellor might well be repelled from participation in this embroiled +struggle, where it was hard to find any satisfactory clue which might lead +to settlement. To satisfy all was impossible; and it was almost as +difficult to suggest any principle or set of principles which could be +uniformly applied. Every case varied; every claim was supported or opposed +by evidence, equally abundant, and equally suspect. + +At first the Adventurers and the representatives of Cromwell's troopers +were most successful in establishing their claims before the commissioners +who were sent to inquire. One settlement after another was attempted. The +Roman Catholic Irish were able, a little later, to win some sympathy from +Charles, which the Chancellor seems to have partly shared. Another set of +commissioners reopened the inquiry, and suggested another settlement, in +which each faction was obliged to abate something of their claims. The +Irish claim to loyalty was refuted by proof of their readiness, in their +direst straits, to invite foreign aid, and to offer to repay it by the +betrayal of the Royalist cause, and by breaking their allegiance to the +King. One influence, and one influence alone, contributed to a solution, +and that was the earnest desire of all, even at the cost of some +diminution of their own claims, to escape from the palsying influence of +uncertainty and doubt. The Chancellor accepted the different reports of +the commissioners, and the successive projects of settlement, with a +certain despair of any scheme of abstract justice, with little hope of +even a peaceable solution, and with a not unnatural desire to rid himself +of the whole unsavoury embroglio, and to detach himself from the angry and +envenomed faction fight in Ireland. The Irish settlement was no part of +Clarendon's work, and enters only indirectly into his life. Even more +strongly than in the case of Scotland he abandoned any thought of an +incorporating Union, and was glad to see the revival of an Irish +Parliament. The task he had in hand was too hard to allow him willingly to +add to it the baffling problem of restoring peace to Ireland. + +But he could find little satisfaction in contemplating the work of those +to whom the task was entrusted. The appointment of Lord-Lieutenant of +Ireland had been only one of many gratifications which had been bestowed +upon Monk, when he was created Duke of Albemarle, in recognition of the +substantial benefits to the King which had resulted, when the long-drawn +disguises of his tortuous and self-interested policy had gradually +unmasked themselves. As general over the Irish army under the Cromwellian +administration, he had contrived to secure an estate in Ireland worth some +four thousand a year, and it was of the first importance to him to retain +a hold over any land-settlement in Ireland. + +But Albemarle looked upon his post as Lord-Lieutenant only as an +enhancement of his own importance in the State, and as a means of assuring +that his own material interests in Ireland should be safeguarded. He had +no thought of taking upon himself the burden of Irish administration in +person, or of absenting himself from the English Court. It was necessary, +therefore, to find some one also who, as deputy, would undertake the +arduous task. "There were some few," says Hyde, "fit for the employment +who were not willing to undertake it; and many who were willing to +undertake it who were not fit." The powers of a deputy were liable to be +eclipsed, if Albemarle ever thought fit to go to Ireland; and such a post +was one which those of the highest rank scarcely cared to fill. Under +these circumstances the choice fell upon Lord Robartes, who had rendered +some good service in Cornwall, and who had the reputation of more than +respectable abilities, of careful and plodding industry, and of an +integrity which was at least above the moderate average standard of +Charles's Court. But he had defects of character which were apparent to a +judge so acute as the Chancellor, and these soon made themselves plain. +Clarendon gives expression to them with all the verve and dexterity of +analysis of which he was a past master. "Robartes," he tells us, "was a +sullen, morose man, intolerably proud, and had some humours as +inconvenient as small vices, which made him hard to live with." That he +was esteemed to have Presbyterian leanings did not make him the more +acceptable to the King, or to the Chancellor himself; but such suspicions +he was able to allay. But a long habit of associating with men inferior to +himself had crippled his intelligence, and made him suspicious and jealous +of his position. When he found himself deputy to Monk, he recalled, with a +grudge, the fact that, coming from the same south-western corner of +England, he was of superior birth, and he forgot the services which in +Monk's case more than squared the balance. In his dealings with those who +were to be associated with him in Irish administration, he showed the +jealousy of a small-minded man, and ensconced himself behind the bulwark +of reticence and inaccessibility. There could hardly have been a more +unfit instrument for that dexterous manipulation which the tangled knot of +Irish politics required than this narrow, pedantic, tactless peer. The +Chancellor soon saw that endless petty bickering would be the result of +continuing him in the post. His petty pride was offended by having to +serve as deputy to Albemarle. He was ingenious in detecting legal +difficulties, and wearied the patience of the Attorney-General by +pointless criticisms even on the wording of his patent of appointment. He +treated those Irishmen who were obliged to deal with him with a haughty +superciliousness which exasperated them to fury. The King soon found that +a morose gravity and a punctilious pride were the worst ingredients for an +Irish governor. The only question was how to get rid of one who was too +respectable to be contumeliously cast aside, but too much of a pedant to +be entrusted with a delicate administrative operation. "They who conversed +with him knew him to have many humours which were very intolerable; they +who were but little acquainted with him took him to be a man of much +knowledge, and called his morosity gravity." The Chancellor and Lord +Southampton were commissioned by the King to confer about his transfer to +another office, where his peculiarities might be less inconvenient. They +were to arrange that he should be Privy Seal, and the precedence which +that post would give him was to be a solace to his susceptible pride. The +transaction had to be managed dexterously. They found him in a suspicious +mood, but fortunately were able to persuade him that the new appointment +would enhance his dignity. He accepted the new post, and although his +touchiness and pedantry as to trifles were still a source of trouble, they +could lead to no such difficulty in the comparative obscurity of Privy +Seal, as they would have involved in Ireland. The transfer was carried out +with satisfaction to all concerned; and the fact is no small testimonial +to the tact of the Chancellor and Lord Southampton. + +One source of friction was gone in getting rid of Lord Robartes. But the +tangled knot still remained, and after the restoration of the Crown and +Church domains, and the reinstatement of such notable Royalists as Ormonde +and Inchiquin, the greatest part of the problem still remained unsettled. +The fiercest fight was that between claimants of different race and of +different religion, all of whom inherited a tradition of bitter and +irreconcilable hatred. On the one hand there were the native Irish, +recommended to the King by that community, at least, in religious feeling, +which his residence abroad had instilled into Charles, although there is +no real evidence of the oft-repeated story of his having already become a +Roman Catholic. Linked to the Royalist cause by a common detestation of +Presbyterianism, the Roundheads, and the Cromwellian soldiery, and +attracting not unnatural sympathy both from Charles and from Hyde by the +oppressive cruelties which they had suffered, and by glaring instances of +injustice perpetrated upon them, they could fairly assert their early +loyalty, and could allege in excuse for subsequent defections the supreme +law of self-preservation. On the other hand, there were the soldiers and +Adventurers, fortified by the strong claim of possession; able to cover +their former rebellion by the indubitable benefit which they conferred in +abstaining from armed resistance to rebellion against Parliamentary rule, +and behind whose new-found loyalty there always lurked a veiled threat of +a fresh resort to arms which might prove dangerous. The commissioners sent +to compose matters found themselves suspected by all whose titles were +insecure, and actively opposed by those whom they dispossessed. They were +swayed by opposite factions, now to accept doubtful claims, and now to +confirm existing settlements upon insufficient evidence of right. The +examination of all claims was transferred to England; and Charles for a +time seems to have interested himself deeply, and with edifying industry, +in attempting to find a solution, and to have shown praiseworthy care in +hearing and investigating all complaints. During these hearings the +Chancellor must certainly have been an active and interested member of the +council, and could not divest himself, much as he may have desired to do +so, of participation in the decisions. Necessity drove the King and the +Chancellor himself into a course which was often repugnant to them. In +grave and well-considered words Hyde lays before us the paramount +considerations of supreme expediency which forced the hands both of his +master and of himself, and compelled them to accept a settlement which did +nothing to redress Irish wrongs, and left, as the baneful alternative to a +renewal of civil war, a legacy of bitter racial antagonism. + +"It cannot be denied," he writes, "that if the King could have thought it +safe and seasonable to have reviewed all that had been done, and taken +those advantages upon former miscarriages and misapplications, as +according to the strictness of that very law, he might have done, the +whole foundation, upon which all the hopes rested of preserving that +kingdom within the obedience to the Crown of England must have been shaken +and even dissolved, with no small influence and impression upon the peace +and quiet of England, itself. For the memory of the beginning of the +rebellion in Ireland (how many other rebellions soever had followed as +bad, or worse, in respect of the consequences that attended them) was as +fresh and as odious to the whole people of England, as it had been in the +first year. And though no man durst avow so unchristian a wish as an +extirpation of them (which they would have been very well contented with) +yet no man dissembled his opinion that it was the only security the +English could have in that kingdom, that the Irish should be kept so low, +that they should have no power to hurt them." [Footnote: _Life_, ii. 44.] + +These words expressing the deliberate opinion of Hyde, upon a fateful +crisis in history, are pregnant with tragedy. The memory of a great wrong +never can be obliterated; but dire necessity may leave no alternative but +to shape political action on the basis of that legacy from civil strife. +England and Scotland had redeemed their rebellion. + +"But," thus writes Hyde, "the miserable Irish alone had no part in +contributing to his Majesty's happiness; nor had God suffered them to be +the least instruments in bringing his good pleasure to pass, or to give +any testimony of their repentance for the wickedness they had wrought or +of their resolution to be better subjects for the future; so that they +seemed as a people left out by Providence, and exempted from any benefit +from that blessed conjunction in his Majesty's restitution. And this +disadvantage was improved towards them by their frequent manifestation of +an inveterate animosity against the English nation and the English +Government, which again was returned to them in an irreconcilable jealousy +of all the English towards them." [Footnote: _Life_, ii. 47.] + +Some settlement must be reached--that it should be good or bad was of less +importance than that it should be fixed. Commissioners were set to work. +But either they were too closely interested themselves in the decisions to +be reached, or, having no personal interest, they were slack in their +attendance. Those on the spot were too apt to be partial; others were sent +from England, and their methods were rough and ready. The available land +was squandered in lavish grants to courtiers, and amongst others Lady +Castlemaine managed to secure an ample share. It was in vain that the +Chancellor declined to pass such grants; the recipients found means to get +them passed by the Courts in Ireland. + +The best that could be made of a bad business was to hurry on some +decision, before the means of even partially satisfying the most urgent +claims were dissipated by the King's reckless prodigality. + +Meanwhile the administration of Ireland, after the transference of Lord +Robartes, was entrusted to three Lords Justices--Sir Maurice Eustace, the +Irish Chancellor; Lord Broghill (created Lord Orrery); and Sir Charles +Coote, created Earl of Montrath. The first was a worn-out old man. The +second was a dexterous manager, who knew how to captivate friends and how +to outwit enemies; the third was "proud, dull, and very avaricious." Both +Orrery and Montrath had their own ends to serve, and were bitter enemies; +and when Montrath died, as Hyde expresses it, "they who took the most +dispassioned survey of all that had been done, and of what remained to be +done, did conclude that nothing could reasonably produce a settlement, but +the deputing one single person to exercise that government." The Duke of +Albemarle had now reaped all the advantage that he could hope for from his +post of titular Lord-Lieutenant. His own estate had been secured, and as +an Irish landlord he desired a firm administration. He was not prepared to +undertake the task himself, and made his suit to the King that the Duke of +Ormonde should be sent in his place. To the mind of the King, this seemed +to offer the best prospect of a settlement, and he and Albemarle together +persuaded Ormonde to accept the charge before the Chancellor was +consulted. To Hyde it seemed a plan fraught with dangers and difficulties +on every side. In such a case, he was, as he was himself aware, too much +inclined to express his views with somewhat uncourtly directness. When the +King asked for his opinion of Ormonde's appointment, he could find no more +diplomatic answer than that "the King would do very ill in sending him, +and the Duke would do much worse if he desired to go." Charles took the +easiest course for one who wishes to push aside unpalatable advice: "the +matter was decided, and there was nothing for it but to prepare +instructions." Hyde was not to be turned aside; Ormonde, he urged, was +needful to the King in London, and would be useless in Ireland. Hyde did +not even take the trouble to make his objections palatable to Ormonde. The +Duke, he said, had since his return from exile led a life of ease and +indulgence, and was now unfit for the laborious task of Irish +administration. With still less of courtier-like complaisance, Hyde urged +that, however good the appointment might have been "when the Duke was full +of reputation, and the King was more feared and reverenced than presumed +upon," it was otherwise now when the Duke had withdrawn from business and +"let himself fall to familiarities with all degrees of men," and when the +King had been exposed to all manner of importunities, had received all +men's addresses and made promises without deliberation, had become so +desirous to satisfy all men that he was irresolute in all things. He must +first fix his own resolutions, and then only could the Lord Lieutenant do +him service, or save him from scorn and affronts. [Footnote: _Life_, +ii. 55.] + +However sound the advice, Hyde's fashion of expressing it could scarcely +be called conciliatory; and even the easy humour of the King must have +found it hard to brook such plain speaking from his Minister. It was +fortunate, however, that Charles's sense of humour was sufficient to save +his vanity from suffering under contradiction, except when his own +personal ease was at stake. He might resent reflections on his behaviour +to a mistress, but his pride was not wounded by being told that his +statecraft was folly; it took at least a long course of such plain- +speaking from his trusted Minister before his patience was exhausted. +Ormonde, too, received from Hyde advice that was quite as candid. + +"He would repent his rash resolution; he would not influence Irish affairs +in Dublin as much as he could have done in London; his absence would give +his enemies the opportunity of slander that they desired; he and the King +suffered from the same infirmity in equal degree--'an unwillingness to +deny any man what they could not but see was impossible to grant, and a +desire to please everybody, which whosoever affected should please +nobody.'" + +Hyde's friends, as well as his master, had need to practise an almost +stoical imperturbability of temper. + +It gives us a key to Hyde's attitude towards Irish affairs that he breaks +the chronological order of his narrative to tell the story to the end. It +was a subject that vexed and wearied him, and in regard to which he was +conscious only of work incompletely done; of business from which he vainly +strove to hold aloof, and of a huddled settlement from which his soul +revolted. He hurries on to the end of the whole transaction, which at last +deprived him of his most trusted ally and his most cherished friend. +Ireland stole away from him Ormonde, whose support had done so much to +uphold him in the dangerous currents of the Restoration. It was four years +and a half after the Restoration that, in the autumn of 1664, Ormonde +crossed to Ireland. The clouds were already gathering about the +Chancellor's course, and the loss of his closest friend increased the +gloom, and brought the threatening dangers nearer. + +It was after Ormonde's entry upon the Lieutenancy that the third and final +settlement of the Land Commissioners was arrived at. The latest +Commissioners had allowed themselves to be swayed powerfully by the Irish +interest, and had raised, in the same proportion, the antipathy of the +English. Very weariness forced the combatants at length to a compromise. +The soldiers and Adventurers consented to abate one-fourth of their +claims; with this the most urgent of the Irish claims were appeased, and +the baneful unrest was at last ended. + +Clarendon closes the sorry story of the Irish settlement by a disclaimer +of any share in Irish affairs, further than that which fell to him as a +member of the inner Council. Perhaps his influence was greater than he is +ready to admit; but Ireland certainly received no larger share of his +attention than necessity forced upon him. He is careful to give us a +succinct account of the one incident which involved him, almost against +his will, in some sort of personal interest in Irish property. + +In the early days of the Restoration, when the question as to the disputed +settlements was only at its first stage, overtures had been made to Hyde, +which it was fancied might earn from him some mercenary favour for those +who might be the intermediaries, It was proposed that a special grant of +land might be made to him, or that a sale might be effected in his favour +on nominal terms, which would make it almost equal to a free gift. It was +consistent with all his action in such matters that these overtures met +with a peremptory refusal from Hyde. If he was to be of use in effecting a +settlement, he must have no title of his own to bias his inclinations. +Rather later, but when negotiations were still in their earlier stages, +certain sums raised upon Irish land were assigned for the King's use, "to +be disposed of to those who had served him faithfully, and suffered in so +doing." The grants were passed as a matter of official routine, without +the knowledge of the Chancellor. About two years later, Orrery, who was an +adept in the art of posing as the chosen instrument of convenient favours, +wrote to the Chancellor informing him that certain sums were standing at +his credit, and inquiring to whom they should be paid. Hyde had no doubt +that a mistake had been committed, and asked Ormonde, as Lord Lieutenant, +to inform him what the announcement meant. Orrery wrote again more +explicitly, stating that £12,600 had been paid in to his use, and that +another sum of the same amount would be received in the course of six +months. "To whom," he asked again, "was the money to be paid?" + +It was only after this second letter that the Lord Lieutenant's +explanation arrived. The notification had its source, so it appeared, from +Lord Orrery himself, who had urged upon Ormonde that a portion of the +royal grant should be assigned to Hyde. The suggestion commended itself +both to Ormonde and the King, and by the special instruction of the King, +who knew Hyde's scruples and was resolved to overcome them, the royal +signature was given through Hyde's good friend, Secretary Nicholas, and +all knowledge of the matter was carefully kept from the intended +recipient. Nicholas had now to account for it to Hyde, and he could only +plead the strong injunction of secrecy that had been laid upon him by the +King. The plot was an instance, it may be, of mistaken and ill-judged +kindness; but not the strictest political purist of the day could have +arraigned the grant, and it would have been churlish for an old and +impoverished servant to have refused so gracious a favour from the King, +few of whose lavish grants had so much justification as this. It was +granted with delicacy, and was accepted with gratitude, as cementing that +bond of loyal affection which long years of faithful service had created. + +At this juncture, as it happened, Bulstrode Whitelocke and Lord Lovelace +[Footnote: John, Lord Lovelace (1616-1670) was an ardent Royalist, and one +of those Peers who signed the Declaration at Oxford on behalf of the King +in 1642. Clarendon (_Hist. of Rebellion_, vii. 174) speaks of him as +one "of whose good affections to his service the King had always +assurance."] were involved in a dispute about some land in Wiltshire which +Whitelocke had bought when his own former party was in the ascendant, and +when Lovelace was hard pressed for money. The balance had now shifted, and +Lovelace, as the price of giving confirmation to Whitelocke's title, was +pressing for a sum more adequate to the value than that paid in +Whitelocke's day of triumph, when the dominant purchaser could coerce the +unwilling seller. It was expedient to end a dispute between two men who +were now both in the interest of the King, and Hyde thought that the most +convenient way of doing so was that he should become the purchaser of the +land, which adjoined his own property in Wiltshire. Relying on the Irish +windfall, he consented to do so, and thus became bound for a sum largely +in excess of anything he received. Instead of a double payment of £12,600, +he never received more than £6000 of the first instalment. Orrery's +promises were more lavish than his performances; and the only result of +Charles's kindly thought was to involve Hyde in a heavy debt and to give +food for baseless suspicions of his venality. Personally, therefore, he +had good ground to fear the gifts that came from Ireland. That country +remained an unhappy battle-ground of racial and religious feud; its +settlement had galled him by its many features of injustice; he saw its +resources crippled by lavish grants to a host of unworthy recipients which +he was powerless to prevent, and it had robbed him of that support which +he might have had from his most faithful friend, the Duke of Ormonde. It +is no wonder that he turns in disgust from the review of Irish affairs +which had in it so little that could satisfy his conscience or his sense +of political wisdom. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +MARRIAGE TREATY AND RELIGIOUS SETTLEMENT + + +The two preceding chapters have anticipated the strict order of time in +regard to Scotland and Ireland, where Clarendon's action was only +incidental to his position as English Minister. We have now to turn back +to the months that intervened between December, 1660, when the Convention +Parliament was dissolved, and May, 1661, when the more legally constituted +Parliament met for the first time. In the interval some events had +occurred which stimulated the flow of the Royalist tide in the nation, and +helped to imbue the general loyalty with something of arrogant +intolerance; but other incidents had weakened the position by giving new +stimulus to Court intrigues, and by quickening the animosity of rival +factions. Clarendon found the tide occasionally too strong to control, and +his difficulties encouraged those who were jealous of his power. + +In January, London had been startled by the outbreak of a fanatical +insurrection, which gives sufficient proof of the strangely hysterical +state into which the nation had been driven by a series of bewilderingly +rapid transformations, political and religious. It was the natural result +of the sudden suppression of the strange freaks of religious fancy which +were symptomatic of the age, and alike in its origin and in its +consequences, it showed how prone public opinion was to perturbation. Its +leader, one Venner, a vintner of good credit in the City, evidently +believed himself inspired by Divine revelation. His motto was "The sword +of the Lord and of Gideon," and he called on all "to take arms to assist +the Lord Jesus Christ." The outbreak was nothing but a frenzied burst of +religious mania; but its effect showed how dangerous was the state of the +nation of which this was a symptom. All London was thrown into wild alarm. +Only those of strong nerves could make a stand against what was, with +ludicrous exaggeration, represented to be a popular movement on a vast +scale. The Lord Mayor won mighty renown for having the courage to summon a +great body of adherents, and advance personally against the rioters, who +were said to be murdering all whom they met. Wild rumours flew from the +City to Whitehall; the guards were called out; Whitehall was put in a +state of defence; and poor Pepys, whose combats were generally confined to +the chastisement of page-boys and kitchen-wenches, found himself--"with no +courage at all, but that I might not seem to be afraid"--obliged to carry +with him sword and pistol, and make his way to the Exchange, to learn the +extent of the rising, which was scarcely so terrible as had been reported. +Pepys returned safely to his home, and that no worse result arose from his +unwonted and warlike venturesomeness was no doubt due to the fact that he +had been wise enough to put no powder in his pistols. + +After all the alarm, the Lord Mayor found only thirty men to oppose the +loyal bands whom he had summoned to his aid. But these thirty fought +valiantly and desperately enough, and every man of them was either slain, +or captured and reserved for speedy punishment. The little knot of fiery +zealots did their best to make up in their fanatical enthusiasm what they +lacked in numbers, and that the rising shook the confidence of the +Government and quickened the pulse of timid loyalty throughout the +country, only showed how sensitive were the nerves of the sorely galled +nation. None knew better than Hyde that there was much amiss in the temper +of the people, and that quiet and settlement were essential to soothe this +epidemic hysteria. Meantime--so intense had been the alarm--the disbanding +of the King's Guards was countermanded, and Monk's regiment of Coldstreams +was retained. It is curious to reflect that the occasion for the formation +of the nucleus of the British standing army was the brief outbreak of a +handful of frenzied men, stirred to momentary madness by a religious +fanatic, and ready to go to death for the avenging of the saints. Already +the seeming unanimity of loyalty was gone; those who were Royalists at +heart found that they had still enemies to meet; and it was proved that +the new Government could in no wise relax the vigilance of their defence +of order, or presume upon the support of an undivided nation. + +Before the new Parliament met in May, the Coronation of the King took +place, on April 23rd, with all the splendour that copious expense could +achieve in an age saturated with a love of florid display, and with what +was doubtless a careful and politic anxiety to revive in their most +authentic form all the ancient observances and ceremonies which had in the +past attended the rite. Already the most prominent adherents of the King +had been advanced in the peerage, and on the day before the Coronation +ceremonies six Earls--amongst whom Clarendon was one--were invested with +their new dignity with the ancient and stately ceremonial so long in +abeyance. But even amid the rejoicings of the Coronation new seeds of +dissension were laid in a soil only too fertile for their propagation. The +Duke of York was deemed, by those who held to older fashions, to have +assumed too much of that precedence which was accorded to Monsieur the +brother of the King in the Court of France, but which had no warrant in +the usages of England; and the fact that he was allowed to appropriate a +place in the procession for his own "Master of the Horse," and that the +holder of the honoured place was a youthful member of the upstart family +of the Jermyns, was enough to stir up much heartburning amongst the older +Royalist nobility, and to engage the attention and compel the anxiety even +of Clarendon himself. The Chancellor had to steer his course amidst a very +hotbed of popular excitement, and of Court factions and intrigues, but +thinly covered by a veneer of seemingly whole-hearted loyalty. + +Before Parliament met, another project had been fully discussed and +practically settled. This was the marriage of the King with the Portuguese +Princess, Catherine of Braganza. It was an alliance which involved many +dangers, and what were, at the best, but doubtful advantages. Clarendon +had, at a later date, to bear the blame of an arrangement which brought no +satisfaction either to the King or to the nation, and which eventually did +much to check the tide of loyalty. But he is careful to tell us that the +inception of the scheme did not come from him; that the first suggestion +was not even made to him, and that he interfered in it no further than his +relations to the King imperatively demanded. But he adds that had it been +otherwise, he would have felt no reason to disavow, or be ashamed of, his +action in promoting the marriage of the King to any suitable consort. + +Such a project had, indeed, much to commend it, had Fate been kinder, and +had not the position of European affairs been so tangled. Clarendon had +long urged the propriety of the King's marriage. It was all the more his +duty to do so now, when any delay in the matter might seem to promise the +eventual succession to the Crown of the children of his own daughter, the +Duchess of York. Clarendon had no ambition for such elevation, and he knew +well how any suspicion of such a scheme would expose him to the +accusations of his enemies. He would best have liked that the King should +choose a Protestant consort, but the only one who could be suggested was +the daughter of the Dowager Princess of Orange, and to that match Charles +was invincibly opposed. The Portuguese alliance offered certain +advantages. It promised a counterpoise to the power of Spain (and, as +such, it would unquestionably secure the friendliness of France), and thus +seemed to offer help in maintaining a safe position in foreign relations, +and preventing the probability of foreign war. For the stable settlement +of affairs at home, no condition was more absolutely essential than the +maintenance of peace abroad; and for this, if for no other reason, +Clarendon was passionately determined to avoid any foreign complications. +If an alliance with a Catholic Princess were necessary, none could +apparently involve less danger than one which brought about a Portuguese +rather than a Spanish connection. + +Clarendon had no mind to cultivate an alliance with Spain, which must be +purchased by such concessions as would have inflicted grave injury on +England. The Spanish Ambassador, Batteville, had, at his very first +audience, pressed for the surrender of Jamaica, which had been taken from +Spain by the King's rebellious subjects. He claimed also that Dunkirk and +Mardyke, which had been handed over to Cromwell in virtue of his treaty +with France, should be restored to their rightful sovereign. These demands +he made, seemingly as matters of form. They were points which need not be +pressed, if England were prepared to make a treaty which would be +advantageous to Spain, and if Portugal received no encouragement from +England. If Clarendon disliked the Spanish alliance he disliked quite as +much the methods of Court intrigue by which it was pressed. Batteville was +astute enough to take a correct measure of English courtiers. He conformed +himself to the slipshod methods and the rollicking humour of Charles and +his circle. He insinuated himself into the intimacy of the King's boon +companions: availed himself of the easy access to the King, which +Charles's nonchalance permitted, and knew how to suggest what might be +useful to him as a diplomat, in the careless intercourse of the table, and +amidst the jests of a carouse at Court. Bristol did his best to aid the +Spanish diplomat. Charles's facile temper made him forget Bristol's +double-dealing, and Bristol, having regained some of his favour, "had an +excellent talent in spreading that gold-leaf very thin, that it might look +much more than it was." [Footnote: _Life_, i. 505.] A whisper in the +King's ear might do much to foster Spanish designs, and with them +Bristol's influence. Clarendon knew well the dangers that success in that +direction might involve. + +Nor were solid attractions wanting in the Portuguese alliance. For +national prosperity, there was no greater essential than an encouragement +to commerce, in an age when commerce throughout Western Europe was making +immense advances, in which England had already earned, and must secure, +her share. If this country were to balance the growing naval power of the +Dutch, and their increasing mercantile marine, she must strengthen her +hold upon the ever extending trade in the Eastern and Western seas. +Holland must always be more of a rival than an ally; and Spain was a power +with which no permanent or favourable alliance was probable or desirable, +except in so far as it might be a balance against the power of France. +Portugal commanded a wider range of colonial trade, both in the East +Indies and in Brazil, and it presently appeared, when definite proposals +were laid before the King and his Ministers by the Portuguese Ambassador, +that she was prepared to pay highly for the privilege of an English +alliance. A dowry of £500,000 was promised with the Portuguese Princess-- +no ineffective bait for one whose coffers were so ill-supplied as those of +Charles. The port of Tangier, which could easily be made into an effective +harbour and seemed likely to offer a command of the Mediterranean trade, +was to be placed in the hands of England. Bombay was to be granted to her +in the East Indies; and perhaps most important of all--the privilege of +free trade to the Portuguese colonies in Brazil and the East Indies was to +be accorded to her. An abundant return was thus to be reaped both by the +Crown and by the nation, at once in an enhancement of naval supremacy and +in an extension of commercial opportunities. It was only necessary to +guard against the danger lest a Portuguese alliance might involve England +in a war with Spain, + +Charles was attracted by the offers, and all the more so when he received +from Montague--now Earl of Sandwich--a favourable account of the value of +Tangier. Portugal had given more generous aid to the Royalist cause in its +extremity than either Prance or Spain, and it had incurred the vengeance +of Cromwell by giving shelter in the Tagus to Prince Rupert's fleet when +it was hard pressed by Cromwell's ships. Such an alliance seemed not +unlikely to be well received by the nation. + +Clarendon encouraged, rather than checked, the proposal, and this is all +that can be said of his attitude. But after the preliminary steps had been +taken, and engagements had already proceeded far with Portugal, he found +that the whole project was threatened by a secret intrigue. Again that +restless and versatile contriver, Bristol, had set himself to overturn the +scheme. It is hard to decide what were his motives. In spite of his +adoption of Roman Catholicism, Bristol's religious convictions were hardly +of a kind to dominate his policy; but he had linked his lot with that of +the Catholics--he may perhaps have already suspected Charles's inclination +to their faith--and he may well have thought that a Spanish alliance would +confirm the influence which he hoped thus to acquire. It may be that he +was angry only because he had not been taken into confidence at an earlier +stage in the affair; such a motive is not to be set aside in the case of +one in whose character personal vanity predominated so largely, and who +could so little estimate the general tendency of national feeling. Be that +as it may, Clarendon found that Bristol's influence was countermining the +scheme, and that the King had been so far gained over as to contemplate +the breach of an engagement to which his honour was already pledged, and +which would have inflicted a galling wound on the pride of his expected +allies. Already, it appeared, tempting offers had been conveyed to Charles +of marriage with one or other of two Italian Princesses, whose dowry would +be provided by the Spanish Court, and the choice of one of whom would have +had its value enhanced by a close alliance with Spain. Even with one of +more controlled temperament than Charles possessed, the element of +personal qualifications might not unreasonably tell for a good deal in the +selection of a wife. Bristol was commissioned to visit and report upon the +ladies proposed for Charles's hand, and made no secret of the reason of +his voyage to Italy. The Spanish ambassador spoke openly in disparagement +of the person and the attractions of Catherine, and boasted that he had +effectually stopped the presumption of the upstart Court of Braganza in +attempting to bolster up its rebellion against the Spanish Crown by an +English alliance. + +Clarendon took his usual method in dealing with such a mixture of intrigue +and arrogance. To the somewhat nauseous personal details which were +furnished in disparagement of the Portuguese Princess, he perhaps, as +politician, gave but scant attention. He permitted Bristol to depart on +his extraordinary mission, and addressed himself to the King with his +customary plainness of speech. He exposed to him the braggart boasts of +Bristol, whose vanity had not permitted him to keep even a secret of his +own contriving. He desired him to remember the extent of his own +engagement to Portugal, and how far his honour was involved. If arguments +were to be found for withdrawing from the project, it would be well to +consult on these with his Council. The choice of a consort was perhaps a +matter somewhat too delicate for discussion at a Council Board. But +Clarendon might, at least, suggest that the King of England could hardly +with dignity submit his marriage to the judgment of the Court of Spain. + +The Chancellor knew his master well. It was by appeals to his vanity and +to his love of ease that Charles could best be moved. The plain reproaches +of his Minister were irksome, and in the long run became unbearable to +him, but they impressed his pliable spirit. He minimized the extent of the +charge given to Bristol, and then consented to his recall. He found, or +fancied that he found, that the portrait of Catherine belied the +unflattering accounts he had deceived. His temper was irritated by the +impudent threats of the Spanish ambassador, who was imperiously commanded +to quit the Kingdom, Above all, the Ministers of France took steps to +prevent that triumph to Spain which would have accrued from a breach of +the alliance. La Bastide was sent with full credentials to deal personally +with the Chancellor. The French King, he told him, was friendly to +Portugal, although for the present his alliance with Spain prevented any +overt assistance to the Braganza family. But he was ready to help the King +of England with financial aid, if Charles should himself, by private +understanding, undertake such assistance. Meanwhile he thought that the +King "could not bestow himself better in marriage than with the Infanta of +Portugal." Further, hints were given that an understanding might be +reached between the Crowns as to their relations to the States of Holland, +and as to the steps to be taken against the dangers which the Dutch naval +power threatened to both. + +The matter proceeded no further than an interchange of friendly proposals; +but there was one incident connected with it, of which Clarendon has given +us a full account. Before the negotiations closed, La Bastide took the +opportunity of a confidential interview with the Chancellor to broach to +him a proposal which, to one of Hyde's character, was nothing but an +insult. He was commissioned, La Bastide said, by Fouquet, the Finance +Minister of France, to express his deep respect for Clarendon, and his +sense of the trust and power he now enjoyed. But he understood how easily +the Chancellor might, under present circumstances, be hard put to it to +maintain his high position from scantiness of means, and he had therefore +sent him a present, small indeed, but only as an earnest of as much, or +more, to be paid him every year. He would have need of it to secure, by +becoming generosity, the means of meeting the secret machinations of his +enemies at Court. La Bastide concluded by showing him bills for £10,000, +payable at sight. + +However much such a proposal was in accordance with the political morality +of the day, Clarendon did not hesitate to show his indignation, and his +disgust that it should have been made to him. "If this correspondence must +lead him to such a reproach," he said, "he would unwillingly enter upon +it." La Bastide must let Monsieur Fouquet know "that the Chancellor of +England could receive wages only from his own master. "Such an excess of +scrupulosity could only appear, to one trained in the school to which La +Bastide was accustomed, as merely assumed. He still pressed the absolute +secrecy of the gift, until Clarendon broke off the interview in stern +anger. + +The sequel was what we might expect. The King and the Duke of York came to +Clarendon before the angry fit was gone, and heard the story told with +Hyde's usual plainness of indignant speech. "They both laughed at him, +saying 'that the French did all their business that way;' and the King +told him 'he was a fool,' implying 'that he should take his money.'" The +Chancellor vainly sought to impress upon the King something of his own +feeling of pride, and besought him "not to appear to his servants so +unconcerned in things of that nature." Either the French King would +believe that he took the money without his master's knowledge, and so look +on him as a treacherous knave; or "that he received it with his Majesty's +approbation, which must needs lessen his esteem of him, that he should +permit his servants of the nearest trust to grow rich at the charge of +another prince, who might the next day become his enemy." [Footnote: +_Life_, i. 523.] The King could only smilingly reply "that few men +were so scrupulous." There is something almost comical in the effort on +the part of Clarendon to press upon the King that self-respect, which he +had long since cast aside, and the place of which was supplied by a mask +of cynicism. It was quite true that scruples such as those of Hyde were +rare in his day, and formed no part of the usages of the Court of France. +But Clarendon did not know that it would soon be unnecessary to go to +France for an example of shameless venality. The time was not far distant +when Charles, having got rid of his irksome Mentor, was himself to fill +his own coffers by accepting a bribe more infamous than that which he +vainly tried to persuade his prouder servant not to reject with scorn and +contempt. + +For good or ill, the project of the Portuguese alliance weathered the +storm of intrigue directed against it at home and abroad. Without being +its proposer, or the chief guide in the negotiations, Hyde did not refuse +a joint responsibility for its arrangement. We shall afterwards see how +little it realized his hopes; in what sordid wrangles it involved him; how +unpopular it became; and how much it contributed to deepen the degradation +of Charles's Court. But for the time the prospect seemed promising enough. + +The fact of the Princess's religion was, no doubt, a stumbling-block which +might well have caused greater anxiety to Clarendon, and which might have +fretted the prejudices of the English people. But here, as on many other +occasions, he seems to have forced himself, against what to a later day +must seem fairly strong evidence, to discredit any idea that action on the +part of Charles might be prompted by an inclination to the Church of Rome. +To that Church Clarendon was as invincibly opposed as was his first +master, Charles the First. He knew the earnestness of the injunctions laid +on his son, by that master whose memory he so deeply revered. It is +impossible to believe that doubts and anxieties were not repeatedly roused +in Clarendon's mind with regard to the relations of the present King to +that Church. But he seems sternly to have fought against and repressed any +such suspicions. Apparently, the realization of these suspicions would +have ruined his faith in the honesty and good feeling of his master, and +with almost exaggerated energy he repudiates any such belief. If he +suspected any danger of the kind from the Portuguese alliance, he put it +firmly aside. And it is certain that whatever ill accrued from that +marriage, it was not from that cause. Catherine of Braganza remained +throughout a negligible quantity in English politics. Neither at Court, +nor with any section of society, did she exercise any appreciable +influence, either in promoting or retarding the acceptance in her adopted +country of the tenets of her Church. Whatever the closeness of the King's +relations to that Church, and whatever his determination to strain his +prerogative in its favour, neither was influenced in the smallest degree +by the religion of his wife. It is true that at a later day, the religion +of the Queen, and the presence at Court of her Catholic attendants, +enhanced the fury of an unthinking storm of anti-Catholic feeling. But it +was only a small aggravation of an irrational outburst of religious +prejudice. + +The marriage treaty was arranged in time to be notified to Parliament when +it met in May, 1661, and from that time the negotiations proceeded with +all the customary diplomatic deliberation. The announcement was received +with the same loyal acceptance as the other proposals of the Government, +in an assembly much more markedly Royalist in feeling than even the +Convention Parliament, which had carried out the first steps in the +Restoration settlement. Its zeal might even have been deemed embarrassing, +and Clarendon was chiefly urgent that a permanent settlement should be +provided for, by confirming the Act of Indemnity and Oblivion, before the +Royalists devised new means of reaping fresh spoils of conquest. Another +Act which he pressed forward was that bringing back the bishops to the +House of Lords. It was, to his mind, a guarantee for the restoration of +the Church, which it had been the central aim of his late master, as it +was his own, to accomplish. Whatever compromise might be made as to +ceremonies and articles, Clarendon could not admit that his debt to the +Church had been paid until she had been re-established in her rightful +position in the State. The memory of those bitter days, when what he +recognized as the good work of the Long Parliament had been rudely marred +by the subsequent excesses of the zealots, and when the constitution had +been overturned by violence which posed as legislation, was too vividly +impressed upon his mind to suffer him to rest until the prelates of the +Church were placed on their former level with the temporal peers. + +Here, again, he met with fractious opposition from Bristol. It is +difficult to find a consistent clue to all the windings of policy devised +by that mercurial brain, and to guess at the objects which inspired him. +The Bill was easily passed by the House of Commons, where some opposition +might have been expected. In the House of Lords its passage was less easy. +Those peers, who had in the old days assented to the exclusion, were only +too ready to have their former vote forgotten, and raised no voice against +the Bill. It was Bristol who, to secure the support of the Catholics, put +himself forward as its opponent, and contrived to impress the King with +the conviction that the restoration of the bishops to the House of Lords +would render impossible any Bill for modifying the penal laws against the +Roman Catholics. The progress of the Bill was slow, and it was only on +inquiring into the cause of this, that Clarendon found that Bristol had +succeeded in conveying the idea that the King did not wish it to pass. +With his usual blunt directness Clarendon asked the King for an +explanation, and then heard of Bristol's machinations. His reply was +prompt. He regretted that the King had been prevailed upon to obstruct a +Bill on which he knew his Majesty's heart was so much set. If the reason +for such obstruction were known, it would be fatal to all Roman Catholic +hopes, "to which his Majesty knew that Hyde was no enemy." These last +words were an intimation, as plain as could be given, that Hyde might +easily be converted into an enemy to their hopes, Charles took his lesson +submissively, and orders were given that the Bill should pass. Bristol +attempted to bluster, and threatened "that if the Bill were passed that +day he would speak against it," "To which," adds Hyde, "the Chancellor +gave him an answer that did not please him; and the Bill was passed that +day." Clarendon's methods could compel the consent of the King, and could +silence the arrogance or the persistency of fractious opponents. They were +scarcely fitted to conciliate either. + +[Illustration: GEORGE DIGBY, SECOND EARL OF BRISTOL. (_From the original +by Sir Anthony Vandyke, in the collection of Earl Spencer._)] + +Parliament had been compliant, and had passed at least two Acts which +Clarendon deemed imperatively urgent. It was prorogued, after a short +session, on July 30th, to meet again on November 20th. There remained +still to be dealt with what were perhaps the most difficult problems of +all, the questions of compromise as to the ceremonies and the doctrines of +the Church, of the relation between the Nonconformists and the orthodox +Churchmen, and of the degree of toleration that might be allowed to +divergent forms of belief. These were three absolutely distinct branches +of the religious controversy, and to confuse them leads only to prejudice +and error. Clarendon had seen enough of the temper of the Parliament to +perceive that time was necessary to ripen these questions for a +settlement, and that the process would go on more smoothly during a recess +than in the heated atmosphere of Parliamentary discussion. The discussions +at the Savoy, the negotiations between the leading Nonconformists and the +bishops, and the formulating of proposals on either side, had represented +one phase of the discussions, and had led to little result. The matter was +now one in which the Crown and its advisers must initiate a policy, and do +their best to smooth its passage during the next session of Parliament. It +could not be indefinitely delayed. Laxity, if too long tolerated, from +however good a motive, quickly passes into anarchy. + +In this matter it was inevitable that the leading part in framing a policy +should fall to Clarendon. Of the old friends who would have been his chief +advisers and guides in this work, many had passed away. But amongst the +bishops three especially remained who were associated with old memories, +and linked to him by mutual sympathy and respect. These were Brian Duppa, +the former tutor of Charles II., lately Bishop of Salisbury, and now of +Winchester; George Morley, now Bishop of Worcester, and soon after, +successor of Duppa at Winchester; and Gilbert Sheldon, at first Bishop of +London, and subsequently Archbishop of Canterbury on the death of Juxon, +in 1663. Juxon's claims to the Primacy were pre-eminent; he had appeared +with the Martyr-King in that memorable scene on the scaffold at Whitehall, +and none other than he could fill the Archiepiscopal chair, which had been +vacant since Laud had preceded his master in his death upon Tower Hill. +But Juxon's tenure of the office was little more than nominal, and, even +during his lifetime, Sheldon was the foremost representative of the +Church. + +Duppa, the Bishop of Winchester, had been the man closest in the +confidence of Laud, and had been the chief agent in carrying out his +reforms in the University of Oxford. This must of itself have been +sufficient to earn for him the warm sympathy of Clarendon, and his +subsequent career had confirmed those early ties. To Clarendon, he was not +only the trusted friend of his early patron, Laud, but the man to whom his +royal master had committed, in solemn words, the religious education of +his son; and that duty Duppa had carried out with an unswerving devotion, +with however small success. His own personal character, the gentleness of +his temper, and his saintly life, had strengthened the respect which was +felt for him by all loyal Churchmen, and during the short time that he +survived the Restoration, he had a deserved influence on the counsels that +directed the policy of the Church. + +George Morley was another of the old fraternity that had gathered at Great +Tew, under the hospitable roof, and in the genial company, of Hyde's early +and most cherished friend, Lord Falkland. Morley's scholarship, his social +gifts, his ready wit, and his unfailing tact, had secured for him a +prominent place amongst that goodly fellowship. He followed a line of his +own in Church politics, and in early days was not pliable enough always to +win the approval and the confidence of Laud. His reply, when bored by an +inconvenient questioner as to what the Arminians "held,"--"that they held +all the best preferments in England,"--was pointed enough to spread +quickly, and the sarcasm it implied was not agreeable to Laud. But Morley +was none the less a loyal son of the Church, and gave abundant evidence of +his loyalty to the good cause. He had been one of the Chaplains of Charles +I., remained with him throughout the days of trouble and danger to the +end, and had been an exile from his master's death to the Restoration. In +Morley, Clarendon could place the trust due to an old friend, a loyal +Churchman, and a man of fearless character, and of ripe judgment. Against +his uprightness of life no insinuation could be made. + +Gilbert Sheldon was a man of a different type from either of these two. +While a stout defender of the rights of the Church, he, like Morley, had +not always seen eye to eye with Laud. But he and Hyde were in closest +sympathy. They had lived together at All Souls when Hyde was present at +Oxford during the Civil War, and when the burden of directing the affairs +of the King had rested chiefly upon him. Sheldon, in later days, had +manfully resisted the encroachments of the Parliamentary Commissioners on +the University, and upon All Souls, of which he was Warden; and it was +only by military violence that he was expelled from his charge, under the +order of these Commissioners. He had then retired to the country, and +continued during the Commonwealth to lead a quiet life, in which he spent +his time and his own resources in assisting the loyal adherents of the +King. Just before the Restoration, the Warden appointed by the Protector +had died; and Sheldon was quietly restored to his former post, at the +moment when the political world was occupied with the still doubtful +struggle between the contending factions. A few months later he was called +to play a leading part, as Bishop of London, in the critical negotiations +for the settlement of the Church. Sheldon was a new type of the +ecclesiastical statesman. + +He had thrown off the habits of the student for those of the +administrator, and one may add, of the politician. Sound and sincere +Churchman as he was, his religion was that of the man of the world, +suspicious of fanaticism, more earnest in inculcating an upright life than +in a show of enthusiastic fervour, regular in his religious duties, but +preferring a religion which displayed itself in the cheerful activity of a +regular life, rather than in any overstrained attention to devotional +routine. It was only natural that his enemies should charge him with being +worldly-minded, and should insinuate that with him religion was only an +instrument of government, and an element in policy. It need not lessen our +respect for him that his religious faith showed itself more in lavish +charity, and in a cheerful energy, than in the strict pursuit of the +conventional routine of religious exercises. He could be a stern moralist +when necessary, and he did not scruple to rebuke the King for his +licentious life, and even, as Swift tells us, refused to him the Sacrament +on that account. If such a man attracts to himself little of a halo of +sanctity, he perhaps compensates for this by the manliness of an upright +life and conduct. [Footnote: We need give no attention to the scandalous +and baseless gossip as to Sheldon's licentiousness which Pepys gathered +from the irresponsible tittle-tattle of the coffee-house, and entrusts to +the confidential pages of a diary which was never intended for +publication. If we enjoy and profit by the vivid pictures of the day which +his memoirs give us, we ought at the same time to feel ourselves bound to +discredit the occasional thoughtless gossip about characters which stand +too unassailable to be smudged by the mischievous sallies of Pepys's pen.] +In his balanced judgment, in his unswerving honesty, and in his absolute +uprightness of purpose, Hyde found just that help which was most useful at +this juncture; and that both he and Sheldon suffered from some testiness +of temper was no hindrance to their friendship. + +When Parliament resumed in November, 1661, its first business was to pass +certain acts for restoring the power of the Crown. The Solemn League and +Covenant was pronounced illegal, and the Acts erecting the High Court of +Justice for the trial of the King, and for establishing the Commonwealth, +were contumeliously annulled. The power of Militia was declared to rest +solely in the King, and it was enacted that no legislative power resided +in Parliament without the King. These and like Acts were passed without +discussion, and amounted to little more than expressions of the dominant +loyalist feeling. The first step in restoring the power of the Church was +the Corporation Act, which enacted that every corporation official should +take an oath against the Covenant, and against the traitorous doctrine +that arms might, by the King's authority, be levied against his person, +and imposing upon every such official to be elected in future the +obligation to take the Sacrament according to the rites of the Church of +England. The supremacy of the Church was vindicated. Whether wise or not +as a platform on which English politics should rest--and as to this doubts +are no doubt permissible--this Test Act was the expression of the +convinced resolution of the nation at the time. The more difficult +question remained for decision: how should the basis of the Church be +arranged, and to what extent was it to be made more comprehensive? + +Since the end of the Savoy Conference, the strife between the adherents of +the Church and the Nonconformists had been growing in intensity. Both +sides were exasperated by the uncertainty, and both were furious against +what they believed to be the exaggerated claims of their opponents. The +King's pliant humour had permitted to the various Dissenters an easy +access to his person, and he was only too prone to give rise to +expectations which were bound to be disappointed, and to unwary boasts on +the part of the Nonconformists, which stimulated the Churchmen to an +unyielding temper. The Bishops had been engaged during the vacation in +revising the Book of Common Prayer, and sharp division of opinion had +arisen amongst them--a division in regard to which Clarendon held strong +views. Ought an attempt to be made to meet the views of the Nonconformists +by modification of the Liturgy--or was it best to put a peremptory stop to +agitation and discussion by restoring the ritual and the usages of the +Church unchanged, so that the historic weight of continuity should be +added to the authority of the law? + +"Some of the bishops," says Clarendon, "who had greatest experience, and +were in truth wise men," adhered to the latter view." Others, equally +grave, of great learning and unblemished reputation, "pressed for +alterations and additions. [Footnote: _Life_, ii. 119.] He desired to +hold the balance even between these opposite opinions. But his own +judgment was decided. + +"The truth is," he adds, "that what show of reason so ever and appearance +of charity the latter opinion seemed to carry with it, the former advice +was the more prudent, and would have prevented many inconveniences which +ensued." "It is," he proceeds, "an unhappy policy, and always unhappily +applied, to imagine that that classes of men can be recovered and +reconciled by partial concessions, or granting less than they demand. And +if all were granted they would have more to ask. Their faction is their +religion; nor are those combinations ever entered into upon real and +substantial motives of conscience, how erroneous so ever, but consist of +many glutinous materials, of will, and humour, and folly, and knavery, and +malice, and ambition, which make men cling inseparably together till they +have satisfaction in all their pretences, or till they are absolutely +broken and subdued, which may always be more easily done than the other." +[Footnote: _Ibid._, p. 121.] + +Clarendon recognized, as clearly as did Swift a generation later, that +dissent was the essential motive of dissenters, and that all concessions +would be with them but an incitement to new divergences. He remembered the +case of the Scottish liturgy, in which changes were introduced in order to +meet the desire for a distinctive liturgy, and were afterwards resented as +departures from the established order, which might otherwise have been +peaceably accepted. Changes were now sought only that they might be the +starting-point for further change. Meanwhile the Nonconformists inveighed +with new bitterness against the old liturgy, and their angry invective +provoked the House of Commons to greater impatience at the delay in its +restoration. Clarendon recognized the old and ever-present fact that it +was easier to preserve an old form, with all its possible defects, than to +devise a new one with the view of reconciling irreconcilable divergences. +He had to remember also that besides the Presbyterians there was the +strong phalanx of the Independents, who would rather see episcopacy +flourish than that the Presbyterians should govern. + +Clarendon was not unwilling that a calm and rational spirit of concession +should prevail, and that non-essential usages should be modified to meet +conscientious scruples. In the abstract this ought to have been possible; +but as things stood it was a hopeless ideal. He had to take account of the +angry exasperation of temper that prevailed; and for the general weal he +felt that some settlement, however peremptory, was essential. However +unwillingly, he was compelled to decide for the drastic exercise of +authority which might, once for all, compose the strife and produce a +settlement. Expedition was of the first importance in the business. + +It was in this spirit that the speech of the King to Parliament was +framed. He had hoped, said the King, that the composing of differences in +regard to non-essentials might have already been obtained. He was grieved +at the delay. The Book of Common Prayer was now to be presented to him by +Convocation. It would thereafter be laid before the House of Lords; and +upon that foundation he trusted that an Act of Uniformity might be based. + +As approved by Convocation, with certain alterations which rather +strengthened than diminished the force of the ecclesiastical authority, +the Book of Common Prayer was presented to the House of Lords. The Earl of +Northumberland, whose Presbyterian leanings were pronounced, suggested +that no change whatever should be made, and that the Act of Uniformity of +Elizabeth's reign should once more be the authority for its observance. +But the time for that was too late. Convocation had already done its work, +and that work could not be disregarded. The legal authority had given its +pronouncement; it remained only to say how that pronouncement should be +enforced. In this spirit the House of Lords entered upon the discussion of +the Bill of Uniformity. + +The first question of importance was the imposition of episcopal +ordination as a necessary condition of the tenure of any ecclesiastical +office. That was decided in the affirmative; and the requisition of assent +as well as consent to all contained in the Book of Common Prayer was +carried against the resistance of those who, on behalf of the +Nonconformists, argued that "assent" implied a more complete approbation +than mere "consent." When the Bill had passed the House of Lords and was +sent to the Commons, it soon appeared that the Church party there was +determined to increase its severity. "Every man," says Clarendon, +"according to his passion, thought of adding something to it that might +make it more grievous to somebody whom he did not love." However earnest +was Clarendon's loyalty to the Church, these words give evidence enough of +the vexation of the Statesman at the unmeasured bitterness of +ecclesiastical partizanship. + +A new and rigid subscription, abjuring the lawfulness of resistance and +the Solemn League and Covenant, was imposed upon every holder of a +benefice, or of an office in a University. This created bitter opposition +when the Bill was sent back to the Lords, and the discussion mainly turned +upon the express repudiation of the Covenant, to which many laymen had +already sworn. These, while they consented to its being laid aside for the +future, were by no means ready to repudiate all the principles which it +embodied. The Covenant still represented the charter of Presbyterianism, +and to inflict a needless insult upon tenets conscientiously held by many +who had given powerful aid towards the King's restoration, seemed a +needless perpetuation of bitter memories. But the Lords could not refuse +their assent, and this new instrument of exclusion was added to the Bill +substantially in the form desired by the ultra-Royalists of the House of +Commons. + +In this form the Bill received the royal assent on the day when Parliament +was adjourned, May 19th. No long delay was to occur before the axe of +authority fell, and the penalty of any divergence from the uniform +discipline of the Church was to take effect forthwith. On August 24th, St. +Bartholomew's Day--of evil omen--all incumbents who declined to accept and +conform to the whole contents of the Book of Common Prayer were, _ipso +facto_, with no further legal process, to be deprived of their +benefices, and the patrons were to present others in their place. + +Clarendon was too sober in his judgment, and had too much of the statesman +in his composition, to welcome the rigid terms which the triumphant +Churchmen were determined to exact. He was not one of those who thought a +victory was confirmed by an arrogant disregard of the claims of the +vanquished. Had he been able to shape the terms of the Act according to +his own ideas of policy and prudence, he would undoubtedly have imposed +checks upon the ambition of the fiery spirits of his party. But we must +remember his position and his sympathies. The double object of all his +long struggles had been to establish in all its dignity the constitutional +monarchy, and to restore the Church to its rights and privileges. It was +not for him to fight too hard against the full assertion of these rights. +We must remember, too, that his own inclination towards moderation came +from policy and prudence, and not from any sympathy with the vanquished, +or any conviction that the measure meted out to them was in any whit more +severe than that which they had exacted in their day of triumph, and would +readily have reinforced were it again in their power to do so. Above all, +Clarendon saw that in the hard task which lay before him in re- +establishing a settled Government, the first essential was the ending of +weary struggles, and the settling of doubtful contentions. Any settlement +was better than perpetual controversy. It was a smaller matter to adjust +the balance according to an ideal of just and politic moderation, than to +comply with the imperious maxim, "that it is for the advantage of the +State that there be an end of litigation." + +That there should be an outburst of anger from those who believed +themselves to be martyrs was only to be expected. The Declaration of +Breda, it was said, had been flagrantly violated. The answer was perfectly +easy. The King had referred the religious settlement to Parliament, and +had promised that meanwhile there should be no interference with liberty +of conscience. It is noteworthy that Clarendon rests the case upon this +plea--that the Crown must act subject to a Parliamentary decision. So far +as it goes it is an adequate defence. But there remains the far stronger +argument that liberty of conscience was a very different thing from a +pledge that those who refused to accept the principles of the Church +should have a right to hold her benefices and dictate her policy. That +would have meant, not toleration of, but surrender to, the divergent +forces. + +But the outburst of anger on the part of a defeated faction had serious +effects on the action of Charles II. Now, as often before, his Chancellor +had to lament that "he was too irresolute, and apt to be shaken in those +counsels which, with the greatest deliberation, he had concluded." +Concessions might be right or wrong; but once a policy was decided, +concessions wrung from the weakness of a vacillating and indolent nature +were fatal. Anything that love of ease did not accomplish, the flattery of +the defeated Nonconformists achieved. The King was their only hope; in his +mercy they looked for a recompense for that loyalty which was none the +less sincere because they shrank from straining their consciences by +compliance with minute points of order and of discipline. At least, let +three months pass before the blow fell that was to strip them of their +livelihood and separate them from their flocks. Such an act of mercy would +vindicate the royal prerogative. Whether the King "thought it would do +them no good," in other words, that he was giving a worthless concession, +or that he thought the delay "no prejudice to the Church," or, as was more +likely, that it would rid him of painful importunity, the desired promise +was given. That it proceeded from any inclination to the Roman Catholic +faith, and any hope that, by its means, easier terms might be obtained for +that faith, was a supposition that Clarendon would have deemed derogatory +to the King's honesty. Clarendon would gladly have seen terms more +merciful granted by the Act of Uniformity. But once the Bill was passed he +saw how fatal vacillation was, and would fain have persuaded his master +against it. But the promise had been given; and once again he had to +remind that master that it was for his honour that a promise given should +be redeemed. Such a position was no unusual experience to any one who +served Charles II. "It was no new thing to the Chancellor to be reproached +for opposing the resolving to do such or such a thing, and then to be +reproached again for pursuing the resolution." + +A new conference was hastily summoned at Hampton Court. Archbishop Juxon, +Sheldon and Duppa were to represent the Church, while the Chancellor, +Monk, and Ormonde, with the Secretaries Nicholas and Morrice, were there +as lay politicians, and the Chief Justice Bridgeman, with the Attorney +General, were to advise as to the law. The Bishops did not conceal their +vexation, and resolutely demanded "to be excused for not conniving at any +breach of the law." Clarendon attempted to maintain the pledge given by +the King, as but a small matter, which could not harm the Church. But the +opinion of the lawyers was clear and decided. The King had no power to +suspend the law, nor to interfere with the rights of patrons. Once more +that vacillating temper yielded. The poor fragment of the royal honour +which Clarendon would fain have saved had to be abandoned. The Church had +to resent a threatened danger; the Nonconformists were embittered by the +overclouding of those hopes on which they had been taught to rely. The +only effect of Clarendon's enforced interference was to involve him in the +hatred of the dissenters, and in the suspicions of the Bishops and the +Churchmen. + +The blow fell on St. Bartholomew's Day; and on August 24th the Church saw +her full triumph, when the nonconforming ministers, to the number, it was +said, of some two thousand, were ejected from their livings. [Footnote: +The number was variously reckoned; a more moderate computation was 1200. +Mr. Bates's careful calculations (_Declaration of Indulgence_, Appendix +II.) give 450 as the number of ministers ejected between May, 1660, and +August, 1662, and 1800 as ejected on the latter date.] The triumph was +bought at the price of establishing a solid, permanent, and increasing +body of irreconcilable foes. The Church was entrenched in a position +rendered impregnable by law, which secured her even against the power of +the Crown. But the forces of nonconformity were consolidated, and +gradually gathered to themselves a mass of political adherents, and +equipped themselves with a whole armoury of political weapons. The Act of +Uniformity did much more than settle the terms between the Church and +Nonconformity. It shaped the course of the two parties which, gradually +diverging farther and farther, were to divide the nation into two camps. + +Charles still sought to secure his own ease by efforts after conciliation +--some of them more questionable in law, and more insidious in their +motives, even than his ill-considered promises to the Nonconformist +ministers. To what lengths his own Roman Catholic sympathies went it is +difficult to say. But there were many influences at Court which were +working for the abandonment of the penal laws against the Catholics. +Bristol was restless in this matter, to which personal ambition and his +growing jealousy of Clarendon stimulated him, much more than any religious +zeal. Concessions granted by royal prerogative would mean new force for +that prerogative; it would bring with it the increase of personal +influence at the expense of the law; it seemed to promise the conciliation +of new adherents; and it certainly involved the weakening of the orthodox +Churchman as well as the Nonconformist. Before the end of this year, 1662, +Charles issued a Declaration, purporting to dispense with the more severe +laws against the Roman Catholics. It was contrived by a little clique of +courtiers opposed to Clarendon, and of their gradual rise to influence we +shall presently see more. It was intended as a means of consolidating +their hold upon the King, and of increasing the number of their own +adherents. It soon became clear that the Declaration assumed a dispensing +power for the royal prerogative, which the nation would repudiate, and +which even the House of Commons, with all its effusive loyalty, would not +confirm. In that Declaration, published on December 6th, the King +expressly confirmed the Act of Uniformity and stated his own intention of +maintaining it. He defended himself against the charge that in that Act he +had violated the Declaration of Breda. It was intended to provide for the +discipline and government of the Church; but there still remained for +consideration what concessions should be made for tender consciences in +view of the severe penal laws; and he announced that he would ask the +concurrence of Parliament to an Act which would allow him "to exercise +with a more universal satisfaction that power of dispensing which he +conceived to be inherent in him." But the Declaration was careful to add +that no tightening of the most severe of the penal laws was to be +construed as an intention of permitting equal toleration to all religions. + +Clarendon was laid aside by illness when this Declaration was concocted +and published, and although those who planned it endeavoured to make out +that he had been an assenting party, his own words give a direct denial to +this. + +When, in the spring of 1663, Charles attempted to give legislative effect +to this Declaration by a Bill introduced by Lord Robartes and Lord Ashley +into the House of Lords, he very quickly found out that the temper of the +nation was in no compliant mood, and that there were marked limits to the +submissive loyalty of the Commons. That House was not patient enough to +wait for the Bill to be sent to it. A committee was at once appointed, and +pronounced in no measured terms against any such scheme. It was +inconsistent with the laws of England; it would endanger the peace of the +kingdom; it would expose the King to the restless importunity of every +sect; and it would "establish schism by law." The House of Lords acted in +the same temper. Clarendon was joined in his opposition by Southampton and +the Bishops, who thus fulfilled the part which Bristol had prophesied for +them, of stalwart opponents of Catholic concessions. The Chancellor would +not have been unwilling to see some sort of toleration. But his duty and +his policy in this matter were clear. To have proceeded with the Bill +would have strained to breaking point the loyalty of the Commons and of +the nation. Toleration, to have any good effect, must be the voluntary +work of Parliament, and not the contrivance of a Court clique. But +Clarendon was under no mistake as to the odium he incurred with that +clique, or as to the irritation which his conduct must arouse in the mind +of the King, his master. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +DOMESTIC DISSENSION AND FOREIGN COMPLICATIONS + + +The difficulties with which Clarendon had to deal in settling the affairs +of the Church were, in essence, inevitable. Each side was struggling for +very life. They had, to inspire them, not only profoundly hostile +convictions, but the memory of years of angry strife and alternate +persecution. But these difficulties were aggravated by the intrigues at +Court, by the shiftless vacillation of the King, and by the underlying +suspicion, which perhaps haunted Clarendon more than he admitted to +himself with respect to the King, that concession might pave the way for +indulgence to the Roman Catholics, to which the nation at large was +profoundly opposed. His position was complicated by the perpetual +bickerings of selfish factions, and by ignoble broils within the palace, +in which he was compelled to interfere. + +It was in June, 1661, that the marriage treaty was signed. As might have +been expected, long delays supervened. Lord Sandwich was despatched with a +fleet to take over Tangier, and on his return voyage to escort the +Princess to England. But that was a matter which did not proceed without +interruption. There was a considerable body of opinion in Portugal which +regarded with profound dislike the abandonment of a position so important. +The Queen-Mother of Portugal was anxious to implement her agreement, but, +in order to do so, she had to dispatch a Governor who was pledged to carry +out the evacuation. Only a few days before Sandwich arrived, that Governor +suffered defeat at the hands of the Moors, and was placed in a position of +serious danger. The arrival of Sandwich was timely. He was able to secure +the place against the attacks of the Moors, and to escort the Portuguese +troops back to their own country, where they were the objects of popular +indignation. All this took time; and it was not till March, 1662, that +Sandwich arrived at Lisbon, to escort the Princess Catherine to England, +along with the stipulated dowry of £500,000. The Queen-Mother of Portugal +was anxious, in this respect also, to meet the terms of the treaty; but it +was not easy for her to do so. The Portuguese Court could raise only a +moiety of the dowry, and even that consisted in large part of merchandise +and jewels of doubtful value. There were difficulties in handing over +Bombay; and the further conditions--as to free rights of trading in the +East Indies and Brazil--could only slowly be made effectual. Those who had +intrigued against the marriage found in these delays just the opportunity +they desired. The reports which reached England were not all favourable to +the new Queen; and the alliance was by no means so popular as it had been +a year before. All this told against Clarendon, to whom was imputed a far +greater responsibility for the arrangement than was actually his, and who +had been forced to support it, in its later stages, largely in order to +counteract the intrigues of Bristol and the Spanish ambassador. + +It was on May 20th, 1662, that the Princess arrived at Portsmouth, where +the King met her, and where the marriage ceremony took place. His first +impression seems to have been fairly good, if we are to believe that a +bridegroom would write full confidences to his Chancellor. + +"If I have any skill in physiognomy, which I think I have," he writes to +Clarendon, "she must be as good a woman as ever was born." "I cannot +easily tell you," he writes again; "how happy I think myself; I must be +the worst man living (which I think I am not) if I be not a good husband." +"Never two humours," he adds, "were better fitted together than ours are." + +Unfortunately Charles's experiences had scarcely made him a judge of a +good woman, and his superficial good humour was but a flimsy foundation +for married happiness. + +The royal couple came to Hampton Court; with happy omen, on May 29th; the +King's birthday; and the anniversary of his Restoration. The Court of +England; however, was scarcely a scene likely to be congenial to one who +had lived a sequestered life, amidst strictly religious surroundings, and +in the formal routine of elaborate ceremonial; nor was Charles, by +character, or by the experiences through which he had passed, disposed to +arrange his life according to the tastes of the devout bride whom policy +had selected for him. But Clarendon was prepared to hope much from the +King's natural good nature and kindliness; and, tempestuous as his life +had hitherto been, the Chancellor strove to do his duty, with more of +frankness, perhaps, than of tact, by reminding his master "of the infinite +obligations he had to God, and that He expected another kind of return +from him, in purity of mind and integrity of life." Charles listened to +these admonitions with a patience that was not altogether assumed, and +seems to have been not unwilling to find merits in his bride. But a +bridegroom that has to be schooled to his duty is hardly a promising +husband. Unfortunately the lesson of his Chancellor was soon forgotten. +There were not wanting those who found it to their advantage to +countermine Clarendon's efforts. At first things looked not unpromising +for the newly married pair. The Queen had "beauty and wit enough to make +herself very agreeable to him"--such are Clarendon's, perhaps too roseate, +words. The King's resolutions were good, and he seems to have promised +himself, if not a union of ardent affection, at least the satisfaction of +an innocent and fairly happy married life. + +But selfish designs and untoward circumstances soon dispelled such slender +hopes as Clarendon persuaded himself to form. The licentiousness of the +Court had already gone too far. The King's boon companions were men who +founded their own hopes on breaking down any good resolutions that their +prince might form, and in bending his facile character to their own mould. +Religion was with them nothing else than an easy object of ribald jest and +ridicule; and virtue nothing but a fantastic restraint upon the natural +freedom of emancipated libertines. They could breathe only in the +atmosphere of degraded and corrupt vice; and it was by deliberately +flouting all the curbs of decency that they could best undermine the +Chancellor's power. The spur of ambition and the greed for gain both urged +them along the path towards which their craving for licentiousness also +pointed. A licentious Court would be that in which money would be most +freely squandered, and where sordid profits would be most plentiful. The +more the moral lessons of Clarendon were set aside, the more surely would +his authority be weakened, and his company become irksome to the King; the +more open would be the way for the baser crew to achieve influence and +wealth. Charles's mind was a soil on which such seeds could easily be +sown, and were like to yield an ample crop. + +All this found powerful help from the lack of tact and perspicacity +amongst the numerous company whom the Queen had brought as her companions. +They were "the most improper," says Clarendon, "to promote that conformity +in the Queen that was necessary for her condition of future happiness." +"Conformity," on the Queen's part, is a word which, in all the +circumstances, has rather an ugly sound; and the art of tactful management +of the ladies of Court was not perhaps one in which Clarendon possessed +such mastery as qualified him for the office of critic. But at least he +saw the flagrant faults in these Portuguese duennas. The women were "old +and ugly and proud, incapable of any conversation with persons of quality +and a liberal education." It was their avowed object to perpetuate their +own influence with the Queen, and to prevent her from any conformity +either with the fashions or the language of England. They fancied that by +rigid adherence to the antique usages of their Court they would compel the +English aristocracy to adopt their manners. By their advice the Queen +would not even wear the English dresses which the King had provided for +his bride; and she received the ladies whom he placed in attendance on her +without grace or cordiality. This was precisely the conduct that made the +work of the profligates easy, that irritated the temper of the King, and +that undermined the work of Clarendon. + +There was one figure at Court whose presence planted a deep seed of +resentment between Charles and his Queen. Lady Castlemaine had hitherto +been the prime favourite in the King's seraglio. She was none of the comic +actresses or flower girls from Covent Garden, whose lavishly distributed +favours had won the fancy of the King, or made him the complacent follower +of their former lovers. Barbara Villiers could rank high amongst the +ladies of the aristocracy, as the daughter of Lord Grandison, a Royalist +of unblemished reputation and lofty lineage, who had met his death in arms +for the King's father, and who had been one of Clarendon's most cherished +friends. Even the callous conscience of the King could not set aside the +wrong his passion had done to her and her husband, Mr. Palmer, who, to his +honour, felt the title of Lord Castlemaine, conferred upon him as the +price of infamy, to be an insult rather than a distinction, and, as long +as he could, declined to bear that name. It was an Irish earldom that was +granted as the price of his wife's degradation, that being chosen because +it was passed under the Irish Privy Seal, and so avoided the necessity of +consulting the English Chancellor. Charles felt--and perhaps rightly felt +--that to a mistress of that rank, and to her family, he must make some +amends; and he seems honestly to have intended--however we may guess that +his resolution would soon have yielded to his passion--to have secured for +her a dignified position at Court, while putting an end to his own guilty +intimacy with her. It was in this spirit that he presented "the Lady," as +she was generally called, to the Queen, whose lady-in-waiting he intended +that she should become. The Queen had already learned the story of the +intrigue, and had declared that she would never suffer the mistress's +presence at her Court: and as soon as she discovered the name of the newly +presented lady, she showed her sense of the indignity by bursting into +tears, and by retiring from the room. The racy scandal of a royal +disagreement was thus published to the Court, and Charles was speedily +confirmed in feeling that his own authority was concerned in dealing +firmly with an unseemly outburst of what he and his chosen companions +deemed to be unreasonable obstinacy. The usages of the French Court, and +the example of his own illustrious grandfather, Henry of Navarre, seemed +to justify his decision; and there were not wanting plenty of tongues +ready to suggest that he must be master in his own Court, and must +establish the principle that the title of King's mistress ought to be one +of honour and not of shame. Those who, like Clarendon, saw in that fashion +a degrading innovation in English manners, must be taught their error. + +Bad blood was soon engendered between the English Court and the Portuguese +authorities. The Portuguese ambassador found himself involved in the +quarrel. The failure of Portugal, in various particulars, to carry out the +full stipulations of the treaty, however earnestly the Queen-Mother +laboured to do so, was now made matter of reproach. The King blamed the +unhappy envoy as responsible for the obstinacy of the consort whom his +Court had supplied; the Queen reproached him with his false reports of the +King's virtue and good nature, which she now discovered to be diplomatic +fancies. Between the two the poor man "thought it best to satisfy both by +dying": and a fever brought him to the brink of the grave, from which some +dawning hope of a reconciliation between the royal pair alone rescued him. +Diplomats and statesmen, whose plans were thwarted, and whose lives were +worried, by these connubial jars, might have been pardoned for lamenting +that the promiscuous amours of the King did not make him callous to +matrimonial bickerings. + +Charles, for once moved to persevering efforts to attain his end, did not +abandon the hope of bringing the Queen to acquiesce in his decision by +gentle means. He laid aside the anger which her conduct had at first +aroused, and sought to cajole her into a better humour. He assured her +that his intimacy with "the Lady" had already ceased, and that the place +at Court which he proposed to assign to her would be the best guarantee +against its renewal. But all these attempts were in vain. The Queen +refused any compromise; and on his side the King, whose superficial good +humour was not incompatible with profound and pertinacious selfishness, +did not scruple to expose her to every insult at Court. He threw himself +with his usual cynicism into all the degraded pleasures of the libertine +crew of his choice companions; openly pursued his intimacy with Lady +Castlemaine, and taught his friends, as an easy means of access to his +favour, to flout the pretensions and the feelings of the Queen. "I wish," +he wrote to Clarendon, "I may be unhappy in this world, and in the world +to come, if I fail in the least degree of what I have resolved, which is +of making my Lady Castlemaine of my wife's bed-chamber. I am resolved to +go through with this matter, let what will come of it: which again I +solemnly swear before Almighty God; therefore if you desire to have the +continuance of my friendship, meddle no more in this business, except it +be to bear down all false and scandalous reports, and to facilitate what, +I am sure, my honour is so much concerned in; and whosoever I find to be +my Lady Castlemaine's enemy in this matter, I do promise, upon my word, to +be his enemy as long as I live. You may show this letter to my Lord- +Lieutenant (Ormonde), and, if you have both a mind to oblige me, carry +yourselves like friends to me in this matter." [Footnote: Letters amongst +Lansdowne MSS. in British Museum. Printed by Lingard, and in Lister's +_Life of Clarendon_, iii. 202.] + +Charles's easy humour cloaked an obstinacy as strong as that of any of his +race. Be the object perverse enough, it asserted itself, in his facile +character, with the pettishness to be found in a spoilt child. He knew +Clarendon's opinion of "the Lady," whose acquaintance the Chancellor +shunned, and to whom he had forbidden his wife to show any civilities. To +Clarendon's bitter annoyance, the King imposed on him of all men the +irksome duty of attempting an arrangement with the Queen. Clarendon had +already met the request, when first made, by sturdy remonstrance, and by a +powerful appeal to the King's sense of honour. It was only when no other +plan could be devised for composing the ugly business, that he felt it his +duty to remonstrate with the Queen. It was; he felt, "too delicate a +province for so plain-dealing a man." The caprice of fortune never laid +upon a man so proud as Clarendon, a task so irksome and so little to his +taste. Only the public interest involved forced him to breathe for a time +the stifling atmosphere, and mix himself in the nauseating topics, of the +royal matrimonial wranglings. Only the imperious need for suppressing a +scandal which might smother the new settlement, and the royal power, in +the mud of a sordid quarrel, bade him undertake a hateful duty. Honour +could not be saved; but disaster might perhaps be avoided. + +Again and again he attempted to argue with the Queen. He assured her, with +such confidence as he might, of the King's promise to break the hated +connection. He held out hopes of a cordial agreement between them to be +gained by conceding what the King desired, at the expense of what +Clarendon admitted to be a natural repugnance. He explained to her the +authority which the King possessed, and hinted--we may guess with what +repugnance--at the usages of other Courts, where such scandals were +condoned. He was met, once and again, by passionate outbursts, to which +the Queen gave way, and which, he knew, would only provoke the resentment +of the King--the resentment of a nature, slow to be aroused, but once +aroused, relentless because of its very cynicism. At length the Chancellor +thought that he had prevailed, and the Queen professed her duty to her +husband. But with an ill-judged change of humour she chose this mistimed +moment for appearing unduly conciliatory to her rival, and thereby +diminished such respect as her resistance had gained, even from those whom +it provoked. Charles not unnaturally believed that the violence of an +indignation so quickly appeased had been due only to capricious obstinacy, +and to no strength of virtuous self-respect. His tyranny grew the greater +by her weakness. He dismissed all but one or two of her followers, and +left her friendless amidst an unfriendly Court. Clarendon worked in vain; +he had done what he could to save the situation, and now "made it his +humble suit to the King that he might be no more consulted with nor +employed in an affair in which he had been so unsuccessful." A semblance +of reconciliation, whatever that was worth, was somehow patched up. The +King no longer openly flouted his wife before the crowd of complaisant +courtiers. On her part she submitted to his will, and stooped to the +ignoble part assigned her in a profligate Court. She accepted, with +gratitude, such an occasional show of kindness, as from time to time made +the Court gossips surmise that a better understanding might come. For the +rest she sank into insignificance amidst such childish amusements as were +to fill up her life. + +Praise and blame are alike out of place in regard to Clarendon's conduct +in the affair, and we may spare ourselves the tedious moralizings of his +critics. No one loathed more utterly than he the disgusting licentiousness +out of which the whole sordid story grew, and no one treated with more +contemptuous austerity the objects of the King's passion, and the pandars +to his vices. However high his own ideal of domestic virtue, Clarendon was +a man of the world, not blind to its vices, and not eager to pry into +scandals or pursue the secrets of private life. It was not only the vice +of Charles's courtiers, it was the sickening parade of debauchery in all +its nakedness, which seemed to him to make the Court unmanly and +contemptible. Feeling as he did, he had spoken words of bold remonstrance +to the King himself, although he was fully conscious how irksome his +moralizings were, and how easily they lent themselves to the gibes of +Charles's baser companions. Busy tongues carried to him tales of these +sneers--which were, indeed, scarcely concealed in his own presence, and +which were only too openly betrayed by the behaviour of the sycophantish +crew. He saw how fatal was the ruin caused by the flagitious obscenity of +the Court--sunk as it was far below the level of the free play of +licentious gallantry [Footnote: The more we become familiar with the +intimate records of the age, the more we recognize how little its +sickening degradation is described by any of the epithets usually applied +to the reign of the "merry monarch." Its filth was even more disgusting +than its vice, its obscenity than its licentiousness, and its unmanliness +than its profligacy. ]--and he knew well that this unseemly matrimonial +fracas proclaimed it to the world. He tried rebuke and remonstrance. When +these failed, he only did his duty in attempting--vainly, as it proved--a +compromise; and it was with disgust as well as weariness that he turned +away from the degrading and hopeless task of patching up the strife that +was undermining all his efforts at reconstruction. The Court which he +dreamed of restoring, chastened by adversity, enhanced in dignity, resting +upon a sound constitutional foundation, and fenced by a bulwark of stately +reverence, was now to be a byword amongst the people, as the home of +ignoble trifling, of bestial vice, of sordid intrigue, and of vulgarizing +domestic jars. + +The little clique of his enemies comprised Bristol, that strange mixture +of contradictions--fantastic vanity and flightiness, tempered by subtle +wariness and vigorous intellectual strength; treachery and double-dealing, +redeemed by occasional gleams of romantic extravagance and enthusiastic +zeal; Buckingham, to whom all virtue was a natural object of antipathy, +and pre-eminence in profligacy his chief ambition; and Ashley, whose keen +intellect and cunning assumption of specious aims, were the instruments of +a boundless ambition, and were unchecked by any thought of principle, or +any scruple of consistency. They had as humbler tools, in their sordid +work, Sir Henry Bennet and Sir Charles Berkeley. All found in this sorry +affair, precisely the most favourable means of promoting the one aim which +held them together--the undermining of Clarendon's power. For this object +they were all alike prepared to support the pretensions, and flatter the +vanity, of the shameless and grasping courtesan, to ruin the happiness of +the wife, to degrade the honour, and send to slumber the scruples, of the +King, and to besmirch that Crown, which a flood of unselfish loyalty had +restored, only two years before, to the love and reverence of the nation. + +But other matters, of larger public concern, had to be faced by Clarendon; +and in these, too, he was obstructed by the machinations of the same +unscrupulous clique. + +We are apt to forget, in the engrossing incidents of our civil war, and +its sequel, the enormous changes that were in progress in the material +condition of the country, and the larger economic struggle that was being +waged between the Western European Powers in regard to the supremacy in +commercial undertakings, as developed by the colonial enterprise of the +time. Wars were to be carried on hereafter, not on the ground of dynastic +disputes or of religious differences, but in order to gain a firm footing +in the vastly increasing field of commercial operations. The sovereignty +of the seas was necessary to achieve that end, and it was this underlying +conviction that prompted the United Provinces to their struggle with the +English fleet--a struggle, the ultimate fate of which remained long +doubtful in view of the intense importance of the warring interests, and +the indomitable courage of the combatants on either side. Cromwell had +enormously developed the commercial supremacy of England by the Navigation +Act, which required that foreign goods should arrive in England only in +ships sailing under the English flag, or under the flag of the country in +which the commodities had their origin. This Act was renewed by the +Convention Parliament and confirmed by the Parliament of 1661, in its full +stringency of operation. It threatened the very foundation of the Dutch +naval and commercial supremacy, and planted a root of enmity between +England and the United Provinces, rendered permanent by the irreconcilable +opposition of material interests which grew up by the irresistible force +of circumstances. Other differences might be composed, but that resting on +the instinct of self-preservation could know no end. Statesmen had to +shape their policy--sometimes blindly enough--but always under the +pressure of this vigorous instinct of self-interest prevalent amongst the +trading classes of the country. + +The wealth of France rendered her less susceptible to these feelings, and +her statesmen took less account of them; but to prove the unquestioned +power of her Crown, it became necessary for her to assert herself, like +her neighbours, at sea. Just before the Restoration, an insecure peace had +been patched up between France and Spain. But while France consented to +abandon her support of Portugal, she had no mind that Portugal should be +left at the mercy of Spain. It was her first business to contrive a +counterpoise to the power of Spain. But it was more difficult for France +to decide what should be her relation to England. She had cultivated an +alliance with Cromwell, and in order to consolidate that alliance, she had +treated the Royalist cause with contemptuous neglect. Neither on the part +of the people of England, nor on the part of its Court, was any close +connection with France desired. The old jealousies, bred of close +neighbourhood, could not be effaced. An alliance with Spain had seemed at +first more desirable. + +But overtures from Charles for a Spanish marriage had been treated +somewhat cavalierly by the Spanish Court. This naturally prompted the +obvious alternative of a Portuguese marriage, and such a marriage offered +to France precisely the opportunity she desired. A marriage treaty between +England and Portugal seemed certain to secure for Portugal the support of +England in her struggle with Spain; and France welcomed the appearance of +an ally who might render to Portugal that help against Spain, which she +herself was precluded by treaty from openly offering. The King of England +had been encouraged to prosecute the treaty of marriage with Portugal by +assurance of French sympathy. Such sympathy would not, in itself, have +been a sufficient inducement. Other more powerful motives operated. "The +principal advantages we propose to ourself," wrote Charles to his envoy in +Portugal, "by this conjunction with Portugal, is the advancement of the +trade of this nation." These words were perfectly true, and the possession +of Tangier and Bombay, with equal trading rights in the East Indies and +Brazil, were real and substantial advantages to England. They were not +lessened by the fact that the alliance brought England and France, for a +time, to a better understanding. + +But France had her own causes of jealousy, and it was necessary for +Clarendon to take all care that these should not drive her into the hands +of that chief enemy, with whom England must sooner or later come to deadly +grips-the Dutch Republic. Clarendon fully appreciated the great work of +Cromwell in making England feared in Europe, and he was anxious that she +should not, under the monarchy, suffer any abatement of the power which +Cromwell had so triumphantly established. But he knew also the inherent +weakness of the country at the moment, and her inability to sustain the +burden of a war. To Clarendon it was a matter of supreme and vital +importance that war should not come until her resources were consolidated. +Even at the cost of a crippling debt, her naval stores and arsenals were +equipped with careful industry. But Clarendon knew well that though +definite and detailed preparation of that kind might help her to meet a +sudden emergency, England was in no financial condition to maintain the +annual pressure of a long-continued war. France, alive to the +embarrassments of English Ministers, soon put forward new topics of +complaint, and pressed for redress as the price of her continued +friendliness. Disputes arose as to the respective rights of the fishing +fleets of each country, and acts of violence and privateering occurred on +both sides. France refused to comply with the custom that had prevailed +since it was conceded by Henry IV. to Elizabeth, which recognized +England's naval supremacy by prescribing that all other fleets should +salute the English flag. [Footnote: The following statement, which has +kindly been supplied to me, has high authority:-- + +"From the 14th to the 18th century the salute (at first by lowering the +topsail, and later by dipping the flag) was more or less jealously claimed +by English ships of war from all other ships, whether foreign men-of-war +or English or foreign merchantmen. While there was no nation strong enough +to resist the English claim (and this was especially the case while +England held possessions on both sides of the Channel) the salute was +pretty generally accorded, and it was not until the 17th century that any +serious resistance was made. During almost the whole of that century an +acute controversy raged about the meaning and the scope of the Sovereignty +of the Seas. The English case was bolstered up by doubtful documents, such +as an alleged Ordinance of King John, said to have been issued at Hastings +in 1200, but now acknowledged to be a forgery. + +In 1635, Selden published his 'Mare Clausum' in support of the English +claim. Apparently he was moved to this by the publication by Grotius in +1633 of 'Mare Liberum,' though the latter was more directly aimed at the +monopoly claimed by the Portuguese in the East Indies. Probably +Selden wrote with his tongue in his cheek to please Charles I., for he is +said to have made ridicule of his own book in private conversation. + +The English, however, were not content to enforce their claim by words, +but often during the 16th and 17th centuries enforced it by cannon shot. + +The arrogant claim that any vessel (a yacht for instance) bearing the +Union flag must be saluted by foreign ships, and even by a foreign fleet +of men-of-war, was much resented by the Dutch after they had crushed +Spain, and was one of the causes that led to the outbreak of the First +Dutch War (1652-4) though commercial jealousy was the prime cause. + +The first battle (Dover, May, 1652) was occasioned by Tromp flaunting his +flag in the face of Blake. + +This war turned out, on the whole, sufficiently favourable to the English +to enable them to secure a clause in the Treaty of peace in 1654-- + +'That the ships and vessels of the United Provinces, as well those fitted +for war as others, meeting any Ship of War of the said Commonwealth in the +British Seas, shall strike their Flag, and lower their Topsail in such +manner as had been any time before practised under any Government.' + +Similar clauses occur in the Treaty of Westminster, 1662, and that of +Breda (which ended the Second Dutch War), 1667. The Treaty closing the +Third Dutch War (Westminster, 1673) has a similar article, but the seas +are defined. + +During the 18th century the claim does not seem to have been often +enforced, and by the time of the Peace of Amiens, 1803, when the ancient +claim to the Sovereignty of France was formally abandoned, the claim to +the salute had become extinct."] The traditional, but none the less +galling, assumption of the titular sovereignty and arms of France, by the +English King, was another cause of emphatic complaint. The French Court +knew enough of England's financial weakness, to judge the moment +propitious for pressing these subjects of dispute. Clarendon thought it +well, to begin, at least, by assuming an independent and combative tone. +He strove, under the compulsion to which many a diplomat has had to yield, +to cover his weakness by proud words, and he managed to provoke Louis XIV. +to angry remonstrances, and even to threats of war. It was to Clarendon +personally that the French King ascribed the supercilious tone of the +English demands, and it was his compliance that Louis and his Ministers +chiefly sought to gain. The Powers abroad knew what Clarendon's work for +the exiled Court had been. They could estimate the value of his +statesmanship, and dreaded him as England's most efficacious Minister. But +they attributed to him a power which, hampered as he was, was never truly +his. Clarendon was in truth attempting an impossible task, and he fought +with fettered hands. He could expect no support from the King, who was +already allured by the prospects of financial assistance, skilfully held +out by Louis. It was hard to maintain a proud defiance amidst the +perplexities of divided counsels, of selfish intrigues, and of a bankrupt +exchequer. He had to temporize as to the King's title, and to accept the +abrogation of the token of respect to England's supremacy upon the seas. +The imperious tone was one which no Minister of Charles II. could longer +safely assume. + +Another far more substantial concession to French demands soon after came +up for discussion. + +It was a striking tribute to Cromwell's influence abroad that the sea-port +of Dunkirk, when conquered by the allied Powers, had, according to treaty, +been handed over to the keeping of the English Commonwealth. It was not +the only important possession which the restored King of England owed to +the prowess of the rebels by whom he had been exiled, and to whose +conquests he was now the heir. As to its value there were doubts. Although +it had been a troublesome hive of privateers, the place was reckoned not +to be really of much strategical importance, and the naval experts had +already expressed doubts whether its value was equivalent to the expense +which it involved. The revenue of England was sorely crippled, and the +possession of Dunkirk not only involved heavy expenditure, but was a very +probable source of expensive warlike complications. It was from Lord +Southampton, who, as Treasurer, felt the financial burden most, that the +first suggestion of parting with it came. The exchequer was in ill state +to stand further drains, and Tangier and Bombay, however beneficial their +possession might ultimately become, were now nothing but sources of heavy +expense. Southampton imparted his misgivings to the King, and sought for +some device by which he might shift some part of the constantly growing +expenditure. Could Dunkirk not be handed over as a _damnosa hereditas?_ +The naval experts were consulted, and were ready not only to acquiesce, +but to avow their opinion that Dunkirk offered no advantages equivalent to +its cost, which was reckoned at not less than a hundred and twenty +thousand a year. Southampton told the Chancellor of his difficulties, and +propounded to him the scheme for lightening them; but found Clarendon so +averse to a proposal for parting with any naval stronghold, that even the +entire confidence bred of their old friendship did not tempt the Treasurer +to reopen a subject so distasteful until some definite proposal could be +framed. The General (Albemarle) and he laid it before the King so +urgently, that Charles was attracted by a scheme which offered the +tempting bait of financial provision, and at length it was formally +brought before that secret and select Council which consulted upon all +matters of prime importance. It could no longer be kept from the +Chancellor; and Clarendon's illness made it necessary on this, as on many +other occasions, to summon the Council to his sickroom, where, besides the +King and the Duke of York, the Chancellor and the Treasurer, with +Albemarle, Sandwich, Sir George Carteret, and the two secretaries of +State, were present. Southampton knew the opposition he had to expect from +Clarendon, and playfully asked the King, when he entered the room, "to +take the Chancellor's staff from him, otherwise he would break his +Treasurer's head." Charles told Clarendon that the business to be debated +was one which he knew that Clarendon would oppose; but when he had heard +the arguments, he thought they would change his view. Steps had evidently +been taken with care to prepare the ground and marshall the arguments. The +naval and military experts explained the small strategical value of the +place, its ineffectiveness as a naval base, and the deficiencies of its +land defences. Against such arguments Clarendon was, of course, powerless; +and it was equally impossible for him to argue away the heavy burden on a +crippled treasury, of which the Treasurer begged to be relieved. To hold +the place longer was only too likely to involve a costly war with one or +both of the Powers of France and Spain, and it was a source of irritation +to the United Provinces as well. Not only were the arguments strong, but +the Chancellor was soon convinced that he had not been consulted until +those who desired to effect a profitable bargain had already gained the +determined adherence of the King. It was no part of Clarendon's practice +to argue in the face of impossibilities. Little remained for him or any +other Minister but to decide with which Power it was possible to strike +the best bargain, and which it was most expedient to conciliate. + +There are some variations between the various accounts that have reached +us as to the first author of the suggestion. Sandwich, in a conversation +with Pepys, [Footnote: In February, 1666.] averred that he himself was the +first adviser, and this account is partially confirmed by what Sir Robert +Southwell told, in 1670, of a conversation between Sandwich and himself in +October, 1667. On the other hand, D'Estrades, the French envoy, asserts-- +what would give the lie to what Clarendon avers in his Life with +convincing proof and elaborate circumstantiality--that Clarendon had told +him that he was himself the author of the proposal. As regards Pepys's +report, Sandwich, probably, after the common fashion of experts, assigned +too much importance to his own expert advice; while the French envoy might +easily have misunderstood the attitude assumed by Clarendon, who was +bound, of course, to submit to the French diplomat even proposals which he +disliked as if he entirely concurred in them. We need have no difficulty +in assuming Clarendon's own deliberate and written account to be +substantially correct. That he was brought unwillingly to concur in a +proposal which had virtually obtained the assent of the King, is confirmed +by the fact that in his speech to Parliament in May, 1662, he condemned +the murmurs against the cost of Dunkirk, on the ground that it was a +diadem of which the English Crown could only be deprived at the cost of +great danger. It was no part of Clarendon's character to decline a +responsibility which was his own; nor was it his inclination to part +lightly with anything that added to the dignity of the English Crown. That +the first suggestion did not come from him may be accepted on his own +solemn averment; but it is also strongly confirmed by inherent +probability. + +It remained only to decide with which Power the bargain should be made. +Policy, it might have been held, should have some influence in determining +the choice, at a moment when international relations were so delicately +poised. But Clarendon tells us that, strangely enough, the only question +was, Who would give the highest price? Both Spain and France were eager to +have the sea-port. Of the two Spain was by far the most popular in +England; but she was not likely to be so good a purchaser. She claimed the +cession of Dunkirk as a right, and it is always improbable that one who +puts forward such a claim should be inclined either to pay heavy purchase- +money, or to owe a deep debt of gratitude, for what is claimed as a right. +Above all, the coffers of Spain were in no condition to meet a heavy +payment. At best, there would have been tedious delay, during which the +heavy expenditure on the maintenance of Dunkirk would have continued to +fall on the English Treasury. To part with the sea-port to the United +Provinces might have secured a better price than from either of the +Crowns; but it would have been a signal of war to both of these, and the +United Provinces themselves might have found it a costly and embarrassing +possession. + +It was with France, therefore, that the haggling had to be done, and it +was prosecuted with all the eagerness of the auction mart. Such +transactions can never be very dignified. The cession of an important sea- +port must necessarily be galling to national pride, and an injury to +national _prestige_; and in this case was the more damaging from the +tenure of Dunkirk being the token of Cromwell's proud supremacy abroad. +The chaffering went on through all the usual stages of alternate bluff and +concession on both sides. The final settlement secured for Charles a +payment of some two hundred thousand pounds. In the reckoning of the day +that was held to be a considerable sum. It possessed the merit, no +inconsiderable one in the mind of the King, of being at least free from +any of the embarrassments of a Parliamentary grant. Apart from the actual +money paid, the Treasury was relieved of an expenditure of about one +hundred and twenty thousand pounds annually. Of all such vantage posts +abroad, Dunkirk was perhaps the least useful, and the most risky to hold. +Trifling as was the price obtained according to our reckoning, it was +nevertheless of importance in the actual state of the exchequer. But the +nation invariably shows itself sensitive to the loss of honour implied in +such a cession, and is glad to have a victim on which to wreak its +irritation. It was on Clarendon that its unreasoning vengeance fell, and +at a later day the blame for an arrangement which he did not initiate, and +which at first he earnestly opposed, aggravated his growing unpopularity. +Once more he had had to content himself, not with the policy he most +approved, but with that which suited best the exigencies of the time; and +he had to bear the blame for action to which he unwillingly consented. It +is the hardest lot for the statesman, because it is that which his enemies +impute as a crime, and for which his friends can only offer an apology. + +Whatever the injury to national dignity, the transaction not only gave +substantial pecuniary relief, but it seemed to promise, for the time, a +secure foreign alliance. The irritation on the side of France was allayed, +and Louis abandoned that tone of offence against Clarendon, which he had +repeatedly used to his ambassador, and which showed that he regarded the +policy of the Chancellor as the most serious menace to his power. The +cordiality between England and France was perhaps insecure, but it was +cemented by their common interest in maintaining the independence of +Portugal, and that, again, offered good prospects to the trading interest +of England. + +But, at home, Clarendon found his influence threatened by increasing +virulence of intrigue, and by new scandals and dissensions at Court. To +the world at large he was still the all-powerful Minister. Only a few +months before, Dryden had poured out a poetical tribute, from that mint of +flattery of which his expenditure was so lavish, and had told Clarendon +that he and the King bounded the horizon of the universe to their country, +and had compared his wise counsels to the rich perfumes of the East. Even +Louis XIV. did not think it below his dignity to solicit the Chancellor's +favour, and to be jealous of his power. But Clarendon was not blind to the +influences that were undermining that power. Hitherto he and Southampton +had managed Parliamentary affairs through a small knot of members of tried +fidelity and experience. Such management called for wary and cautious +treatment, if jealousy was not to be aroused amongst the Parliamentary +ranks. The idea of government by an organized party in Parliament was as +yet unknown to our political practice, and would not have met with any +favour from Clarendon. To him a Minister was the servant of the King, and +in no way the nominee of any Party. None the less the germs of the new +system, all undiscerned by himself or his contemporaries, were developing +during his Ministry. We have already seen the knot of courtiers who were +held together chiefly by a common--although not clearly avowed--jealousy +of the Chancellor. Ashley, Buckingham, Bristol, and Lauderdale, were the +chief members of that confederacy; and they soon found means to introduce +new instruments to help in working the Parliamentary machine. The most +notable of these were Sir William Coventry, the son of Clarendon's old +friend, Lord Chancellor Coventry, and Sir Henry Bennet, who is better +known to history by the name of the Earl of Arlington, which was the title +conferred upon him in 1672. [Footnote: He was created Baron Arlington in +1664.] The influence of these two in Parliament, as the accredited agents +of the Court, began with the session of 1663, which opened on February +18th, and closed on July 27th. For William Coventry, Clarendon had a deep- +rooted dislike, which was increased rather than lessened by Clarendon's +respect for his father, and his good-will to his brother, Henry Coventry. +[Footnote: Henry Coventry was the elder brother of Sir William. He had +more than once been useful in embassies to Sweden, where he seems to have +acquired some of the convivial habits of that country. Without his +brother's wit, dexterity, or eloquence, he seems to have joined more than +his frankness to a blustering manner.] William Coventry's was one of those +"unconversable" natures which moved Clarendon's aversion. A sullen temper, +a censorious habit, and a pride that led him to belittle all in which he +was not chief agent, were precisely the traits of character which +Clarendon distrusted and disliked. He admits Coventry's abilities, and +gives him credit for being exempt from the degrading coarseness which was +typical of the Court. His portrait is painted for us in a few sentences +with all the consummate skill of the historian of the Rebellion. + +"He was a sullen, ill-natured, proud man, whose ambition had no limits, +nor could be contained within any. His parts were very good, if he had not +thought them better than any other man's; and he had diligence and +industry, which men of good parts are too often without.... He was without +those vices which were too much in request, and which make men most unfit +for business and the trust that cannot be separated from it." + +Clarendon's genius for character-drawing never suffers him to paint even +the portraits of his enemies all in black. [Footnote: Clarendon's +prejudice against Coventry, however, in spite of the admission of his +ability, was abnormally strong, and we shall find reason later to doubt +whether Clarendon did not in this case allow personal resentment to blind +him to some of Coventry's merits.] Such was his conception of the man who +now became Secretary to the Duke of York, and an active centre of +intrigue. + +Sir Henry Bennet was a foeman of another kind. It was during the period of +exile that he had managed to ingratiate himself with Charles, and their +subsequent intimacy was coloured by the scenes which they had once shared +together. Bennet was the natural product of an exiled Court, forced to +have recourse to shifts of no dignified kind, and breathing an atmosphere +of cynicism and distrust. He knew nothing of, and cared, if possible, +still less for, the Constitution or the laws of England. He was one of +those who cultivated the friendship of Spain, with whose leading statesmen +he had close relations, and who saw in that friendship a balance to the +Portuguese alliance and the policy which Clarendon was believed to pursue. +He had no Parliamentary talents, and entered Parliament for the first time +during the session of 1663, But he was a pledged and trusted member of the +little Court cabal, which was now determined to organize a party in +Parliament to oppose the Chancellor's power. It became a part of their +scheme to find a place for Bennet where he could exercise a distinct +influence upon administration. The preliminary arrangements for this were +made without the Chancellor's knowledge. That stout and faithful servant +of the King, and sure friend of the Chancellor, Sir Edward Nicholas, was +now feeling the weight of years. His ample experience and tried fidelity +weighed for nothing in the minds of the Court clique, who desired his +place for Bennet. The King was easily persuaded to adopt the view that the +Chancellor found, in two old and weak secretaries, conveniently +subservient tools. Tempting terms were proposed to Nicholas. Suggestions +were skilfully thrown out that he should quit his employment, receiving +the ample provision of £10,000 in lieu of it, and also some notable token +of the gratitude and respect of the King. It was only natural that the old +man--whose memories of public service carried him back to the days when he +had been amongst the followers of the Duke of Buckingham at the time of +his assassination, nearly forty years before--should accept the proposal +readily. How it seemed to Clarendon is best seen in his own words. "It +cost the King, in present money and land on lease, very little less than +twenty thousand pounds, to bring in a servant whom very few cared for, in +place of an old servant whom everybody loved." [Footnote: _Life_, ii. +228.] The little faction who were intent upon their selfish plans for +ousting the Chancellor recked very little of lavish expenditure. The same +move that made the secretaryship of Nicholas vacant for Bennet, left +Bennet's place of Privy Purse available for another of the new favourites +and conspirators--Sir Charles Berkeley. [Footnote: Soon after created Earl +of Falmouth.] Amongst the crowd of discredited and dishonest intriguers +none was more vile or contemptible than he. In earlier days his character +was too notorious to be tolerated even by Charles; but there were tricks +and services, to which Berkeley made no scruple of stooping, and which +served to secure, first the tolerance, and then the friendship, of the +King. These changes in the official world were all menaces to Clarendon's +power. + +[Illustration: SIR EDWARD NICHOLAS. (_From the original by Sir Peter +Lely, in the National Portrait Gallery._)] + +It was one of the ironies of fate that the baser influences, now gaining +new power at Court, created or stimulated discontent, the brunt of which +fell on Clarendon, against whose authority these influences were chiefly +directed. The moral sense of the nation was being gradually provoked. That +sense is regulated by no great judgment, and often moves under violent +prejudice; but it slowly yet surely shapes itself on sound foundations. +The reaction against Puritanism had carried the nation far in the +direction of tolerance even of lax morality; but the scandals of the Court +had already begun to outrage the nation's sense of decency; and when +outraged decency is combined with increased pressure of taxation and +decreasing prosperity, the united force becomes a menacing threat. It was +a comparative trifle that the King's alleged bastard [Footnote: He was +born in 1646, and the King's age at the time justified doubts, which the +lady's lavish favours did not diminish.] by the notorious Lucy Waters, was +now formally introduced at Court under the name of Crofts; was married to +the heiress of the Earl of Buccleuch, and was speedily created Duke of +Monmouth. Such relationships had before been tacitly recognized but not +explicitly avowed; now for the first time the patent of nobility declared +the youth to be the natural son of the King. Vice laid aside that homage +of hypocrisy which it had before paid to virtue. It was an innovation +which Clarendon firmly opposed. "It would have," he told the King quite +plainly, "an ill sound in England with all his people, who thought that +these unlawful acts ought to be concealed, and not published and +justified." [Footnote: _Life_, ii. 255.] Precedents from France and +Spain would not pass current in England; and even if these precedents were +admitted, they would hardly parallel the ennobling of the bastard of a +notorious courtezan, born when the King was scarcely sixteen years of age, +and whose parentage was, to say the least, doubtful. + +By themselves such domestic scandals may perhaps count for little. But +when they are accompanied by growing discontent, resting upon solid +grounds, the aggregate of irritation becomes considerable. Our foreign +commerce was seriously crippled, and our manufactures found no outlet. The +home markets were interfered with by foreign goods imported during the +recent years of unsettlement in exaggerated quantities. The large advances +made by the bankers to meet taxes heavily in arrear produced a scarcity of +money, and this again led to a serious fall in rents. There was hardly a +class in the nation which was not suffering by the prevailing insecurity; +and these sufferings were aggravated by increasing taxation, by declining +national credit, and by the fears of insurrection, and of renewed civil +war, caused by the decaying reverence for the Crown. No one recognized +more clearly than Clarendon, or detested more cordially, the scandals that +tarnished the restored monarchy; to no one did they bring a fuller crop of +crushed hopes, and baffled efforts. Fortune's cynical injustice was never +more clearly shown. + +To some of the clique of Clarendon's enemies it seemed as if the time had +come to strike a decisive blow. Stories of his impending fall were rife. +Pepys, repeating the gossip of the day, and the tittle-tattle of the back +stairs, tells us how "they have cast my Lord Chancellor on his back past +ever getting up again." [Footnote: Pepys, May 15th, 1663.] Bristol was the +first who determined to take overt action against the Chancellor. His +first effort was a singularly inept one, and involved one of the +confederates much more than Clarendon. Bristol had hopes, it would appear, +of arranging for himself a body of "undertakers" in the House of Commons, +who were to take upon themselves the management of measures desired by the +Crown. He had offered to Charles the services of Sir Richard Temple, who, +he asserted, would, if trusted, undertake that the King's business would +be effected, and revenue settled. Coventry, whose special functions were +thus threatened, reported the words, as those which had been used to the +King "by a person of quality," to the House, which thus saw its +independence flagrantly assailed; and on the petition of the House, the +King disclosed the name of the Earl of Bristol as his informant. Bristol +craved to be heard by the House in his own defence; and addressed them in +that tone of theatrical vanity and rhodomontade in which he was apt to +indulge. The whole transaction is a little obscure, and its objects seem +inconclusive. The world was already accustomed to these outbursts of +Bristol's self-advertising folly. + +But his next step was more direct and more audacious. It was no less than +the impeachment of the Lord Chancellor. He consulted the King, who +endeavoured to dissuade him, but to whose dissuasions Bristol's insolent +reply was, that if he were not supported, "he would raise such disorders +that all England should feel them, and the King himself should not be +without a large share in them." [Footnote: _Burnet_, i. 339.] The +interview was evidently a stormy one, and Bristol did not scruple to +threaten his King in language for which he had afterwards to offer the +most abject apology. + +The charges which Bristol, in spite of these warnings, formulated against +Clarendon in the House of Lords, were flimsy and fanciful even for his +contriving. Clarendon, it was alleged, had arrogated to himself a superior +direction in all his Majesty's affairs. He had abused the trust by +insinuating that the King was inclined to popery; [Footnote: These charges +from one who, on grounds of conscience that were more than suspected, had +joined the Roman Catholic Church, are worthy of Bristol's audacious +inconsistency.] he had alleged that the King had removed Nicholas, a +zealous Protestant, in order to bring in Bennet, a concealed Papist; he +had solicited from the Pope a Cardinal's hat for Lord Aubigny as the price +of suspension of the Penal Laws against Catholics; he had been responsible +for irregularities in the King's marriage; he had uttered scandals against +the King's course of life; he had given out that the King intended to +legitimize the Duke of Monmouth; had persuaded the King to withdraw the +garrisons from Scotland; had advised the sale of Dunkirk; had told the +King that the House of Lords was "weak and inconsiderable," and the House +of Commons "weak and heady;" and he had enriched himself and his followers +by illegitimate means. + +It is difficult to understand how even the blind vanity and over-weening +self-importance of Bristol could have persuaded him that this string of +absurdities could injure the Chancellor, or obtain credence even from his +most prejudiced foes. There was not a single item that could involve a +charge of treason even if true, and some of the allegations imputed to +Clarendon opinions and aims to which he was notoriously opposed. It was +evident that Bristol had been inspired only by an insane desire to charge +against Clarendon anything which seemed likely to attach some unpopularity +to his name. + +At Clarendon's desire the charges laid against him were referred to the +judges, who unanimously reported that the accusations had been irregularly +made, and that, even if they were admitted to be true, they involved no +treason. The King sent a message to the Lords, to inform them that some of +the facts alleged were, to his own certain knowledge, untrue. Never were +charges more recklessly brought, and never did a weapon, forged against an +enemy, towards whom Bristol nursed an almost insane jealousy, turn with +more deadly effect upon its contriver. A warrant was issued for Bristol's +arrest, and he escaped any more drastic punishment only by absconding. But +the episode closed for the time Bristol's career; and for a season it +seemed to confirm and re-establish the supremacy of Clarendon. One of his +foes at least had been worsted in the attempt to cast him on his back. But +harder troubles than those raised by Bristol's ill-aimed attack still +awaited him. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE DUTCH WAR + + +Bristol had shot his bolt prematurely, and was foiled in his attack upon +Clarendon. For the moment the Chancellor's authority seemed to be +consolidated by the very machinations of his enemies. But the rancour of +the intriguers was none the less vigorous, and it required all his courage +and steadfastness to maintain the load of public care that hung upon him +while he saw his influence undermined by secret slander. He knew well that +the King was listening to those who spared no effort to excite his +jealousy of Clarendon's control; that the easy humour which prompted +Charles to avoid a rupture was no trustworthy shield against the effects +of his growing irritation. He saw that the Court was sinking deeper in the +mire of licentiousness and corruption, and was daily rousing against it +more emphatically the anger and contempt of the nation, and making his own +task of consolidation more hopeless. The anxieties and hardships of long +years of civil war, of exile, and of poverty, were telling sorely upon his +own health, and much of his work had to be carried on from a sick-bed, and +under the strain of painful illness. Ambition had never played a great +part in his life; and even gratified ambition would have been ill-paid by +high place and sounding titles, when these were accompanied by baffled +hopes, and by the sight of his ideals fading into unreality. But his +difficulties were now to be increased, as he saw the nation gradually +drifting into war, under the promptings of a selfish and reckless faction, +who exploited national jealousies for their own purposes, and, mistaking a +spirit of boastful bluster for courage and determination, sought to supply +the place of deliberate preparation by thoughtless provocations. And all +the while he knew perfectly well that, if disaster ensued, his enemies +would lay the blame on him. + +Between England and the Dutch Republic, the causes of irritation had been +rapidly accumulating. The centre of the commerce of the world had now +shifted to North-Western Europe, and the growing commercial interests of +the day were a sure and increasing source of international jealousy. The +rivalry between England and Holland had begun before the Civil War, and +during that war Holland had found in England's distractions a splendid +opportunity for stealing a march on her most powerful rival. In her +colonial enterprise she had easily outstript Spain and Portugal, and more +than held her own with England. Her trade was the largest of the world. +Her fleet was admirably equipped, and the great traditions of her naval +commanders were worthily maintained since the death of Van Tromp, by De +Ruyter. If her marvellous prosperity carried within itself the seeds of +decay, these were not as yet apparent; and however dangerous were her +internal dissensions, they were for the time neutralized by the cunning +and the capacity of De Witt. No Power had better reason to recognize the +imperial force of Cromwell, and none was more keenly conscious of the +contrast between his master will, and the vacillating and distracted +counsels that now prevailed at the Court of England. Clarendon saw the +position as well as they. He knew how poor was the bulwark supplied by the +noisy loyalty of the Restoration, and how imperatively necessary it was to +consolidate authority at home before launching upon a foreign war. We have +already spoken of Cromwell's Navigation Act, forbidding any imports into +England except those carried in English ships, or in ships belonging to +the country of origin, and of the deadly wound which that Act had +inflicted upon the Dutch carrying trade. The Act had, as we have seen, +been renewed by the Parliament of 1661; but it remained to be seen whether +England could maintain by force of arms the supremacy which such +legislation assumed. If this was to be done, it could be only by careful +preparation, by establishing a sound financial system, and by presenting a +united front. All these essentials were ignored by the recklessness of +Clarendon's enemies, and his efforts to secure them were baffled by the +profusion, the waywardness, and the petty irritation of the King. + +The Dutch could offer no direct opposition to the Navigation Laws; but in +colonial affairs they had ample opportunity for inflicting injury upon +England, and they were not slow to avail themselves of it. A tariff war +between the two countries had already begun. The woollen manufacturers of +England were threatened by the high import duties imposed by the Dutch +upon English goods; and England endeavoured to meet these by prohibiting +the export of wool. Each Parliamentary session saw new import duties +imposed upon foreign goods imported into England, and in many cases their +importation was absolutely prohibited. The rivalry in the fishing trade +led to conflicts which were carried almost to the point of war, and the +fishing fleets from the Dutch and English ports both reckoned, as an +ordinary experience, on having to defend themselves by armed force. But it +was on the West coast of Africa, and in the East Indies, that the two +Powers came into most serious collision, and there the bitterness of +rivalry was increased by a long catalogue of wrongs suffered on both +sides. The estrangement was intensified when the chief colonial rival of +Holland seemed likely to become, by the marriage treaty, the ally of +England, and when Portugal threatened, in the confidence of that alliance, +to prosecute her schemes of vengeance for the aggressions of the Dutch. It +became of the first importance for the Dutch to patch up some sort of +treaty with Portugal before the English alliance should be cemented, and +this was the object of the statesmen of the United Provinces. To +counteract this seemed to some to be the soundest policy for England. + +The negotiations at the Hague were carried on by Sir George Downing, who +without being a leading statesman, or wielding any considerable authority +in England, yet managed to exert no little influence upon the course of +affairs at a very critical juncture. His career had been a strange one. He +was of obscure birth, but had managed to ingratiate himself with the +Protector, and was employed in various capacities--ranging, it would +appear, from chaplain to scout-master--in the Scottish army. In 1656, he +appeared in Cromwell's Parliament, as member for Haddington, and secured +for himself a plurality of offices, which combined a tellership of the +Exchequer, with the captaincy of a troop of horse. The time was favourable +for the adventurer whose advance was delayed by no scruples of conscience, +and no deficiency of self-assurance; and Downing increased his importance +by a marriage with the sister of Howard, first Earl of Carlisle. We next +find him resident at the Hague, as Cromwell's representative, and exerting +himself, with obtrusive zeal, in urging the exclusion from Dutch territory +of the exiled King and his Court. But Downing was one of those who +readily, and with no troublesome qualms of conscience or of honour, +accommodate themselves to changes of political circumstances. He was +astute enough to foresee the coming Restoration, and easily secured the +confidence and gratitude of Charles by betraying the secrets of those +whose agent he was. He rendered a useful service in betraying to Charles's +advisers the double-dealing of Sir Richard Willis, the Royalist who +stooped to be spy for Cromwell, and compounded with his conscience by +taking care that his betrayals should be accompanied by warnings which +enabled those whose movements he betrayed, to provide for their own +safety. Downing carefully copied the manoeuvres he exposed, and was +dexterous enough to arrange that he should continue, by an easy +transference of allegiance, to act at the Hague for Charles, in the same +capacity as he had acted for Cromwell, He had gained experience which was +eminently useful; and he was soon ready to show the same relentless skill +in tracing the hiding places of fugitive rebels, as he had lately shown in +harassing the exiled Royalists. He was a man of unquestionable ability, of +dauntless audacity, and restless activity; but he moved the hatred and +contempt alike of Royalist and rebel, for his arrogance, his brazen +insolence, and his cynical lack of conscience. Clarendon had now to use +him as agent in a series of complicated diplomatic transactions. To his +perspicacity, promptness, and determination, the Chancellor might trust. +But again and again, in his correspondence, Clarendon has to urge caution, +to rebuke Downing's arrogance, and to expostulate with him for an attitude +deliberately provocative, and neglectful of the plainest instructions +inculcating prudence and reserve. Clarendon was to have his instinctive +dislike of the man aggravated by many future provocations in other fields. +At this time, he found him the most dangerous of agents in a negotiation +of the utmost delicacy--one impatient of control, impetuous in temper, +reckless by his greed of self-glorification, and too intent upon achieving +a diplomatic triumph, to pay any attention to the risks of premature +hostilities. Downing was determined to prevent the concession of any +substantial advantages to the Dutch by means of the Portuguese treaty, and +did not hesitate to assert that any such concession would be treated by +the King of England as a breach of the engagement between Portugal and +himself. Clarendon was not prepared to assume such an attitude. An open +breach between Portugal and the United Provinces would undoubtedly have +involved England in war. + +"You must set all your wits on work to prevent this war, which will +produce a thousand mischiefs, "wrote Clarendon to Downing; [Footnote: +Letter of November 22nd, 1661.] "the Dutch will undergo their full share +of them; nor can any good Dutchman desire that Portugal should be so +distressed as to fall again into the hands of the Spaniards." + +Clarendon, of course, was alive to the disadvantages of a grant by +Portugal to the Dutch of privileges of trade equal to those possessed by +England. But if Portugal agreed to indemnify England for any loss of +exclusive privilege, then, in God's name, let them sign what treaty they +pleased. Anything rather than be plunged in a war to which the resources +of the nation were not equal, and which would inflict a far more crushing +blow upon those commercial interests in defence of which it would be +waged, than could be involved in any unduly generous treaty concessions to +a rival. The treaty was ratified, and for the moment the breach between +the United Provinces and Portugal was avoided. + +Other grounds of quarrel soon supervened. Charles had strongly espoused +the interests of his sister's child, the young Prince of Orange, whose +exclusion, through the instrumentality of De Witt, from the office of +Stadtholder, which had been held by his father, was keenly resented by the +English King. Downing was instructed to support the Prince's claim, and +was ready, with his usual headstrong pugnacity, to make it an essential +condition of any treaty that these should be conceded. "The Dutch would +not hazard their trade," he wrote, "upon such a point." But he failed to +notice that the point involved the influence of De Witt, the most powerful +man in Holland. Once again Clarendon had to moderate the impetuosity of +his representative: we could make no such stipulation. "Upon what grounds, +I pray," wrote Clarendon to Downing, "can the King, in renewing a league +with the States-General, demand that they should choose a general of his +recommendation?" It would be time enough to intervene when we had +established peace. Then, and then only, could we think of fighting against +the intrigues of De Witt with any prospect of success. + +Clarendon knew well that nothing would suit the plans of Louis XIV. so +entirely as an internecine war between England and the Dutch. Nor was this +the sole danger to be feared from engaging in hostilities. It was only by +a peace with Holland, that the fear of new dissensions at home could be +allayed. + +"There is nothing," writes Clarendon to Downing, in August, 1661, "the +seditious and discontented people here do so much fear as a peace with +Holland, from the contrary to which they promise themselves infinite +advantages." "If this peace can be handsomely made up, and speedily, great +conveniences will arise from it; and we may, after two or three years' +settling at home, be in the better position to do what we find fit." + +For the present, the aim of Clarendon's policy was to restore the position +to what it had been under Cromwell. If the conditions essential for the +free expansion of English trade were secured, the more distant quarrels +between the different trading companies in the East Indies and Africa +might be matter for subsequent argument, and the dynastic claims of the +House of Orange might be postponed to a more convenient season. With these +clear aims before him, it was not found impossible by Clarendon to arrange +a treaty between England and the United Provinces, which was signed at +Westminster, in September, 1662. Each was to aid the other against rebels, +and neither was to harbour fugitive rebels from the other Power. The naval +supremacy of England was to be acknowledged by the lowering of the flag by +Dutch vessels. The island of Polerone in the Malay Archipelago--an old +subject of contention--was to be restored by Holland. There was to be full +freedom of trade between the two Powers. The quarrels of the independent +trading companies of each Power in Africa and the East Indies were not to +involve war, but were to form subject of arbitration, and equitable +settlement after a due interval. No dispute was to be revived which dated +earlier than 1654, and later claims which were still outstanding were to +be settled by Commissioners appointed by the two Powers. This last article +alone was soon found to involve grounds of dissension far-reaching enough +to have broken up the peace, even had no other irritating causes +supervened. + +But all other causes of hostility were of comparatively small importance +compared with the essential and insuperable rivalry in colonial trade. It +was in these new and expanding markets that the question of European +commercial supremacy must be fought out. The command of them was of +absolutely vital importance in the inevitable struggle for existence +between the two nations. They were chiefly in the hands of great and +independent companies working under the protection of either Power. These +companies were careless of international rights; zealous only to secure +their own commercial monopoly, and certain of being backed up by all the +resources of their own State. In England there were three of these great +companies--the Turkey Company, the East India Company, and the Royal +African Company. Each could rely upon powerful political support, and +their ambitions were supported by the solid mass of England's commercial +class. Early in the session, which began in March, 1664, the grievances +from which English commerce suffered under the overweening insolence and +repeated aggressions of the Dutch, were laid before Parliament. Heavy +losses were alleged to have been suffered, and the dangers of the total +decay of the trade were forcibly foretold. Parliament was not slow to take +the alarm. Both Houses concurred in the resolution-- + +"That the wrongs, dishonours, and indignities done to his Majesty by the +subjects of the United Provinces, by invading of his rights in India, +Africa, and elsewhere, and the damages, affronts, and injuries done by +them to our merchants, are the greatest obstruction of our foreign trade;" + +and they prayed that speedy and effectual means should be taken for +obtaining redress, and for preventing such injuries in future. It was +clear that the national temper had been thoroughly aroused, and would +insist on asserting itself. Clarendon's influence is seen in the +moderation of Charles's reply. He approved their zeal and promised +inquiry, but went no further than to undertake that his Minister should +demand reparation, and take steps for the prevention of such wrongs in +future. + +The bellicose attitude of Parliament had given much alarm to the Dutch. + +"The resolution of the two Houses of Parliament," writes Downing to +Clarendon, [Footnote: Letter of April 29th, 1664.] "is altogether beyond +their expectation, and puts them to their wits' end." "Believe me," he +goes on, "at the bottom of their hearts, they are sensible of the weight +of a war with his Majesty." + +The moderation of the King's reply served to allay the Dutchmen's fears of +the imminence of war; but De Witt found it prudent to promise that he +would do his utmost to meet the English demands. He expressed to Downing +"with great appearing joy," his satisfaction with the King's reply; and +said that "since his Majesty had so tenderly declared himself, he would +upon that account condescend so much the more to give him satisfaction." +Downing doubtless thought that the demand went unduly far in the direction +of moderation. But if he had any fears that pacific motives would prevail, +he was soon to be undeceived. For the moment war seemed to be averted. +Louis XIV.--however he might wish to see the naval Powers exhaust +themselves by mutual injuries--had no wish to see the outbreak of a war in +which the Treaty rights of the Dutch warranted them in calling for his +assistance, and he offered himself as a mediator. But both the disputants +were drifting rapidly to the arbitrament of arms. + +Downing had a powerful ally for his own warlike inclinations in the Duke +of York. James was restless when deprived of opportunity of adding to his +influence, and satisfying his chief ambition, by engaging in some warlike +operation. He had already acquired some reputation, not without warrant, +as a capable naval commander, and as a man of personal courage. He had +little opportunity of political action in England, and a war with the +Dutch not only promised vengeance for old grudges against the nation, but +offered a good chance of winning new renown. He had other less creditable +motives. He had taken an active part in the management of some of the +great trading companies, and was deeply interested in various colonial +enterprises. In March, 1664, James obtained a grant of Long Island on the +American coast--a territory nominally belonging to the English, but now, +in default of their colonizing it, occupied by the Dutch, who had built a +town called New Amsterdam. With the help of two ships of war, lent him by +the Crown, the Duke organized an expedition to seize the island. The +scanty Dutch colony could offer no effective resistance. Their town was +ceded to the emissaries of the Duke, who changed its name to one destined +to hold a large space in the history of the world. New Amsterdam became +New York, as the result of a buccaneering raid, carried out by some three +hundred men, hired by the Duke of York to prosecute a private +proprietorial claim. + +The Duke was also Governor of the African Trading Company, and this again +brought him into even more serious conflict with the Dutch. That company +had established its operations upon the Guinea coast before the Civil War, +and had carried on a successful trade, which had been grievously +interrupted by the troubles at home. The Dutch had, meanwhile, established +a rival factory, and prosecuted their trade with such success as seriously +to cripple that of England. After the Restoration, the company was re- +organized, and the Duke being persuaded to become Governor, a Royal +Charter was easily obtained. Those who knew the region were convinced of +its promise; and high profits were confidently expected by bartering +English goods against the gold and the slaves, of which the supply was so +rich. The gold was brought in sufficient quantities to give the name of +"Guineas" to a new designation in the English coinage; and the slaves were +easily disposed of at a high price to other plantations in various parts +of the globe. The only inconvenience arose from the hindrance which the +Dutch could offer to English trade, by means of their own superior trade +organization, and the more suitable situation of their factory. + +Once more the difficulty in the way of the Duke and his Company was +settled by an armed raid. Exactly as in the case of New York, he +"borrowed" two ships of war from the King, and sent an expedition under +the command of Sir Robert Holmes, which, by a flagrant violation of every +international right, seized the Dutch fort. The balance of wrong was thus +roughly reversed. By an act of unwarrantable violence the Duke of York had +fixed upon his own nation the burden of maintaining what amounted to +piratical aggression; and he had done it--as Clarendon is obliged to +allow--"without any authority, and without a shadow of justice," +[Footnote: Letter to Downing, October 28th, 1664.]--solely in satisfaction +of his own private rights as a company promoter. Clarendon's diplomacy +was, of a truth, conducted under untoward circumstances! Between the +filibustering of his royal son-in-law, and the deliberate exasperation of +his accredited representative at the Hague, peace had become well-nigh +hopeless. Under such conditions negotiations became tangled beyond the +possibility of repair. De Witt recognized that no reparation for the wrong +done at Cape Verde would be secured except by armed force. But in carrying +out this purpose he still endeavoured to avoid any declaration of war. De +Ruyter and the English Admiral Lawson were now cruising in the +Mediterranean, on a joint expedition, for suppression of piracy, and for +releasing the captives of Tunis and Algiers. De Ruyter secretly separated +himself from his English ally, sailed for Cape Verde, and there took +vengeance for the English aggression on the trading operations of the +Dutch. It was an open breach of the stipulation of the Treaty, which +required that reparation for colonial wrongs should be sought by peaceable +arbitration. Clarendon had recognized fully that such reparation was due, +and had instructed Downing to offer it. The elusive tactics of De Witt, +and the armed intervention of De Ruyter, frustrated Clarendon's efforts +for a peaceful settlement. + +Already Clarendon's pronounced inclination for peace had earned for him +the ill-will which the Duke of York's habitual sulkiness of temper was so +apt to indulge. The King had given their due weight to the arguments of +the Chancellor, and felt the danger which war would involve at once to his +own authority at home, and to the position of England in Europe. This he +had impressed upon his brother; and James rightly ascribed the King's +backwardness to Clarendon, and found a convenient medium of remonstrance +in his wife, whom he instructed to explain to her father the Duke's +annoyance at finding him his chief opponent "in an affair upon which he +knew his heart was so much set." [Footnote: _Life_, ii. 240.] It was +characteristic of James that he should deal with a matter of vital +interest to the kingdom, as if it was the fitting subject of petty +personal pique. Anne undertook the duty, and begged her father no longer +to oppose the Duke. Clarendon told her that she "did not enough understand +the importance of that affair;" but he would speak to the Duke about it. +At their interview, James renewed his tone of personal annoyance, urged +the expediency of the war, and above all complained that, as "he was +engaged to pursue it," Clarendon should allow the world to see "how little +credit he had with him." + +Clarendon's reply was as dignified as it was candid. "He had no +apprehension that any sober man in England, or his highness himself, +should believe that he could fail in his duty to him, or that he would +omit any opportunity to make it manifest, which he could never do without +being a fool or a madman." But on the other hand he would never give +advice, nor consent to anything, which his judgment and his conscience +told him would be mischievous to the Crown and to the Kingdom, "though his +royal highness, or the King himself, were inclined to it." From the first, +the King, he told the Duke, had been "averse from any thought of this +war;" but he did not deny that he had done all in his power to confirm the +King in that opinion. A few too complacent friends, he told the Duke, +might for the moment concur in his view; reflection would soon change +their minds. "A few merchants, nor all the merchants in London, were not +the city of London, which had had war enough, and could only become rich +by peace." The hopes of a liberal grant from Parliament were delusions. He +was old enough to remember what had been the fate of James I., who had +been tempted "to enter into a war with Spain, upon promise of ample +supplies; and yet when he was engaged in it, they gave him no more supply, +so that at last the Crown was compelled to accept of a peace not very +honourable;" and, Clarendon might have added, to begin that long struggle +over supply which had led to the Rebellion. + +Clarendon's plain speaking did not end here. The Duke plumed himself upon +his military prowess, and was eager for the war because of the laurels +which he believed it had in store for him. With a better appreciation of +his son-in-law's abilities, Clarendon begged him to reflect "upon the want +of able men to conduct the counsels upon which such a war must be carried +on." For a time it had seemed as if the Duke were ready to listen to +reason, and there had been less talk of war; but the recent aggressions on +both sides had dispelled such hopes. De Ruyter had inflicted heavy injury +on the English merchants on the African Coast. This was answered by an +attack by Prince Rupert's fleet upon the Dutch merchantmen in the Channel. +War had virtually begun, in spite of all the Chancellor's counsels of +prudence, and all his warnings of the imminent danger. Specious proposals +for a settlement were now too late. + +"Though I am very glad," wrote Clarendon to Downing, [Footnote: Letter of +October 28th, 1664.] "to find any temperate and sober considerations, +which dispose that people to peace, I wish they had entertained it sooner, +for I scarce see time left for such a disquisition as is necessary. They +have too insolently provoked the King to such an expense, that fighting is +thought the better husbandry." + +It was now needful to apply to Parliament, which met on November 24th. +Clarendon was again prostrated by a severe attack of gout, and could not +himself appear in Parliament; but a narrative in writing, which was to be +the basis for asking for a liberal grant, was laid before the House. The +treachery of the Dutch and their open aggressions were exposed; and as the +King was thus "forced to put himself in the posture he is now in for the +defence of his subjects at so vast an expense," he trusted that Parliament +"would cheerfully enable him to prosecute the war with the same vigour he +hath prepared for it, by giving him supplies proportionate to the charge +thereof." + +Those very men, such as Bennet and Coventry, who had chiefly urged the +war, were now backward in risking their popularity by asking for an +adequate grant. It was left to Clarendon and Southampton to urge that the +amount to be asked for should be commensurate with the vastness of the +undertaking, and that the resolution of the King and his subjects, to +carry out the great task to which they had applied themselves, should be +proved to the world by an abundant supply. This they could not reckon at +less than two millions and a half. It was an unprecedented charge, and +must necessarily strain the relations between the Crown and the +Parliament, and stimulate that very discontent which Clarendon knew to be +slumbering and ready to break out. + +When Parliament came to consider the matter, there was no apparent lack of +zeal, but there was, amongst the crowd of private members, no one ready to +name a sum. The Chancellor and the Treasurer had prepared for this, by +consultations with two or three members of established reputation and of +weight in the House and the country; and after an ominous pause, Sir +Robert Paston, one of these members, proposed that "the present supply +ought to be such as might as well terrify the enemy as assist the King, +and that it should therefore be two millions and a half." "The silence of +the House," Clarendon proceeds in his narrative, "was not broken." Some +one, "who was believed to wish well to the King"--with that sort of well- +wishing which characterized the time-serving of Bennet and his +confederates--moved that the grant should be much smaller. But those who +had been prepared by Clarendon manfully backed the suggestion of Sir +Robert Paston; and it was carried by a majority of 172 to 102 in the +grudging silence of those who dreaded lest such a grant might secure +Clarendon against the odium of repeated applications to the generosity of +Parliament. The very men who had secretly opposed it, were not ashamed +now, in view of this lavish grant, to stimulate the King to a new warlike +zeal, and to confirm the hostile inclinations of the nation at large. + +"There appeared," says Clarendon, "great joy and exaltation of spirit upon +this vote, and not more in the Court than upon the exchange, the merchants +being unskilfully inclined to that war, above what their true interest +could invite them to, as in a short time afterwards they had cause to +confess." [Footnote: _Life_, ii. 311.] + +Clarendon's prophetic fears were not diminished as time went on. He knew +well how quickly such warlike zeal as now prevailed would spend itself, +when the burdens of war were felt, and when the interference with commerce +made those burdens all the harder. He had good reason to know the +corruption that prevailed in the dockyards, and how soon money would melt +away in the hands of those who took care that all warlike preparations +should yield an abundant harvest of illegal gain to those engaged in them. +But the die was now cast, and on February 22nd, 1665, war was declared. +Never was hazard run with more reckless thoughtlessness, and with less of +a spirit of stern resolution, and of that mood that could brace the nation +to such work. The Chancellor knew well that he had lost the confidence of +the King, and he was under no delusion as to what loss of confidence +involved with one so selfish and so unprincipled as Charles. Never had the +Court stood so low in the estimation of all that was soundest in the +nation. Clarendon's own words bear the impress of his misgivings. + +"All serious and prudent men took it as an ill presage, that whilst all +warlike preparations were made in abundance suitable to the occasion, +there should be so little preparation of spirit for a war against an +enemy, who might possibly be without some of our virtues, but assuredly +was without any of our vices." [Footnote: _Life_, ii. 352.] + +It is hard to estimate the burden of bitter disappointment that is +compressed into these words. + +At the Admiralty, and in the dockyards, there was activity enough. There +was one, the candid pages of whose secret diary have given us a faithful +picture of the business, and who was no insignificant part of the +administrative machine. Month by month Pepys was earning more of his own +genial self-approbation by acquiring new consideration, and by his growing +mastery of Admiralty business. Month by month he found his little store +waxing larger, by gains more or less legitimate, and his official +importance enhanced by devices which were not always very high-principled. +But the English fleet would have been far better equipped than it was, had +those in higher places shown half the energy of Samuel Pepys, had their +peculations been kept within his limits, had their stratagems been +controlled even by his occasional respect for principle, and had their +characters been tainted by no more than his fantastic vanity, and his +schoolboy debauchery. Day by day, with all his uncontrolled propensity for +carouses, with all his lively taste for gossip, with all his gallantries +and all his petty selfishness, Pepys shows us how manfully he struggled to +make his work efficient, how often he strove successfully against +profusion, and peculation, and hopeless mismanagement, and how he managed +to steer his way safely amidst the jealousies, and corruptions, and gross +jobberies of those under whom he served. There is something dramatic in +comparing the record of his struggle with details that Pepys has left us, +with the picture of hopeless corruption which revealed itself to +Clarendon, standing at the other end of the official ladder. Under the +patronage of the Duke, there was a little knot of men, who regarded the +Admiralty chiefly as a field where they could reap a rich harvest of +illegal gains. Coventry had now established for himself a control over all +appointments. His agent was Sir William Penn, who had failed to rise to +Cromwell's standard of efficiency, and had found himself discarded, and a +prisoner in the Tower, after his defeat at St. Domingo, but who had +managed to creep back into employment by cultivating the new powers. These +two carried on a shameless, although well-recognized, sale of offices, and +disarmed all criticism that might be dangerous by sharing their ill-gotten +booty amongst a wide circle of confederates, of whom that model of +chivalry, Sir Charles Berkeley, was one of the chief. + +"This was the best husbandry he (Coventry) could have used; for by this +means all men's mouths were stopped, and all clamour secured; whilst the +lesser sums for a multitude of officers of all kinds were reserved to +himself, which, in the estimation of those who were at no great distance, +amounted to a very great sum, and more than any officer under the King +could possibly get by all the perquisites of his office in many years." +[Footnote: _Life_, ii. 330.] + +Thefts and embezzlements became almost acknowledged practices, and as each +ship returned, its equipments were shamelessly sold by the Admiralty +representatives, and the proceeds divided amongst the officers. + +"When this was discovered (as many times it was) and the criminal person +apprehended, it was alleged by him as excuse 'that he had paid so dear for +his place, that he could not maintain himself and his family, without +practising such shifts;' and none of these fellows were ever brought to +exemplary justice, and most of them were restored to their employments." +[Footnote: _Life_, ii. 329.] + +We have the picture painted from below and from above; and as we look on +it, the wonder is, not that the pressure of the war was great, and its +successes meagre, but rather that disasters did not crowd upon us more +thickly. The conduct of the war does not, of course, belong to the life of +Clarendon. [Footnote: "They who contrived the war had the entire +conducting of it, and were the sole causes of all the ill effects of it" +(_Life_, ii. 325).] We have hitherto seen only his efforts to stay +its outbreak, and the despairing thoughts, which the prospect of the +danger, and the recklessness with which it was met, provoked in him. It +was part of his business to try to organize some sort of alliances abroad, +which might counteract the influence of De Witt. Denmark and Sweden had +every reason to oppose the growing commercial power of the Dutch, and to +help in any scheme for checking it. But they were divided by mutual +jealousies, and their alliance could hardly be gained jointly for the +English Crown. Henry Coventry, whose talents and character Clarendon +esteemed very differently from those of his brother Sir William, was envoy +to Sweden, and managed to secure at least temporary neutrality from that +Power, as did Sir Gilbert Talbot from Denmark. But time soon showed that +any hope of effective alliance was vain. The warlike Bishop of Munster +did, indeed, find it convenient to avenge his own wrongs by attacking the +United Provinces, and by acting in conjunction with England. But such an +ally was not a source of much strength, and it might well be doubted +whether his co-operation was worth the very considerable subsidy which he +demanded, of two hundred and fifty thousand pounds. In truth, it soon +became evident enough that England must rely upon herself alone, and that +a still greater danger lurked in the background, in the doubtful +neutrality, and very probable hostility, of France. Amidst this gathering +cloud of unfriendliness, a new source of enmity was started by the +extensive resort to privateering on the part of England, the danger of +which Clarendon fully perceived. He had no words too strong to condemn +this practice. + +"They (the privateers) are a people, how countenanced so ever or thought +necessary, that do bring an unavoidable scandal, and it is to be feared a +curse, upon the justest war that was ever made at sea. A sail! A sail! is +the word with them: friend or foe is the same; they possess all they can +master, and run with it to any obscure place where they can sell it (which +retreats are never wanting) and never attend the ceremony of an +adjudication." [Footnote: _Life_, ii. 335. We must not forget that +Clarendon had himself suffered from these licensed robbers, and bore them +a grudge.] + +The resort to privateering drew upon England the hatred of every trading +company in Europe; but what was still worse, the career it opened was a +far more lucrative one than that offered by the royal navy, and recruiting +was fatally injured so long as the prospect of uncounted booty lay open to +those who sailed as privateers. More fatal still, any opposition to it was +interpreted by the little knot of the Duke's _protégés_ as a personal +disloyalty. "Whoever spake against those lewd people, upon any case +whatsoever, was thought to have no regard for the Duke's profit, nor to +desire to weaken the enemy." [Footnote: _Life_, ii. 336.] + +There was another innovation, adopted in the interests of this nest of +shameless pilferers, who throve under the Duke's protection. It was in +vain that Clarendon remonstrated, and appealed either to constitutional +precedent, or to the prudence and the self-interest of the King. Heavy as +had been the burden of taxation caused by the war, hopes had been raised +that the prices realized by the sale of captured vessels and goods would, +soon after the beginning of the war, yield revenue enough to go far to +meet the cost. "After one good fleet should be set out to beat the Dutch, +the prizes, which would every day after be taken, would plentifully do all +the rest"--such was the confident prediction. It would, under no +circumstances, have been realized. But in previous wars a strict account +had been kept. Commissioners were appointed for the sale of prizes, and +they were bound to account for every penny received. Such a course no +longer met the views of Charles and of those who now had his confidence. + +The new design for dealing with these prizes of war was sprung without +warning upon the Chancellor, and with circumstances that might have +stirred a temper less quick than his. One evening a servant of Lord Ashley +brought to the Chancellor a warrant, the object of which was to constitute +Lord Ashley Treasurer of all the monies raised upon prizes of war, to +assign to him the patronage of all offices necessary for the service, to +make him accountable to none but the King, and to direct him to pay out +all such monies as the King should order. To this warrant the Chancellor +was requested to affix the seal that evening. Clarendon replied that he +would speak with the King before he sealed the grant. + +The purport of such an order was only too clear. The prize money was not +to be spent in mitigating the heavy burden of taxation, but was to be +administered according to the caprices of the King, in the ignoble +expenses of his Court, and through the hands of an unscrupulous clique, +whose peculations would thus be completely concealed. It is an indication +of the inveterate prejudice which has infected the Whig historians of the +period, that this scandalous iniquity has been glozed over, or, at the +most, timidly criticized. Ashley was a Whig, and the friend of Whig +philosophers. His falsehoods, his treacheries, his flagrant acts of +peculation, are therefore to be veiled under a discreet silence, or +visited with condemnation that is lightened by profuse apology. It is +surely time that this pharisaicism of party prejudice should be shaken +off. [Footnote: It is a perpetual amusement to contrast the timid +condemnation with which such a Whig as Lister visits the turpitudes of +such as Ashley, with the solemn lectures poured out over any deviation in +the case of Clarendon from the accepted standard of Whig orthodoxy.] +Ashley was primarily responsible for a scandalous fraud and an indecent +robbery of the public purse, for which not a shadow of defence can be +offered. He became the head of a gang of ignoble tricksters, who stooped +to be pandars to their royal master's pleasures, at the price of sharing +the fruits of public plunder, and with the aim of undermining the +influence of the Minister whose rectitude shamed them. The fact that +Ashley was a friend of John Locke does not lessen his turpitude by one +jot. + +Clarendon's remonstrance with the King was as plain spoken as usual. He +"doubted that his Majesty had been surprised; it was not only +unprecedented, but in many particulars destructive to his services and to +the rights of other men." It was an insult to the Lord Treasurer, whose +prerogatives it invaded; and lastly, it was fraught with great danger to +Ashley himself. The King was brought to consent to the suspension of the +warrant; for the rest, he was obstinate. "It would bring prejudice only to +himself, which he had sufficiently provided against." Clarendon did not +give up the fight. He remonstrated with Ashley, who of all men might have +avoided being the medium of a slight upon Southampton, whose niece he had +married, and to whose good offices he owed his first advancement; but was +met only by sulky obstinacy. He endeavoured to arouse Southampton; but the +Treasurer was old and apathetic, and unwilling to engage in new struggles. +It was a sign of Clarendon's decaying influence, that all his efforts were +in vain. He received a positive order from the King that the Commission +should be signed, and he felt it no longer possible to refuse. It is easy +for us, judging when the spirit of the constitution has been changed, to +condemn Clarendon for not throwing up his office, in the face of such +rejection of his advice. It is enough to say that such action would have +been deemed by Clarendon himself to be a dereliction of his duty. By all +the memories of the past, by his affectionate reverence for his former +master, by long association in the days of exile and misfortune--nay, also +by his profound veneration for the Crown--Clarendon felt that it was his +duty to remain in the service of Charles II. to the end, and to defend the +King his master, even against his most deadly enemies, his own selfishness +and lack of principle. The easy and convenient method of resignation, +sanctioned now by long constitutional usage, was--or seemed to himself to +be--impossible to Clarendon. Had it been otherwise, how welcome would such +release have been to the weary, disgusted, and despairing statesman! + +We have thus seen how Clarendon was driven along, against all his better +judgment, in spite of all his remonstrances, by an insane current of +warlike frenzy, amidst which his warnings were unheard, and where a small +clique exploited the prevalent commercial jealousies, as a means of +bringing satisfaction to their own selfish schemes of greed and ambition. +We have seen how he strove vainly to moderate international hatred, to +compose topics of quarrel, and to bring about a pacific settlement. We +have noted his efforts to obtain alliances with, or at least neutrality on +the part of, neighbouring Powers, and how cautiously he watched each +movement of France, whose adhesion to England's foes might be so full of +danger. We have learned his estimate of the cost, and how fully he +realized that for the Crown to enter on war without ample supplies, was +the certain precursor of a new Parliamentary struggle more keen and more +fatal than the last; and we have seen how he managed, in spite of +opposition at Court, to secure an unprecedented grant. We have seen how +convinced he was of the corruption and mismanagement of the navy, and with +what thoughtless lack of preparation we were entering upon a fierce +struggle with a foe that fought for very life. We have seen how, even at +the entry upon the war, Clarendon found that no remonstrances of his could +prevent a huge asset, in the prizes of war, being handed over to a corrupt +clique, to be dissipated in grants that were at once illegal in method, +and degrading in effect. The incidents of the war do not belong to +Clarendon's life, except as they presented new problems for statesmanship, +or gave opportunities for attempting accommodation. + +At the opening of the war, and in spite of all that hindered efficient +work, the fleet was organized upon a scale unknown before. The Duke of +York was in command, and under the influence of the outburst of warlike +fervour, the nobility hastened to join the fleet as volunteers. Some +30,000 men manned the ships, and the Duke found himself at the head of a +hundred sail. The Dutch, who were commanded by Opdam, were in no less +ardent mood, and both sides were equally eager for an engagement. They +soon got into touch with one another; and in June, 1665, and after some +tentative attacks, a general engagement took place in Southwold Bay, off +the coast of Suffolk, on the 3rd of that month. The result was a great +victory for the English fleet. The Dutch lost some twenty ships, and +10,000 men in killed and prisoners. On the English side some 800 men were +killed, and not a few of the leading men who had volunteered for the war +fell in the fight. Amongst them was the new Earl of Falmouth, [Footnote: +Sir Charles Berkeley, whose name has emerged in our narrative in no +honourable guise, had the year before been created Lord Harding, and soon +after Earl of Falmouth. At the same time, Bennet, another of the ignoble +clique, became Lord Arlington.] whose loss produced a grief on the part of +Charles, for which those who had known its object were at a loss to +account. A far more serious loss to the nation was that of Admiral Lawson, +the very model of the best type of English sailor. He had borne the brunt +of naval warfare under Blake in Cromwell's day, had materially helped to +bring about the Restoration settlement, and was one of the few who played +his part in that work without thought of personal aggrandizement; and he +had maintained the older traditions of naval discipline against the newer +school who scorned the roughness of the older type. Clarendon's simple +words are his best epitaph, and they are none the less sincere because +they were written of one who was an ardent Independent: "He performed to +his death all that could be expected from a brave and an honest man." + +The victory was a notable one, but the chance it offered of completely +destroying the Dutch fleet was lost by stupid bungling on the part of the +Duke of York or some one in his suite. The remnants of the Dutch fleet +were making for harbour, and could easily have been overtaken by the +pursuers; but for some reason never well explained--probably some timid +order given by his attendant, Brouncker, in order to lessen the risk to +the Duke, or, more strange still, in order not to disturb his sleep--a +command was issued to slacken sail, and the fugitives escaped. The story +was never cleared up, but reasons of policy brought about an order that, +as heir to the Crown, the Duke should not again assume active command. + +This success, incomplete as it was, might have seemed to offer a good +opportunity for coming to a settlement, and again Louis XIV. was ready to +give his services in the capacity of peacemaker. The Dutch were still +obstinate and extravagant in their demands. But the policy of Louis was +suddenly changed by the death of the King of Spain, by the new prospects +which were thus opened to him, and by his hopes to secure the assistance +of the Dutch in seizing Flanders. In the autumn of 1665, France was +obviously ready to sacrifice the friendship of England for this new +alliance. Never was the prospect more threatening. The burden of the war +had been terribly severe. To that burden was added the grievous scourge of +the plague now raging in London, with such intensity that it claimed +10,000 victims in one week. When in October, 1665, Clarendon laid before +Parliament a narrative of the war, and asked for new supplies, the outlook +for England was dark indeed. The appeal was met generously, and a new +grant of £1,250,000 was voted. But the King's Ministers had to face the +probability of an almost solid alliance against them. The resources of the +Bishop of Munster were exhausted, and in no case could he maintain himself +in the field when greater Powers intervened. Sweden and Denmark were at +best but doubtful friends. France saw her opportunity. She urged that the +King of England should formulate his demands against the Dutch, and so +permit France to mediate and thus stop a war which was interfering with +the trade of Europe, and in which the excesses of the privateers had +inflicted heavy damages upon French merchantmen. The intervention of +France assumed a more and more threatening aspect. At length, Clarendon +had to make a firm stand against the attitude assumed. The words he uses +are grave and dignified. + +"The counsellors of the King told the French Ambassadors that their master +had very well considered the disadvantage he must undergo by the access of +so powerful a friend, and of whose friendship he thought himself +possessed, to the part of his enemies who were too insolent already; to +prevent it, he would do anything that would consist with the dignity of a +King; but that he must be laughed at and despised by all the world, if he +should consent to make him arbitrator of the differences, who had already +declared himself to be a party; that such menaces would make no impression +in the last article of danger that could befall the King." [Footnote: +_Life_, ii. 437.] + +The conference broke off with no doubt in the mind of Clarendon that +France was resolved on war. When the Council was called to consider the +situation "there was," he says, "no one present who had not a deep +apprehension of the extreme damage and danger that must fall upon the +King's affairs, if at this juncture France should declare war against +England." But however much he withstood the outbreak of the war, it was +not consistent with Clarendon's mood to yield in presence of danger. + +Meanwhile no further successes had attended the prosecution of the war. By +means of Henry Coventry and Talbot, efforts were still made to bind Sweden +and Denmark closer to England, and in July, a scheme had been arranged by +which the Dutch fleet of East Indian merchantmen, while in the harbour of +Bergen, should be handed over to Lord Sandwich, who had now succeeded the +Duke of York as Commander of the English fleet. The plan was not one that +reflected much credit on any of those engaged in it; and it was not +crowned by the atoning quality of even partial success. The Dutch showed +fight, the citizens of Bergen resented the attack by the English fleet, +contradictory or dilatory orders produced doubt and confusion, and the +damage and loss were distributed equally amongst the attackers and the +attacked. De Ruyter drew off with his convoy, and Sandwich returned from a +bootless errand. France managed to detach Denmark from England, and to +bring about a treaty with the Dutch which bound Denmark to assist Holland +against England. Sweden remained at best a half-hearted friend. + +Sandwich was injured at once by his failure at Bergen and by a peculiarly +ill-conducted case of mal-appropriation of prizes, of which he was guilty. +[Footnote: Sandwich had never been a close adherent of Clarendon. But +Clarendon is generous enough, in this crisis of his fortunes, to defend +him against his enemies, and to acquit him of all but a somewhat awkward +exercise of a right of perquisites. In Clarendon's eyes, he had the saving +merit of being attacked by Coventry. See _post_, p. 235.] He was sent +as ambassador to Spain, and Prince Rupert and the Duke of Albemarle were +appointed to joint command of the fleet. The "affection and unquestionable +courage of Prince Rupert were not doubted"--so Clarendon said when +arranging the matter with Albemarle--"but the King was not sure that the +quickness of his spirit, and the strength of his passion, might not +sometimes stand in need of a friend, who should be in equal authority with +him." [Footnote: _Life_, ii. 485. In these words, Clarendon no doubt +expressed some lively memories of the days of the Civil War.] The +combination did not answer well. By a fatal error--not improbably induced +by Rupert's desire for independent action--the fleet was broken up, and +the Prince sailed, on the credit of a false report, to meet a French fleet +under Admiral Beaufort. While he was thus detached, Albemarle was attacked +by the Dutch fleet, and escaped only with heavy loss. A month or two later +a portion of the English fleet attacked Schelling--a sea-port on the +Zuyder Zee--and burned a fleet of merchantmen and the town itself. + +"The conflagration, with that of the ships, appearing at the break of day +so near Amsterdam, put that place into that consternation that they +thought the day of judgment was come, and thinking of their ships there as +being out of the power and reach of any enemy; and no doubt it was the +greatest loss that State sustained in the whole war." [Footnote: +_Life_, iii. 80.] + +But it was a costly success; "it raised great thoughts of heart in De +Witt, and a resolution of revenge before any peace should be thought of," +[Footnote: _Life_, iii. 80.] and it did not materially improve the +position for England. + +To the burden of the plague and of war there was now added--in September, +1666--the calamity of the Great Fire of London. Clarendon was not disposed +to accept humiliating terms, but prudence forbade him to reject openings +for peace. Charles offered in January, 1667, to send an embassy to the +Hague to treat of peace. The place was selected because it was believed +that there the party of the Prince of Orange might best balance the +influence of De Witt, and give an impulse to the peace negotiations. Delay +was caused by other places being proposed in its stead, but there was no +unwillingness to enter upon negotiations. These, however, received their +chief impulse from the separate proposals for a treaty between England and +France. These proposals had at first been made through the Queen-Mother, +Henrietta Maria; but at a later stage the Earl of St. Albans (Jermyn) was +deputed to act for the King. The wheels of the negotiations drove heavily, +and suspicion clogged the proceedings on both sides; but it became clear +that both sides desired peace. Breda was now named, on the suggestion of +the English King, as the meeting-place for the wider negotiations, and was +accepted by the Dutch. But their intentions were still doubtful, and even +when the negotiations opened at Breda, in May, 1667, they absolutely +declined a proposal for a cessation of hostilities pending the +negotiations. De Witt had not yet given up "the great thoughts of heart" +that the burning of Schelling had raised, nor had he dismissed his +"resolution of revenge before any peace should be thought of." He was not +without hope from the state of the English fleet; he knew well that the +English Treasury was in no position to meet new outlays; and he counted +upon the depression caused by pestilence and the Fire. The city would be +hard put to it to advance money on the credit of the supplies newly voted. + +As a fact, the largest ships of the fleet were actually laid up. Only the +lighter vessels which could act against the enemy's merchantmen were kept +in commission, and the necessary defences of the kingdom were reduced to a +minimum, in reckless reliance on the speedy conclusion of the peace +negotiations. It was that prime object of Clarendon's dislike, Sir William +Coventry, who was responsible for this act of treasonable neglect. Such +was the position, when De Ruyter's fleet appeared at the Nore on June +10th, 1667. The Dutch Fleet divided; one division moved up to Gravesend; +another broke through the defences of the Medway, [Footnote: Works were in +progress at Sheerness, and the King had visited the place, and given +orders for new fortifications. The Commissioners of the Admiralty had been +too busy with peculations to carry them out.] burned the guardships, +captured the first-class warship, the _Royal Charles_, and next day +pursued their advantage further, and burned three more first-class ships +of war. The guns were heard in London, and for the first time for six +hundred years, the way seemed open for the invader. The citizens of London +realized the straits to which the folly of their rulers had brought them. +[Footnote: Disastrous and disgraceful as was the episode, the alarm and +confusion which it caused at Court seemed to Clarendon even more +degrading. "All they who had most advanced the war and reproached all who +had been against it, as men who had no public spirit, and were not +solicitous for the honour and glory of the nation; and who had never +spoken of the Dutch but with scorn and contempt, as a nation rather worthy +to be cudgelled than fought with, were now the most dejected men, railed +very bitterly at those who had advised the King to enter into that war-- +and wished that a peace, as the only hope, were made on any terms" +(_Life_, iii. 251). The braggart repeats himself in all ages and all +nations.] + +These exploits, serious as they were, marked the limit of the Dutch +success. Their memory would not soon be wiped out, and they inflicted a +sore wound upon the pride of England. But De Witt could not hazard the +impossible. Other attempts were made elsewhere--at Portsmouth and at +Plymouth--but they were easily repelled. Even De Witt could feel that his +resolution of revenge was satisfied, and he allowed the negotiations at +Breda to proceed. On July 21st, treaties were there signed with France, +with Holland, and with Denmark. Peace was based upon the maintenance of +the _status quo_; no cession of territory was to take place. The +rights of commerce and of navigation were to be as provided by the treaty +of 1662. Never was a costly and devastating war entered upon more +recklessly, conducted, on our side at least, with more helpless +inefficiency, and closed with a smaller result in any change which it +effected. The people of England accepted peace as a relief; they found in +it neither honour, nor compensation for their heavy loss. + +A point of no little importance may be noted before we conclude the +narrative of this disastrous war, to which Clarendon was so bitterly +opposed, and for which he was afterwards so unjustly blamed. Before the +negotiations were completed, while the impression of the bold attack of De +Witt was still heavy upon the country, and when his ships still threatened +the dockyards and the home counties bordering on the Thames, a +constitutional question of some difficulty arose. It was necessary +suddenly to levy troops and incur heavy expenses for the defences of each +bank of the river. No provision had been made for this, and Parliament was +prorogued until October 20th. It was debated in Council whether Parliament +could be summoned in anticipation of that date, or how otherwise money +could be obtained. Clarendon saw that the meeting of Parliament could only +increase the prevailing alarm, that it might lead to serious confusion, +and that as a means of obtaining money, its grants would be so delayed as +to be useless. For himself he held that Parliament could not legally be +summoned in advance of the date proclaimed; and he strongly urged that +money could be legally provided by way of loan, to be deducted from next +assessment. After full debate the point was decided contrary to his +advice: but fortunately before Parliament met, the peace had been +concluded, and the emergency was gone. The vexed question of special +supplies, and of the extraordinary powers of the Crown, was thus luckily +avoided. But Clarendon's contention was soon to form a good handle of +attack to his enemies. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +ADMINISTRATIVE FRICTION + + +In order to be a great Foreign Minister, a statesman must follow one of +two courses. He must either hold the internal affairs of the country in a +grasp of iron, so securely as to impose an effectual guard against their +ever becoming a source of trouble or agitation; or else he must abandon +these affairs to a knot of subsidiary and secondary agents, who will be +content to steer strictly according to the course which he has laid down. +Cromwell is a good specimen of the first; Chatham is the most conspicuous +example of the second. Circumstances did not allow Clarendon to pursue +either course, and his efforts to guide his country through the stormy sea +of foreign politics were foredoomed to failure. He could look back with +little satisfaction on the waste of life and treasure in the war now +closed. He was thwarted by a crowd of jealous intriguers at home, and his +intentions and directions as to foreign politics were often set aside by +such an agent as Downing. + +But from foreign affairs we have now to turn to those matters of internal +politics which had necessarily occupied much of Clarendon's attention +while the war was in progress. Here, again, he had to tread a thorny path. +It seemed as if there was no possible source of mischief which did not add +something to his troubles. He saw that the recklessness of the courtiers +was breeding irritation and contempt towards the Crown, and weakening the +nerves and sinews of the nation. All he could now hope for in the King +was, that he might to some extent hide the scandals of his Court, and not +be entirely led away by the more dangerous spirits in it. Efficient aid +from his master, Clarendon had ceased to expect; it would be well if the +worst gang amongst the courtiers could at least be persuaded to interfere +as little as might be with affairs of State. + +Meanwhile the signs of widespread disaffection were clearly visible to +Clarendon, and the existence of dangerous conspiracies was confirmed by +the strongest evidence. These were not the less threatening because they +were disseminated throughout the most dissimilar sections of society, and +were actuated by the most opposite aims. The wilder sects of the +Independents were avowedly animated by revolutionary schemes, and violent +preachers advocated them in their "congregated churches," where they +regularly assembled, in various parts of London, and stirred one another +to frenzy by aspirations for the rule of the saints. Restless discontent, +disappointed ambition, the jealousy of jarring factions at Court, all +found ready instruments in the enthusiasts who revived many of the strange +vagaries of doctrine that had been rife during the Civil War. Anabaptists +and Millenarians, Fifth-monarchy men and Levellers--all were mingled +together in the cauldron of religious and political frenzy. The reckless +vanity of a courtier like Buckingham found it useful to cultivate the +good-will of the more ardent sectaries. The Civil War had left an ample +crop of bravos, who were to be hired for any outrage, and whose excesses +added to the restless uneasiness that prevailed, and that made men +nervously apprehensive of revolution. The religious enthusiast, and the +blustering cut-throat of Alsatia, were equally open to the persuasions of +any turbulent faction which sought to defy the law. The forces of order +which Clarendon commanded were but scanty. The elements of turbulence were +overwhelming in number, and were weakened only by their confusion and +diversity. It was not Clarendon alone who saw and dreaded the danger of +disturbance. His fears were shared even by those counsellors, such as +Clifford and Arlington, who were his jealous opponents; and it was only +too evident how many sources of combustion went to feed the flame of +discontent. The Presbyterians, however little in sympathy with the aims of +the wilder sectaries, were bitterly disappointed at the ecclesiastical +settlement, and deemed that their Royalist leanings had been rewarded by +the basest ingratitude. The burden of taxation was excessive, and its +irksomeness was sorely aggravated by the added misfortunes of the Plague +and the Fire. The confidence of the city was shaken, and the monied men +shrank from making advances to a discredited administration. Even those +amongst the opponents of the Court for whom the title of patriot has been +claimed--perhaps on flimsy grounds,--were not ashamed to negotiate with +the French King, or the Dutch Pensionary, and to offer their services to +the enemies of their country. [Footnote: On June 9, 1665, Downing writes +to Clarendon that Algernon Sidney was at Breda, disguised as a Frenchman, +on his way to the Hague; and that "others of that gang" were flocking to +the Dutch as enthusiastic allies.] It seemed as if every evil which Divine +vengeance, religious frenzy, human folly, foreign enemies abroad, and +deep-rooted political discontent at home, could engender, were poured out +into the welter of confusion that reigned in England during these unhappy +years. In such a turbid flood had Clarendon to steer the ship of State. + +It was this general confusion, and the dangers which it threatened, that +formed the theme of the King's Speech to Parliament at the opening of the +session in March, 1664. That Speech was doubtless composed by Clarendon, +and may be taken as expressing his views. [Footnotes: It is given by +Clarendon (_Life_, ii. 281) with a fullness which proves that he had +the notes of it still in his possession.] "The spirits of many of our old +enemies," it said, "were still active." Old conspiracies, detected in the +capital, had shown themselves once more in the provinces. + +"The malcontents were still pursuing the same consultation, and have +correspondence with desperate persons in most counties, and a standing +council in the metropolis, from which they receive their directions, and +by whom they were advised to defer their last intended insurrection." +"These desperate men," he proceeded, "have not been all of one mind in the +ways of carrying on their wicked resolutions. Some would still insist upon +the authority of the Long Parliament, of which, they say, they have +members enough willing to meet; others have fancied to themselves by some +computation of their own, upon some clause of the Triennial Bill, that +this present Parliament was at an end some months since; and that, for +want of new writs, they may assemble themselves and choose members of +Parliament." + +Then follows a passage which has caused much searching of hearts amongst +our Whig historians. + +"I confess to you, my Lords and Gentlemen, I have often myself read over +that Bill; and though there is no colour for the fancy of the +determination of this Parliament, yet I will not deny to you, that I have +always expected that you would, and even wondered that you have not +considered the wonderful clauses of the Bill, which passed in a time very +uncareful for the dignity of the Crown, or the security of the people.... +I need not tell you how much I love Parliaments. Never King was so much +beholden to Parliaments as I have been, nor do I think the Crown can ever +be happy without frequent Parliaments. But, assure yourselves, if I should +think otherwise, I could never suffer a Parliament to come together by the +means prescribed in that Bill." [Footnote: In a note upon this passage, +Mr. Lister assumes that it means only that the King pledged himself to +summon a Parliament within the prescribed time, rather than allow it to +meet by the operation of the Act; but that he did not contemplate anything +but submission to the Act, in the event of failure of such summons. He +differs--with some hesitation--from Mr. Hallam, who stigmatizes it as "an +audacious declaration, equivalent to an avowed design, in certain +circumstances, of preventing the execution of the laws by force of arms"-- +a declaration such as "was never before heard from the lips of an English +King." We take the liberty of agreeing with Hallam's interpretation as +against Lister's, but of dissenting from Hallam's estimate of the +culpability of the avowal.] + +It is absurd to think it needful either to explain away such a plain +statement of policy, or to attribute to its author any constitutional +crime. The King declared his intention to have constant recourse to +Parliaments. But he also declared, with good reason, not only that he gave +no weight whatever to the baseless assumption that a new Parliament must +be elected every three years, but also that he would never feel himself +justified, by the provisions of an Act of Parliament passed under evil +auspices, in permitting a Parliament to be elected under conditions which +necessarily implied a complete subversion of every constitutional +principle. There is such a thing as pedantic reverence for statute law. It +is perfectly clear that a statute which provided that electors might +proceed themselves to elect their representatives, and that sovereign +power should be committed to these representatives, virtually assumes a +state of anarchy to prevail. No constituted authority could, consistently +with its fundamental duty, ever contemplate a case in which it could +voluntarily permit such procedure. Far from proclaiming an intention to +infringe the constitution, Charles only uttered a commonplace of +administrative duty. It is perfectly clear that to permit the course +indicated in the Triennial Act would be to bring into being not one +Parliament, but as many Parliaments as there were different factions in +the country, free to meet together and chose their own representatives as +and how they pleased. In such a case effective government would have +ceased to exist. The Speech from the Throne had at least the desired +effect. The Bill for the repeal of the Triennial Act passed rapidly +through both Houses. Parliament was not to be intermitted for more than +three years; but the enactment was buttressed by none of the obnoxious +provisions of the previous Act, which would have preserved the fiction of +a free Parliament by a resort to the methods of anarchy, and by assuming +that such methods were consistent with constitutional and settled +government. + +But further measures appeared necessary to secure the safety of Church and +Crown. Alarm had been created by the threatening tone of the addresses in +the "congregated churches," where the preachers drew their most effective +metaphors from the language of the camp and the battlefield, and where he +was heard with most reverence who depicted in the most lurid language the +doom which overhung the Court and the Church, and of which it was the duty +of every devout enthusiast to make himself the instrument. To check this +it was deemed necessary to proscribe Conventicles, and a new Bill was +introduced, and rapidly passed, declaring any meeting of more than five +persons for religious services, otherwise than in accordance with the +Liturgy of the Church, to be "a seditious and unlawful conventicle." The +penalty for attendance was, in the case of a first offender, to be a fine +of five pounds, or three months' imprisonment; ten pounds, or six months +for a second offence; and thereafter transportation, or a fine of one +hundred pounds. It is, of course, easy to denounce this Act on the +specious and readily accepted principle of religious toleration. But, as +it met with no opposition in a Parliament where there was already a party +prepared to thwart the measures of the Court, we must assume that the +general sense of danger appeared to justify it beyond possibility of +contradiction. We must at least not forget, in judging the justification +of the Act, that it embodied the same principles which were applied until +the last quarter of the eighteenth century, under a succession of Whig +administrations, to assemblies of Episcopalian adherents in Scotland, and +of Roman Catholics in both countries. If the principle of religious +toleration is to be a universal guide, it is difficult to say why the +maxims it enjoins should be held to apply only in the case of +Presbyterians and Independents. Whatever the blame to be measured out to +the promoters of the Act, there is no ground for exempting Clarendon from +his share of responsibility. Our estimate of the weight of that +responsibility will vary according as we judge the real danger of the +situation. That there was widespread and implacable disaffection, there +can be no reasonable doubt. That it was fostered to a very large extent by +the earnest sympathy, and the stimulating harangues, of the sectarian +preachers, admits of just as little doubt. Rumours of plots were +thickening day by day. Evidence was forthcoming of a plan for seizing the +Tower, and one, Colonel Danvers, who was concerned in it, was rescued from +the hands of the King's officers by open force. [Footnote: Pepys, August +5th, 1665.] The Plague not unnaturally increased the panic that prevailed; +and the air seemed darkened by vague threatenings, in which war, +pestilence, and famine cast their gloomy shadows over the land. It is hard +to say how Clarendon, or any other Minister, could have withstood the +determination of Parliament to make adequate provision against what it +deemed to be impending dangers. + +The increasing prevalence of the Plague forced the Court and Parliament +once again, in 1665, to move to Oxford; and there legislation followed the +same course. Still further security was deemed necessary against the +dissenting clergy, and a new Bill was introduced, providing that all non- +conforming clergy should take the oath of non-resistance--declaring that +it was unlawful on any pretence, to take up arms against the King, and +that they would at no time endeavour any alteration of government in +Church and State; and providing that those who refused the oath should be +incapable of teaching in schools, and should not be permitted to reside +within five miles [Footnote: Hence its popular name of "The Five Mile +Act."] of any city or burgh returning members to Parliament, or of any +place where they had acted as ministers of religion. + +The Bill was evidently conceived under the influence of a panic. Absurd as +were its provisions, they would perhaps not have been so severely +condemned, under the high ethical standard of later historians, had they +not been accompanied by the almost humorous provision that the penalties +should be escaped by an oath, which not the most compliant Nonconformists +could possibly have accepted. Sarcastic pleasantries of that sort always +bring upon coercive legislation a heavier condemnation than it would +otherwise incur. + +Whatever its merits or demerits, the Bill was one which the House of +Commons was determined to have, and which it passed without a division. It +was only in the Lords that it met with opposition. There its chief +advocate was Archbishop Sheldon, whose inclination coincided with what he +naturally believed to be his duty--to press every advantage for the +Church. Sheldon was faithful to his convictions, and frankly desirous of +securing the Church against any new efforts of the Nonconformists. His +attitude was that of the stalwart ecclesiastical protagonist, whose +business it was to avenge the wrongs of the Church, not to conciliate her +foes; and considerations of what was prudent in secular politics had no +concern for him. Between Sheldon and Clarendon there was the sympathy of +old and tried friendship and of comradeship in many a hard fight. But +Clarendon, faithful friend of the Church as he was, did not always see eye +to eye with ecclesiastics. We have seen how often and how severely he +could criticize them; and his sympathy with their general object did not +always commend to him their methods. His doubts might not always lead him +to assume an attitude of open and direct opposition. Deliberate abstention +might be just as effective, and was less liable to be misunderstood by the +friends of the Church. As a fact, in this case Clarendon was absent from +the debates owing to his persistent enemy, the gout. He expresses no +opinion adverse or otherwise upon the Act, of which he omits to make any +mention. This sufficiently indicates his attitude towards it; and his own +closest political ally, Southampton, offered direct opposition to the Bill +in the Lords. Whatever his loyalty to the Church, Southampton declared, he +could take no oath to pledge himself against any alteration, which he +might even "see cause to endeavour." + +We need have little doubt as to which way Clarendon's sympathies went in +the dispute between his two old friends. But indeed the passing of the +Bill depended upon no individual views and upon the action of no Minister. +The House of Commons was more Royalist than the King--more orthodox than +the Church. Charles was finding out now what he was to find out more +surely as time went on, that the bull-headed obstinacy of his friends +might be quite as troublesome as the intrigues and plottings of his foes. +It would have been dangerous either for King or Minister to resist the +impetuosity of Parliamentary intolerance. We cannot assume sympathy on +Clarendon's part with these exaggerations of loyalty to the Church, from +his general commendation of the Parliament at Oxford, and its legislation +as a whole. It had, he tells us, "preserved that excellent harmony that +the King had proposed." "Never Parliament so entirely sympathized with his +Majesty;" "It passed more Acts for his honour and security than any other +had ever done in so short a session." All this was strictly true; and that +Parliament doubtless did not lose favour in Clarendon's eyes, because it +met at Oxford, and amidst those congenial surroundings which reminded him +of the old days, and the old fights amongst comrades whose aims were +purer, and their hearts higher, than the actors on the present stage. +Clarendon might, however, be fully persuaded of the honest aims of the +Parliamentary Cavaliers, without approving all their methods or being +blind to the danger these methods involved. + +We have now to turn to another aspect of the work of this session, which +concerned Clarendon much more directly, and which aroused in him not mere +doubts of its expediency, but direct and deeply-felt conviction of its +pernicious tendency. It is a matter which it is worth examining with some +care, because it struck at Clarendon's fundamental theory of +administration, and aroused in him an antipathy which may easily be +misunderstood if we do not apprehend exactly what it involved. + +In no sphere of administration did more difficult problems emerge after +the Restoration than in that of Finance. It was then, as it always must +be, the pivot upon which all constitutional questions turned; and it was +this which had given to Parliament the lever by which the monarchy had +been overturned. When the Restoration took place, it was natural that some +of the older usages in regard to finance should be revived. Cromwell had +dictated their course to those feeble figments of Parliamentary +representation which he had allowed to exist, and had crushed out any +financial liberties which they might be supposed to possess. A regular +system of assessment, by the quarter or the month, had been laid upon the +counties. The real responsibility for this had rested with local +functionaries acting under the direct orders of the executive; and its +regularity caused it to be submitted to without resistance. Excise had +been established, as we have seen, during the Civil War, as a temporary +expedient, destined to be permanent; and any sudden alteration of this +would have led to financial confusion. The old system of subsidies, of +which a certain number were voted according to the exigencies of the time, +and the power of the Government to influence Parliament, had been +abandoned. When the Restoration came, these subsidies were for a while +resumed. But at the same time a regular revenue of £1,200,000 was granted +to the Crown, and provision was supposed to be made for it by assigning +certain taxes, and the produce of the Excise, for the purpose. But this +was found to be inadequate to realize the stated income, and that income +was found inadequate to meet the increasing expenditure, especially when +the defence of England's commercial interests had to be maintained by a +large and costly fleet. When the enormous and unprecedented grant of +£2,500,000 was made to the Crown for the Dutch war, it was provided that +it should be realized, not by the old method of subsidies, but by twelve +quarterly assessments extending over three years. Clarendon's aim was by +no means to place the Crown in a position of financial irresponsibility. +He realized that Parliament had a place in the Constitution as well as the +Crown, and had no desire to minimize the financial independence of +Parliament, or to free the Crown from the necessity of regular resort to +Parliament for such special and extraordinary grants as might be +necessary. But he thought that the Crown should be provided with a regular +revenue to meet ordinary expenses; and that it should be required to apply +to Parliament only for any increase of that revenue if special exigencies +should arise. But the revenue, so granted, should belong to the Crown, +which should be free to administer it according to the judgment of the +Ministers of the Crown. Parliament possessed the prerogative of making the +grant, and thereby of imposing conditions upon it. But once made, the +Ministers of the Crown were to be responsible for its application. Any +maladministration would be subject of punishment by the Crown, or, if need +be, of impeachment by the Parliament. + +The abandonment of the system of subsidies almost necessarily led to +another far-reaching change. Separate subsidies had formerly been granted +by Parliament in respect of the nation, and by Convocation in respect of +the Church. The right of making independent grants was a doubtful +privilege for the Church, and would, had it continued, have caused endless +confusion to the Exchequer. It was abandoned by consent. No statute +abolished it. It was an old usage, but rested upon little more than usage; +and it was abolished, once and for all, not by statute, but by arrangement +between Sheldon and the leaders of the Church, on the one hand, and +Clarendon and Southampton on the other. It was an instance of the +abandonment of an ancient principle, sanctioned by the usage of centuries +and intimately bound up with the relations between Church and State, by no +action of the legislature, but solely by the action of the Crown. At the +same time, by an almost more startling extension of the prerogative, the +clergy were compensated by being allowed to take part in the election of +Parliamentary representatives. + +The method by which the grants given by Parliament could be made available +for national expenditure had been found easy and convenient. For this +purpose the help of the bankers, who were generally goldsmiths of high +standing, was invoked. Clarendon gives us a detailed account of the usage. +Half a dozen of the leading monied men of the city were summoned to the +council chamber. They knew the amount of grant made by Parliament, and +were asked to what extent they were prepared to make advances upon this +amount. They did so in reliance upon the faith of the King and the Lord +Treasurer, and upon the certainty that any failure to fulfil its +obligations on the part of the Exchequer would inevitably lead to national +loss of credit, and consequent bankruptcy. If the current rate of interest +was 6 per cent., they advanced the money at 8 per cent., and counted on +the 2 per cent. to recoup them. Clarendon thought the rate fair, and found +the method eminently convenient. But the bankers relied solely upon the +good faith and prudence of the Minister. There was nothing to prevent the +King making an assignment of the revenue, as it came in, to purposes other +than the reimbursement of the bankers. The only guarantee against this was +the good faith of the responsible Minister and the certainty that the +Crown must submit its case to Parliament should the need of further grant +arise. The King had to adapt his expenditure to his revenue; but the +application of revenue to any particular branch of the expenditure was, in +Clarendon's view, a matter for himself and his responsible Ministers. + +On more than one occasion in the past grants from Parliament had been +expressly assigned to specific purposes, and such an arrangement had +unquestionably much to commend it. But a long time often intervened +between the making of a grant and the realization of revenue. Money had to +be procured at once, and before the tax yielded revenue new needs had +arisen, and new expenditure had to be incurred. The system of +appropriating supplies would undoubtedly make the financial administration +more mechanical, circumscribe the responsibility of Ministers, and cripple +the power of the Crown in applying revenue towards pressing objects. +Unforeseen savings--though these, indeed, were not an item of much +importance in the financial administration of Charles's reign--could not, +under such a system, be applied to new exigencies without a further +warrant from Parliament. The whole system of appropriation, however +defensible on the modern maxims of sound finance, was inconvenient in +working, and tended to increase the dependence of the Crown on Parliament, +and to diminish at once the discretion and the responsibility of Ministers +of the Crown. + +It was during the Parliament at Oxford in 1665 that this fundamental +change in the financial system was pressed forward by the personal +jealousy of that clique at Court which sought the ruin of Southampton and +Clarendon. Specious arguments could easily be brought forward against the +greed and extortion of the bankers, who were realizing fortunes by the +loose financial administration which made the King's revenue pass through +their hands, and subjected it to a heavy toll upon which they throve. Once +revenue was assigned to a specific object, the credit of the Crown, it was +alleged, would be enormously enhanced, and it would be perfectly easy to +establish a State bank, on the model of that in Amsterdam, which would be +a perennial source from which money might be drawn as required. And this +facility of supply would be joined with purity of financial +administration; Parliament would know exactly what was done with the money +that it voted; leakages would be stopped, and peculation would cease to be +possible. + +The arguments were at once specious and inviting. But in truth the real +motives which prompted the new proposals were jealousy of Southampton and +Clarendon and personal ambition. The prime mover was Sir George Downing, +that turbulent and versatile political adventurer, who had run through the +whole gamut of political tergiversation, and who, as envoy to Holland, had +long worried Clarendon by the pertinacity with which he had provoked the +jealousy of the Dutch and had done all in his power to precipitate the +war. He had contrived to secure appointment as one of the Tellers of the +Exchequer, was in close confederacy with Bennet, now Lord Arlington, and +was scheming with him to oust the influence of the Chancellor and the +Treasurer. His perquisites, as Teller of the Exchequer, were lessened by +the assignment of taxes to the bankers in return for their advances, and +as the proceeds of the taxes did not pass through the Exchequer, the +percentage to the Tellers was thereby diminished. The position of Lord +Southampton was difficult to assail. "His reputation was so great, his +wisdom so unquestionable, and his integrity so confessed, that they knew +in neither of those points he could be impeached." [Footnote: _Life_, +iii. 2.] The King was still faithful to his Treasurer, and insinuations as +to his increasing age and unfitness for active business did not shake his +confidence. But Southampton's enemies were strengthened by the support of +Ashley, who, though his advancement was due to his relationship to +Southampton by marriage, was beginning to feel that he might well rid +himself of the ladder by which he had climbed, and that he himself would +be a very competent Treasurer. It was only when he perceived that his +confederates might not aid this ambition that he became more lukewarm in +his support of their schemes. + +There was at least one convenience in the present system. The facile +humour of the King led him to assign revenues to suitors who had no very +creditable claims to reward. It was convenient to him to shift to the +Chancellor and the Treasurer the odium of refusing to endorse these +grants. Their watchful jealousy against inroads upon the national +resources increased the number of their enemies; but it saved the King +from the irksome burden of refusal. It was speciously urged against this +that the root of all the financial difficulties was + +"the unlimited power of the Lord Treasurer, that no money could issue out +without his particular direction, and all money was paid upon no other +rules than his order; so that, let the King want as much as was possible, +no money could be paid by him without the Treasurer's warrant." [Footnote: +_Life_, iii. 5.] + +It was a persuasive argument for Charles's ears. The popular pretence went +only a little way. The real aim--and this it was that attracted the King-- +was that personal authority should be eliminated, and that he should no +longer be subject to the galling supervision of the two Ministers, whose +bull-dog honesty was so often inconvenient. Meanwhile the minds of the +members of the House were cunningly prepared for the reception of the new +design, by invectives against the bankers. They were "cheats, +bloodsuckers, extortioners." Their enemies "would have them looked upon as +the causes of all the King's necessities and of the want of monies +throughout the kingdom." [Footnote: _Ibid._, p. 7.] + +When the Bill for supply was brought in by the Solicitor-General, Downing +found his opportunity. He proposed a proviso, the object of which was "to +make all the money that was to be raised by the Bill to be applied only to +those ends to which it was given, and to no other purpose whatsoever, by +what authority soever." The restrictions thus imposed upon the royal +authority were viewed with jealousy by many, who found in them a renewal +of that financial supremacy of the Commons which had been the symptom of +the approach of the rebellion. Cromwell, it was pointed out, had himself +seen the inconvenience of such restrictions, and had refused to submit to +them. The proviso would have been defeated, had not Downing assured the +Solicitor-General that the proviso was proposed by the King's own +direction. After the House had risen, the King sent for the Solicitor- +General, and "forbade him any more to oppose that proviso, for that it was +much for his service." [Footnote: _Ibid._, p. 11.] He refused to +listen to any remonstrances. "He would bear the inconveniences which would +ensue upon his own account, for the benefits which would accrue." Downing +took care to strengthen these favourable resolutions of the King. "He +would make his Exchequer the best and the greatest bank in Europe, where +all Europe would, when it was once understood, pay in their money for the +certain profit it would yield, and the indubitable certainty that they +should receive their money." He would, he assured the King, "erect the +King's Exchequer into the same degree of credit that the Bank of Amsterdam +stood upon." He forgot to tell the King that such credit could only be +established by eliminating the personal influence and authority of the +Crown over finance. That was no doubt a change which must come. But it +formed no part of Charles's calculation, and it was opposed to Clarendon's +theory of monarchy. Clarendon states the case with precision. Downing +propounded his scheme + +"without weighing that the security for monies so deposited in banks (such +as that of Amsterdam) is the republic itself, which must expire before +that security can fail; which can never be depended on in a monarchy, +where the monarch's sole word can cancel all those formal provisions which +can be made." [Footnote: _Life_, iii. 13.] + +Anxious as he was for financial purity and for a due interdependence of +King and Parliament, Clarendon was not disposed to part with this +prerogative of the Crown. Downing and his allies were equally aware that +to abandon it was no part of Charles's thoughts. It would be absurd to +argue back from later days when such a claim on the part of the Crown was +a thing of the past. The essence of the plan, which made it palatable to +the King and the object of all Downing's scheming, was that "it was to +new-model the whole Government of the country, in which the King resolved +to have no more superior officers." The power of these superior officers +was an incubus of which Charles longed to rid himself. + +The Bill passed the House of Commons, and was brought to the Lords. Such +Bills, says Clarendon in an interesting passage, [Footnote: _Life_, iii. +13.] "seldom stay long with the Lords." + +"Of custom, which they call privilege, they are first begun in the House +of Commons, where they endure long deliberation, and when they are +adjusted there, they seem to pass through the House of Peers with the +reading twice and formal commitment, in which any alterations are very +rarely made, except in any impositions which are laid upon their +(_i.e._ the Lords') own persons." "The same endorsement that is sent +up by the Commons is usually the Bill itself that is presented to the King +for his royal assent." + +It is to be observed that Clarendon is speaking of custom only, not of +right; and he is careful to add that such Bills are "no more valid without +their (the Lords') consent than without that of the other (the Commons); +and they may alter any clause in them that they do not think for the good +of the people." Only "the Lords use not to put any stop on the passage of +such Bills, much less diminish what is offered by them to the King." + +But in spite of such usage, the new provisions of the Bill so alarmed +those in the House of Lords who understood the matter, as to prompt them +to an alteration. Both the Chancellor and the Treasurer were confined by +illness, and neither of them had received notice of the Bill. It was only +when their colleagues in the House of Lords informed them of its purport +that they resolved to resist what they believed to be a deadly blow to the +power of the Crown, albeit dealt with the sanction and active approval of +the King. + +By this time Ashley, who, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, found his own +prerogatives threatened, had definitely ranged himself against those with +whom he had been associated in plotting against Clarendon and Southampton. +His fertile wit supplied new arguments, and helped him to alarm the King. +Charles + +"was contented that the matter should be debated in his presence; and +because the Chancellor was in his bed, thought his chamber to be the +fittest place for the consultation; and the Lord Treasurer, though +indisposed and apprehensive of the gout, could yet use his feet, and was +very willing to attend his Majesty there, without the least imagining that +he was aimed at." + +Clarendon could no longer rely upon an effective ally in his aged +colleague. + +Besides the King and the Duke of York and the two chief Ministers there +were present Ashley, Arlington, and Coventry. The law officers were there +to advise; and Downing was admitted that he might answer the objections to +his scheme. Ashley began the discussion by inveighing against the proviso. +The King checked this "by declaring that whatsoever had been done in the +whole transaction of it had been with his privity and approbation, and the +whole blame must be laid to his own charge, who, it seems, was like to +suffer most by it." Whatever the tendency of the proviso, it is clear that +such action made an end of all real ministerial responsibility, if the +chief Ministers of the Crown were to find their authority undermined by +schemes which the King might concoct with inferior officers. The +appropriation of supplies might be a step towards financial control; but +it was bought at a heavy cost if it was to be achieved by backstairs +influence against the advice of the King's responsible advisers. Clarendon +was not prepared to accept what he believed to be a breach of the Crown's +constitutional prerogative; but, compared with his master, he had +travelled far on the road towards constitutional monarchy. Charles's +nonchalant surrender of the powers of the Crown was carried out with +cynical disregard of all the principles of the constitution. + +But the King did not refuse to admit the force of some of the adverse +arguments. He confessed "that they had given some reasons against it which +he had not thought of, and which in truth he could not answer," and he was +waiting to hear it argued further. The first objection was its novelty. +The new proviso would form a dangerous precedent, which would hereafter +appear in every Bill. The King would not be "master of his own money, nor +the Ministers of his revenue be able to assign monies to meet any casual +expenses." The authority of the Treasurer and the Chancellor of the +Exchequer must be vested in the Tellers of the Exchequer, who were +subordinate officers. Clarendon's comment upon this is characteristic of +his best vein of grave sarcasm. + +"The King had in his nature so little reverence for antiquity, and did in +truth so much contemn old orders, forms, and institutions, that the +objections of novelty rather advanced than obstructed any proposition. He +was a great lover of new inventions, and thought them the effects of wit +and spirit, and fit to control the superstitious observation of the +dictates of our ancestors; so that objection made little impression." + +Many sore trials to his patience have lent point and acid to Clarendon's +satirical picture of a master, whose cynicism made him fancy that blind +pursuit of novelty sat well upon the occupant of a throne that rested +chiefly upon ancient usage, and upon the glamour of reverence which that +usage brought. + +The overpowering temptation to the King was the chimera of a bank which, +it was represented, would be created by this new proviso. It was in vain +that Clarendon showed that the hope was an empty one; that heavy interest +would have to be paid for advances; that good husbandry, and that alone, +could restore order to the finances. Downing was an adept in specious +argument. "He wrapped himself up, according to his custom, in a mist of +words that nobody could see light in, but they who by often hearing the +same chat thought they understood it." + +To the King's credit it must be counted that he was not indifferent to the +injustice involved to the bankers, who had already advanced large sums, on +the credit of the King and his Minister, for which, under the new proviso, +they could receive no reimbursement, and might thus be ruined. That and +the other arguments impressed him. He went so far as to "wish that the +matter had been better consulted," and confessed that Downing "had not +answered many of the objections." But the balance of personal convenience, +and the facilities which Downing lavishly promised, in the end carried the +day. That vein of obstinacy, which was entwined with the love of ease in +Charles, determined him to adopt an expedient, hazardous, indeed, but +which promised some hope of financial fruit, and had been propounded on +the King's own orders. Perhaps Clarendon himself contributed to this +result by the natural, but imprudent, outbreak of indignation which moved +him in the King's own presence to scold Downing in no measured terms. To +do so was almost the same as to administer the scolding to the King +himself; and even a temper so easy as that of Charles could hardly have +taken such an outburst in good part. + +"It was impossible," Clarendon told Downing, "for the King to be well +served whilst fellows of his condition were admitted to speak as much as +they had a mind to; and that, in the best times, such presumptions had +been punished with imprisonment by the Lords of the Council without the +King taking notice of it." + +Clarendon himself seems to have felt that such an utterance, in the +presence of the King, to one whom the King declared to have acted on his +orders, was a straining of courtly etiquette which required some apology. +It was uttered, he tells us, in the extremity of bodily pain; and he +thought "it did not exceed the privilege and the dignity of the place he +held." Clarendon certainly set himself no very strict bonds of courtliness +in the freedom of his utterances to his King. On this particular occasion +his plain speaking seems to have rankled. + +What, then, was the real meaning of this change, so bitterly resented by +Clarendon, and eventually adopted in the teeth of his advice by Parliament +and King? It is absurd to suppose that any consuming desire for financial +exactitude prompted the action of Downing, of Arlington, or of Coventry. +No doubt they anticipated one necessary result of full Parliamentary +control over finance, in the principle of appropriation. But what they +really desired was to eliminate the discretion, and thereby the control +over expenditure, which was exercised by the great officers of State. That +also was bound to come. The rapidly increasing range of administration and +of expenditure must inevitably have substituted routine rules and fixed +practice for the personal intervention, and the exercise of personal +authority, by those great officers of State. But Clarendon was loth to +part with this personal authority; he distrusted, with good reason, the +honesty and the independence of the inferior officials into whose hands +the administration of finance was intended to pass, and who could easily, +under the cover of routine practice, which relieved them from the +intervention of their superiors, conceal a system of malversation. The +change, indeed, embodied in its essentials the passing of authority from +the great responsible officers to a bureaucracy. Its full results could +not yet be seen. Its dangers have since then been prevented, and it is to +be hoped they may not again arise. But Clarendon saw in the change the +reversal of all former traditions; the diminishing of responsibility in +the high officers and the substitution for them of a lower grade of petty +officials, shielded by the great edifice of rules of routine in which they +become experts, and, as such, are unassailable. It was a change which was +bound to come. It was impossible that the vast machine of national finance +could be guided by rules laid down for each case by a responsible +Minister. The change was none the less a revolution, and was not more +welcome to Clarendon, in that it was carried out by the scheming of an +ambitious underling, working upon the facile temper of the King, who thus +hoped to have an ampler supply of revenue, freed from the control of +Ministers who could curb his extravagance. + +The episode produced a marked increase of the estrangement between the +King and the Minister who had served him so well. Clarendon's fierce +denunciation of Downing's presumption rankled in Charles's memory, and +those about him took care that it should not be smoothed over. "Whatever +else was natural to wit sharpened with malice to suggest upon such an +argument, they enforced with warmth, that they desired might be taken for +zeal for his service and dignity, which was prostituted by those +presumptions of the Chancellor." [Footnote: _Life_, iii. 24.] Clarendon +soon learned the truth from the changed demeanour of the King. At first he +was at a loss to explain this; but Charles soon spoke in terms that could +not be mistaken, and expressed "a great resentment of it," as an +unpardonable insult. "And all this," adds Clarendon, "in a choler very +unnatural to him, which exceedingly troubled the Chancellor and made him +more discern, though he had evidence enough of it before, that he stood +upon very slippery ground." [Footnote: _Life_, iii. 25.] It was no +part of Clarendon's character to take such a rebuke in silence or to leave +it to pass gradually from the mind of the King. His conscience, he said, +had not reproached him; but since his Majesty thought his behaviour so +bad, "he must and did believe he had committed a great fault, for which he +did humbly ask his pardon." It was impossible, he said, that any one could +believe that he sought to keep the King from a clear view of his own +affairs; and none knew better than his Majesty how earnestly he had +striven "that his Majesty might never set his hand to anything before he +fully understood it upon such references and reports as, according to the +nature of the business, were to be for his full information." That innate +reverence for the power of the Crown, which was Clarendon's guiding +principle, could hardly have been united with sharper sarcasm upon the +business methods of the King. + +To outward seeming the feeling of offence was removed. Charles had no wish +to resume the argument, and forbade him to believe "that it was or could +be in any man's power to make him suspect his affection or integrity to +his service." He covered any resentment he might feel with that +dissimulation of which he was so great a master; and soon after gave an +earnest of his continued good-will by promoting Clarendon's kinsman, Dr. +Hyde, to the Bishopric of Salisbury. "Nor was his credit with the King +thought to be lessened by anybody but himself, who knew more to that +purpose than other people could do." It may be doubted whether some of +Charles's familiars did not guess more shrewdly than Clarendon supposed. +The gossip of Pepys lets us know that the tongues of talebearers were not +silent. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +DECAY OF CLARENDON'S INFLUENCE + + +We must still look backwards a little in tracing the accumulating effect +of friction, of jealousy, and of slander, in sapping the power of +Clarendon. + +He had not long to wait to see how adroit his many enemies were in +twisting to his disadvantage any irritation which Charles might feel. The +state of public affairs was sufficiently overclouded to make his anxieties +in any case very great. The war still dragged on its weary course (we are +now dealing with a period anterior to the peace already described), with +its heavy burden of expense and its ever-recurring disasters, relieved +only by occasional success. The combined calamity of the Fire and the +Plague increased the general depression, paralyzed trade, and made the +burden of taxation more severe. Repressive measures, if they had checked +rebellion, had left a troubled background of smouldering discontent, and +were sowing the seeds of future opposition to the Crown and to the Church. +The temper of the House of Commons, however pronounced its adhesion to the +Cavalier party, was stubborn and perverse; and stubbornness and perversity +are never so provoking in politics as when they are united with an +exaggeration of one's own opinion. The House resented almost with the tone +and in the spirit of the Long Parliament, the dictation--and Clarendon's +best friends must admit that his methods were apt to be dictatorial--of a +Minister who saw that its exaggerated Royalism might be itself a danger to +the Crown, and who was faithful to a theory of the constitution which +imposed limits at once upon King and upon Parliament. Clarendon belonged +to an older generation, and was unwilling to trim his sails to suit the +newer fashions. His pedantic constitutionalism--we are all apt to think +that notions which will not adopt themselves to our own practice are +pedantic--became unpalatable at once to King and Parliament. He was not +compliant enough to suit the prejudices of the stalwart Cavaliers; he had +no weapons wherewith to fight courtiers, such as Buckingham, who knew how +to make friends for themselves amongst those who condemned the Court and +all connected with it. It was the growing estrangement between him and the +House of Commons that added force to the schemes of his enemies. + +Clarendon saw two symptoms of danger--in the attempts to detach from him +his most trusted friends and allies, and in the sure and gradual +advancement of those who were his sworn foes. His oldest and most trusted +comrade--from whom death was soon to part him--was the Treasurer, Lord +Southampton. Their friendship was the growth of years. In the earliest +days of the Civil war, Southampton, who had avoided, before its outbreak, +all connection with the Court, had joined the King's party with some +misgiving, but had brought to it the weight of unblemished character and +great debating power. He had striven, even against the inclination of the +King, to advance proposals for a treaty with Parliament; and his loyalty +did not blind him to the hopelessness of the struggle, or to what seemed +to him defects in the Royalist cause. Too proud to be a courtier, and too +sensible of the responsibility of great lineage and high station to be a +rebel, his aim was to steer a moderate course. In temper, as well as in +political views, he and Clarendon were closely united; and their mutual +confidence continued unbroken after the Restoration. Clarendon's enemies +found a convenient opportunity for kindling in the mind of Southampton +some petty offence, in the fact that Clarendon, at the instance of the +Duke of York and his daughter, the Duchess, had done something to promote +the claims to a Court appointment of a candidate other than that favoured +by Southampton. [Footnote: The post was one about the Court of the Queen, +and the two claimants were the son of Lord Montague, favoured by the Duke +and Duchess; and Robert Spencer, a relative of the Earl of Southampton. +Personally, Clarendon preferred the latter; but he had put forward the +name of the other at the solicitation of the Duke and his daughter without +much consideration, and without knowing that any other claimant was in the +field.] The matter was a trumpery one; but the irritation was fanned by +those who were eager to break the alliance of the older statesmen. +Southampton was a man who asked for few favours, and was all the more +incensed when he was made to understand that his old friend had stood in +his way, when for once he had stooped to make an application. Clarendon +soon discerned his old friend's ill-will, and took his usual course of +bringing it speedily to a clear issue. His own temper was hot, and for a +time "he grew out of humour too, and thought himself unworthily +suspected." But he soon thought better of it, and bluntly told the +Treasurer that "it should not be in his power to break friendship with +him, to gratify the humour of other people, without letting him know what +the matter was." The explanation was given; and mutual confidence was soon +restored between the two old allies. But Clarendon saw in the incident new +evidence of the sordid tricks that sought to entangle him in the petty +jealousy of rival cliques. "They who had contrived this device entered +into a new confederacy, how they might first remove the Treasurer, which +would facilitate the pulling the Chancellor down." [Footnote: _Life_, +ii. 454.] Clarendon found a sign of danger even more alarming in the +gradual advancement of those who were pledged to his enemies, and who +became their most useful tools. There was none whose influence, in this or +in other respects, was more baneful to Clarendon than the Duke of York. +The incidents of the Duke's first connection with his family were amongst +his bitterest memories; and although he never failed to show to his son- +in-law the respect due to the brother of the King, yet Clarendon found in +him a perpetual obstacle to his plans, an intriguer whose selfish aims and +jealous temper ever engendered fresh dissensions at Court, and a sullen +bigot whose moroseness was redeemed by none of his brother's easy suavity +of manner. The Duke's pride did not permit him openly to desert the +interests of his father-in-law or to range himself with Clarendon's +enemies. But his blundering tactlessness, his easily wounded vanity, and +his insatiable appetite for power, often led him to give encouragement to +those whose influence Clarendon knew to be pernicious. One of these was +Sir William Coventry, against whom Clarendon, as we have already seen, +cherished an invincible dislike, all the more marked because he had known +and reverenced his father, the former Chancellor. He knew Coventry's +restless ambition and how capable he was by boldness, by ability in +debate, and by adroitness in expedient, to supply the defects of the +stolid and slow intrigue of his patron, Arlington. Coventry had managed to +gain the confidence of the Duke and to be his trusted agent in the affairs +of the navy, where the Duke, as Lord High Admiral, was supreme; and +Clarendon knew that Coventry's influence boded no good to the moderate +policy which it was his own chief aim to pursue. It was by the Duke's +solicitation that Coventry now obtained the position of Privy Councillor, +and was admitted to the inner Cabinet, where no modesty prevented him from +opposing Clarendon at once in internal affairs and in foreign policy. An +opportunity soon offered itself to Coventry for proving his influence and +inflicting a deadly blow upon Sandwich, whose placid temper and essential +loyalty had made him one of Clarendon's chosen friends. At first Coventry +endeavoured vainly to insinuate doubts of Sandwich's capacity as a naval +commander; and when he failed there he soon found another means of attack. +[Footnote: This incident has already been briefly alluded to in connection +with the progress of the war. See above, p. 202.] Sandwich had, with much +rashness and in too ready compliance with the laxity which prevailed in +matters of public finance, yielded to the urgency of some of his flag +officers, and permitted the sale of some East India prizes captured from +the Dutch, in order to meet long-standing arrears of pay due to his +officers. He had referred the matter to the King, through the Vice- +Chamberlain, but, with singular carelessness, carried the transaction +through before he had received the royal approval. This gave Coventry just +the chance that he desired. Sandwich's action was a clear infringement of +the prerogative of the Duke as Lord High Admiral, through whom alone any +such favour could be conferred. Albemarle, incensed at what appeared a +flagrant breach of military discipline, became a powerful adherent of +Sandwich's enemies. Sandwich's own money difficulties were no secret, and +he himself was to benefit by the bounty, which he shared with his flag +officers, and against which the rest of the fleet was murmuring. He saw +too late the error that he had committed, and made his humble apologies to +the King and the Duke. But though he was able to appease their anger, the +evil to his own reputation was done, and his enemies were in no mood to +relieve him of it. Clarendon could not prevent his being deprived of his +naval command. Already Sandwich had incurred the jealousy of the old +Cavaliers, who grudged to one, once Cromwell's officer, the rewards which +had not come to their earlier loyalty. All that Clarendon could do was to +soften Sandwich's fall by procuring his appointment as ambassador to +Spain. The ablest of Charles's naval commanders was sacrificed because of +what, in the lax financial morality of the day, seemed only an error of +judgment; and the direction of naval affairs was thus placed almost +entirely in the hands of Coventry, who, as representing the Duke, could +issue commands and thwart the policy of the King's Ministers. + +The same restless faction which had sought to sow dissension between the +Chancellor and the Treasurer, were not deterred, by failure, from new +efforts to break the influence of these two older Ministers. They were +busy gathering new recruits to their faction and insinuating them into +offices of trust; and now they thought they could undermine the fort by +driving Southampton into the resignation of his office. His character and +rank stood too high to make him an easy victim, or to encourage them to +any open attack. But they could suggest that his powers were waning; that +he was no longer equal to the task of guiding the finances of the nation; +that he was ruled by subordinates; and that consideration for his age +would make it only reasonable to relieve him of an irksome burden. They +knew that little persuasion was required to bring about his resignation of +a post which duty rather than inclination made him retain; and they +guessed, with good reason, that it was Clarendon's advice that chiefly +kept Southampton in office. + +The procedure followed the usual course. First, Charles was persuaded that +his aged Treasurer was no longer equal to the duties of his office. It was +easy to suggest to him that his business would move more smoothly if the +pedantic methods, the vigilant care, and the cumbrous and dilatory +processes of the Lord Treasurer's office were simplified and expedited. +When he was duly impressed, the King had then to be brought to discharge +the ungracious task of conveying to the Chancellor the fact that the King +would welcome the Treasurer's relinquishment of his office. To do him +justice, Charles did not relish the part he was compelled to play. Even +his selfishness could not cloak its ugly ingratitude, and it suited ill +with his easy temper to be the medium of such an ungracious message. Nor +was it quite compatible with that royal dignity, which he did not always +cast aside, to be made the spokesman, to his more serious Minister, of a +conspiracy not unlike that of unruly schoolboys. The King knew by +experience that, master though he was, he could still be made +uncomfortable by hearing stern and plain truths, even in the ceremonious +diction in which his Chancellor knew how to clothe them. + +The King began the interview--somewhat hypocritically--by "enlarging in a +great commendation of the Treasurer." But in spite of all his merits +Southampton "did not understand the mystery of that place, nor could his +nature go through with the necessary obligations of it." His ill-health +caused delay and murmuring in regard to urgent business. His secretary +[Footnote: Sir Philip Warwick was born in Westminster in 1609, and was +employed before the Civil War, in the service of Lord Goring, and, +afterwards, of Bishop Juxon. He acted as Secretary to the King during the +Conference at Newport, in 1648. After the Restoration, he became Secretary +to the Treasury under Lord Southampton, and had all the qualities of an +excellent civil servant, virtually controlling the department under its +ministerial head. His _Memoirs_ are not of first-rate importance, but +contain some good accounts of engagements in the war, and of incidents in +the life of the King. He survived till 1683, and won the fervent +admiration of that other worthy official, Pepys.] virtually discharged the +work of the office--an estimable and honest man, no doubt, but not equal +to the position of Lord Treasurer. The Treasurer's "understanding was too +fine for such gross matters as the office must be conversant about, and if +his want of health did not hinder him, his genius did not carry him that +way." Nothing could be further from the King's thoughts than to disoblige +so faithful a servant; but perhaps he would not be unwilling to go, and +perhaps the Chancellor would do the King the singular service of +suggesting it to him. + +The first answer of Clarendon in reply to this not very palatable speech +was to ask whom the King proposed to make Treasurer in Southampton's +place? He would, said the King, never have another Treasurer, but would +exercise the office by Commissioners. Once more the same insuperable +prejudice, which Clarendon had felt against the system involved in the +Appropriation Clause, was stirred in him. He saw precisely the same +motives at work, involving precisely the same dangers. Commissioners might +be all very well in Cromwell's days. He needed no Treasurer, and could +take care, with an army at his back, that Commissioners would not prove +troublesome. But the plan suited ill with monarchical principles. The King +should have his Lord Treasurer, of standing and of honour sufficient to +ensure sound administration and compel respect. Commissioners, as +Clarendon discerned clearly, would be bad servants and dangerous masters. +Clarendon might be fighting a forlorn hope against the growing forces of +officialdom; but his dislike was honest, and his discernment of the future +was correct. + +But he had other reasons to urge against the slur which it was proposed to +throw upon his old friend. + +"Most humbly and with much earnestness he besought his Majesty seriously +to reflect what an ill savour it would have over the whole kingdom, at +this time of a war with at least two powerful enemies abroad together, in +so great discontent and jealousy at home, and when the Court was in no +great reputation with the people, to remove a person, the most loved and +reverenced for his most exemplary fidelity and wisdom, who had deserved as +much from his blessed father and himself as a subject can do from his +prince, a nobleman of the best quality, the best allied and the best +beloved; to remove at such a time such a person, and with such +circumstances, from his counsels and his trust." + +The King was not of a mould to resist plain speaking like this, and when +not supported by the presence of those who made him their tool and +instrument, he seldom managed to make way against the vehemence of +Clarendon's rebukes. It could hardly be pleasant for a monarch to be told +that what he designs is base ingratitude; that his throne is in danger; +the reputation of his Court in evil savour; that both require such support +as they may be able to get from men of reverence and station, and that he +would be mad to alienate any support from such men that may be vouchsafed +to him; yet this was the plain meaning of Clarendon's words. But Charles +hesitated to go back, repulsed, to those who had made him their +mouthpiece. He remained "rather moved and troubled than convinced." But +fortunately Clarendon found an unexpected ally in the Duke of York, who +had joined the King and himself at the interview, with the intention, it +appears, of supporting the King's purpose. To him Clarendon restated his +arguments, and urged him to do the best service to the King his brother +"by dissuading him from a course that would prove so mischievous to him." +For this once, the Duke was converted to Clarendon's view, and "prevailed +with the King to lay aside the thought of it." [Footnote: Charles not +rarely showed a respect for his brother's opinion which was not founded +upon any high estimate of his abilities. Clarendon himself remarks this +when commenting upon the failure of any attempt to arouse jealousy between +the brothers. Charles, he says, "had a just affection for him, and a +confidence in him, without thinking better of his natural parts than he +thought there was just cause for; and yet, which made it the more wondered +at, he did often depart, in matters of the highest moment, from his own +judgment to comply with his brother" (_Life_, iii. 62).] Once more +the Court conspirators were baulked of their purpose. They could press the +King no further; but + +"only made so much use of their want of success by presenting to his +Majesty his irresoluteness, which made the Chancellor still impose upon +him, that the King did not think the better of the Chancellor or the +Treasurer for his receding at that time from prosecuting what he had so +positively resolved to have done." He could only promise "to be firmer to +his next determination." + +Between the reproaches of the conspirators of the Court and the scoldings +of the stern Chancellor, the King plays no very dignified figure. Even +Charles's easy humour could not but owe a grudge to one who so often rated +him like a schoolboy in the solemn phrases of State ceremony. + +The year 1666 opened on a prospect far from cheering either to the country +or to those charged with its administration. There were symptoms enough of +actual and impending ills to make it no hazardous prophecy for the +astrologers to predict that it was to be "a year of dismal changes and +alterations throughout the world." [Footnote: _Life_, iii 39.] The +war dragged on its weary course, with what seemed to be but delusive hopes +of settlement. Financial troubles were becoming urgent, and the mood of +Parliament, without being actually refractory, was stubborn and +suspicious. The Plague was still pressing with grievous heaviness, even +though there were symptoms that it was somewhat alleviated. Throughout the +nation there was murmuring and discontent, at times breaking out into +active resistance to the law; and the Court was in increasingly worse +odour with the people. It aroused at once the anger of those whom its +extravagance seemed to insult; the disgust of those who had some respect +for decency; and the contempt and bitter grief of those who prized the +honour of the Crown, and desired to maintain the loyalty of the nation. + +Charles's disappointment of any hope of legitimate offspring seemed to +dissipate any frail purpose he had entertained of ordering his life and +Court with more regard to the elementary dictates of decency and decorum. +The influence of Lady Castlemaine was supreme; and the grossness of the +palace atmosphere was made all the greater because his favourite mistress +added the character of procuress to that of courtesan. + +Clarendon would fain have found some excuse for the degradation of the +family to whose service his life had been devoted. Apart from all +political inclinations and all thoughts of personal ambition, it is +absolutely certain that what largely aroused in Clarendon that +enthusiastic loyalty which he felt for Charles I. was the consummate +dignity of a pure life. Dignity as well as purity were alike banished from +the Court of Charles II., with the examples before it of his own more open +debauchery and of his brother's more morose viciousness, which was +rendered all the uglier by his sullen bigotry. With a discerning eye +Clarendon read the prevailing defects of the Stuart race--their proneness +to succumb to flattery and vicious influence, and then obstinately to +sacrifice every good inclination to the acquired vice. + +"They were too much inclined to like men at first sight, and did not love +the conversation of men of many more years than themselves, and thought +age not only troublesome, but impertinent. They did not love to deny, and +less to strangers than to their friends; not out of bounty or generosity, +which was a flower that did never grow naturally in the heart of either of +the families, that of Stuart or of Bourbon, but out of an unskilfulness +and defect in the countenance; and when they prevailed with themselves to +make some pause rather than to deny, importunity removed all resolution." +[Footnote: _Life_, iii. 63.] + +It is a heavy indictment in the mouth of one who had felt its truth by +bitter experience and to whom its avowal caused the deepest pain. + +The scandals of the Court touched Clarendon through his daughter, the +Duchess of York. The Duke was no model of connubial fidelity, and his +lapses from virtue, if not so flagrant as those of his brother, yet gave +food enough for gossiping tongues. But ostensibly his married life was +fairly decorous, and against the Duchess no charges could be made. Her +life, however, did not escape the gibes of those who sought to attack her +father through her, and the trust which the Duke showed in her judgment +roused their malice. They did their best to bring the King to listen to +their sarcasm on a married life which seemed to rebuke his own; and +Clarendon at the same time saw with regret that both his daughter and her +husband partook in large measure of the spirit of reckless expense which +prevailed at Court. Dutiful as she was in other respects, here her +father's admonitions were of no effect. The Duke and she had formed their +ideas of the scale of expenditure necessary in the household of the heir +apparent, from the usages of the French Court. To those who saw in her +only the daughter of one who, a few years ago, had been but a Wiltshire +squire, her assumption of almost royal state was a cause of petty malice, +and suggested the false pride of a family of obscure birth. To Clarendon +it seemed but a necessary insistence upon that respect which the +prevailing tone of the Court rendered necessary. In his eyes the danger +lay, not in their insistence upon the usages of royal etiquette, but in +their extravagance; and he incurred some ill-will from her, as well as +from her husband, by his refusal to give his aid in securing for them a +more ample revenue. The connection with the royal family, which had been +thrust upon Clarendon to his indignation and sorely against his will, +proved a new source of anxiety and dispeace. + +[Illustration: ANNE HYDE, DUCHESS OF YORK (From the original by Sir Peter +Lely)] + +It was on the first of September "in this dismal year of 1666," that the +Great Fire burst out that in a few days consumed two-thirds of London, +comprising all the repositories of her wealth. It added, to the other +disasters weighing on the country, a stupendous disturbance of her +commerce at its very centre, and the plunging of the nation into one of +those unthinking panics, which, once indulged, so easily become habitual. +The people were in no condition to face such a calamity with the coolness +that comes from native energy or the confidence inspired by trust in their +rulers. It seemed as if a judgment from heaven had fallen upon the nation; +but it was received with all the despair of craven superstition and with +no thought of benefiting by the lessons of tribulation. Angry and +groundless accusations against foreigners and papists only added to the +general excitement, without stirring up any of the courage which makes +brave men face disaster. Public credit was shaken; commercial operations +were stunned; wage-earners were thrown out of employment; the forces of +crime found themselves released even from those imperfect bonds which then +kept them in check. The King and his brother did, indeed, prove their +courage in danger and their readiness of expedient; and they were well +helped in their efforts to cope with the calamity by many of the leading +nobility. But as a whole the visitation proved that the nerves of the +nation were sadly relaxed. Clarendon summarizes the progress of the fire +and the destruction wrought by it; but his most significant comments are +those with which he closes his narrative, telling how hopeless he had +grown, in this, the last stage of his laborious career:--"It was hoped and +expected," he says, "that this prodigious and universal calamity, for the +effects of it covered the whole kingdom, would have made impression, and +produced some reformation in the licence of the Court; for as the pains +the King had taken night and day during the fire and the dangers he had +exposed himself to, even for the saving the citizens' goods, had been very +notorious and in the mouths of all men, with good wishes and prayers for +him; so his Majesty had been heard during that time to speak with great +piety and devotion of the displeasure that God was provoked to. And no +doubt the deep sense of it did raise many good thoughts and purposes in +his royal breast. But he was narrowly watched and looked to that such +melancholic thoughts might not long possess him, the consequence and +effect whereof was like to be more grievous than that of the fire itself; +of which that loose company that was too much cherished, even before it +was extinguished, discoursed of as an argument for mirth and wit, to +describe the wildness of the confusion all people were in; in which the +Scripture itself was used with equal liberty when they could apply it to +their profane purposes. And Mr. May [Footnote: Baptist May (born in 1629) +managed to ingratiate himself with Charles II. in France, and became a +favourite in the unsavoury position of "Court Pimp," as he is styled by +Pepys. He secured for his base services some grants of land about St. +James's, and was one of the lowest of a degraded gang. He sat occasionally +in Parliament to discharge commissions which no man of honour would have +undertaken. He lived a despised life down to 1698.] presumed to assure the +King that this was the greatest blessing that God had ever conferred upon +him, his restoration only excepted; for the walls and gates being now +burned and thrown down of that rebellious city, which was always an enemy +to the Crown, his Majesty would never suffer them to repair and build them +up again to be a bit in his mouth and a bridle upon his neck, but would +keep all open that his troops might enter upon them whenever he thought it +necessary for his service, there being no way to govern that rude +multitude but by force." [Footnote: _Life_, iii. 100.] + +Such ribaldry was distasteful to the King, and for the moment he frowned +upon it. But it wrought a dire effect, as it spread beyond the purlieus of +the palace. Liberty of criticism was as easy to the rude multitude as to +the witlings of the Court, and its effects, when it spread to that +multitude, were far more deadly. The King's judgment might condemn, but +his facile love of jesting made him inclined to listen to, the empty and +sordid chatter of frivolity that sounded through his Court. "Meanwhile," +says Clarendon, "all men of virtue and sobriety, of which there were very +many in the King's family, were grieved and heartbroken with hearing what +they could not choose but hear, and seeing many things which they could +not avoid seeing." It is hard to say which is most worthy of contempt--the +appalling cynicism that prompted such scurrilities, or the amazing folly +which mistook their vulgarity for wit. + +But even although Charles, out of a seeming respect for his older and +sounder counsellors, might frown upon such irresponsible outbursts of bad +taste, his scanty respect for the forms of the constitution continued to +be a source of deep regret to Clarendon. In the view of the Chancellor, +the Privy Council was the pivot of the constitution. + +"By the constitution of the kingdom," he says, [Footnote: Life, iii. 103] +"and the very laws and customs of the nation, as the Privy Council and +every member of it is of the King's sole choice and election of him to +that trust, so the body of it is the most sacred, and hath the greatest +authority in the government of the State, next the person of the King +himself, to whom all other powers are equally subject; and no King of +England can so well secure his own just prerogative or preserve it from +violation as by a strict defending and supporting the dignity of his Privy +Council." + +This is one of the features in Clarendon's scheme of the constitution, +which essentially divide him from the modern view. But it was to be long +before the Privy Councilship became, as in modern usage, little more than +an honorary title; and it may be doubted whether a strict reading of the +constitution is not infringed by the change which this has involved. +Clarendon did not, of course, suppose that the Privy Council could place +itself above Parliament, or that it could pretend to guide the national +policy. Such a thing would have been as impossible in Clarendon's day as +it would be now. But he did conceive that the power of the executive +should receive all its authority from, and be subject to the supreme +guidance of, the most ancient and august body which was nominated solely +by the Crown. The prerogative of the Crown must be exercised through that +body; and this view was confirmed by the fact that after the Revolution +each Privy Councillor was made responsible for the decrees passed with his +assent. This was, indeed, the very contrivance by which the ancient +principle that the King could do no wrong was made compatible with a free +constitution. Clarendon's view, however antiquated, was thus, in truth, a +safeguard for liberty. A great officer of State was entrusted with the +duties and powers of his office. But he was not necessarily a member of +the Privy Council, and his powers were, in Clarendon's view, limited by +the supreme authority of that Council. That its portals should be +jealously guarded; that only men of the first weight should be admitted to +it; that its proceedings should be carefully regulated and should rest +upon sound legal principles--all these things made for government by the +personal agency of carefully chosen Ministers of the Crown, which it was +Clarendon's aim to preserve, instead of bureaucratic rule by a host of +minor officials. They also served as a powerful guarantee for +constitutional liberty and for immediate responsibility attaching to a +well-recognized body for any infringement of it. It is hard to fix +responsibility amongst the various grades of an official hierarchy. It is +easy to fix it upon a small group of leading men who have the +administration in their hands, who are bound to base their procedure on +well-understood rules, and who cannot transgress these rules in ignorance +or under the veil of obscurity. + +Under the new _régime_ the Chancellor found the Privy Council filled +with Court favourites or ambitious intriguers of the type of Sir William +Coventry, who scorned precedent and was never so happy as when inveighing +against the trammels of the law. Clarendon was forced to submit to daily +encroachments upon regularity of procedure, which found encouragement from +the King. His personal dignity was injured, and his temper was daily +chafed, by the insults of those who carried their insubordination and +their flippancy to the Council Chamber, where he could ill brook their +presence; and they did so under cover of the secret sympathy of the King. +Day by day he found his own influence more surely undermined; and it was +none the less irksome because he saw the work of his life undone amidst +the gibes of a heartless cynicism. + +It involves, however, no reflection upon the dignity or the capacity of +Clarendon if we are compelled to admit that the schoolboy baiting to which +he was exposed found no little encouragement from his own bluntness and +his stubborn resolution to stoop to none of the arts of courtiership. +There was a limit even to the patience with which Charles could listen to +the oft-repeated catalogue of his own moral defects; and perhaps +Clarendon's lessons might have been none the less effective had they been +conveyed with something more of tact. The strange thing is that he himself +saw, and faithfully recounts, the traps which were laid for him. But he +seems to have thought that these could best be dealt with by roughly +trampling on such devices and tearing his way headlong through such +snares. The struggle was sometimes not a little comic in aspect, in spite +of the background of tragedy. Upon some occasions the courtiers, with an +hypocrisy which Clarendon did not fail to suspect, would lament to him the +scandals of their master's life and the injury that these wrought to his +reputation and authority. When he urged that they should "advertise the +King what they thought and heard all others say," they professed that they +dared not speak to the King "in such dialect." Clarendon gave them credit +for some honesty in their refusal to condemn what they themselves +encouraged; and perhaps too readily assumed himself the task which they +refused. On one occasion, while he and Arlington--one would have thought +no very sympathetic pair for mutual confidences--were discussing the +license of the Court and the consequent injury to the Crown, their +conversation was interrupted by the King. Their trouble did not escape his +notice, and he asked the subject of their talk. The Chancellor candidly +declared--prefacing the declaration by a confession that he was not sorry +for the chance of making it--that + +"they were speaking of his Majesty, and, as they did frequently, were +bewailing the unhappy life he lived, both with respect to himself, who, by +the excess of pleasures which he indulged to himself, was indeed without +the true delight and relish of any; and in respect to his Government, +which he totally neglected, and of which the kingdom was so sensible that +it could not be long before he felt the ill effects of it." + +So he proceeded, pressing home the moral with all energy of denunciation, +and concluded by + +"beseeching him to believe, that which he had often said to him, that no +prince could be more miserable, nor could have more reason to fear his own +ruin, than he who hath no servants who dare contradict him in his opinions +and advise him against his inclinations, how natural soever." The picture +was not a flattering one, and the prognostications were not soothing. To +play the part of such a Mentor is doubtless at times a duty, but it can +scarcely confirm the influence of him by whom it is discharged. The King +heard it "with his usual temper (for he was a patient hearer) and spake +sensibly, as if he thought that much that had been said was with too much +reason." Perhaps Clarendon might have chosen a better audience than a +proclaimed enemy like Arlington. The secretary had no mind for such +jeremiads, and was dexterous enough to turn the subject by falling into +"raillery, which was his best faculty, with which he diverted the King +from any further serious reflections." The King and he soon passed to +merriment at Clarendon's expense, and made the old jests against the +gravity of age, which made no allowance for the infirmities of youth. +Clarendon tells the close of the conversation with an almost naïve +candour. Their raillery, he confesses, + +"increased the passion he was in, and provoked him to say that it was +observed abroad, that it was a faculty very much improved of late in the +Court, to laugh at those arguments they could not answer, and which could +always be requited with the same mirth amongst those who were enemies to +it, and therefore it was a pity that it should be so much embraced by +those who pretended to be friends;" and ended with "some other, too plain, +expressions, which, it may be, were not warily enough used." + +Candour is no doubt a virtue, and Clarendon deserves honour for his bold +words. But to tell the King that he was at once a sluggard and a +debauchee; that he had lost the respect, and would probably soon forfeit +the obedience of his subjects; and to scold his jocular raillery by +painting him as courting the society and imitating the manners of +buffoons, was scarcely a tactful way of insinuating a lesson of caution +and establishing the confidence which makes a servant congenial to his +master. We must honour Clarendon for his manliness; but perhaps a little +less of the pedagogue might not have diminished his influence or impaired +the dignity of his character. + +Charles knew how to hide any irritation under a smiling demeanour. But the +friction was there and it soon took plainer shape. Careless as he was, the +King had his share of Stuart punctiliousness, and the habits of the French +Court had taught him that royal favour ought to command respect, even for +those whose conduct had forfeited it according to the usual ethics of +social decorum. That respect his pride taught him to insist upon; and he +resented the boldness of the lampoons upon his Court which were now +circulated broadcast, not because they reflected on his morals, but +because they were a breach of good manners. One whose chosen associates +were men of habitual profanity and unabashed licentiousness; one who +believed religion to be nothing but disguised hypocrisy, and the chastity +of women nothing but a delusion artfully contrived--could not long condone +plain speaking for its manliness and sincerity, and could not conceive +that the profligacy of the royal courtesan deprived her of the observances +of formal courtliness. It was this last point which brought upon Clarendon +the King's first direct remonstrances. He told the Chancellor that "he was +more severe against common infirmities than he should be, and that his +wife was not courteous in returning visits and civilities to those who +paid her respect." Such neglect the King chose to interpret as an insult +to himself. It was clear to whom and to what it referred; Clarendon had +consistently declined to allow his wife to have any intercourse with Lady +Castlemaine. To the King's remonstrance + +"he answered very roundly, that he might seem not to understand his +meaning, and so make no reply to the discourse he had made; but that he +understood it all and the meaning of every word of it; and therefore that +it would not become him to suffer his Majesty to depart with an opinion +that what he had said would produce any alteration in his behaviour +towards him, or reformation of his manners towards any other person. He +did beseech his Majesty," the Chancellor went on, "not to believe that he +hath a prerogative to declare vice virtue, or to qualify any person who +lives in a sin and avows it, against which God Himself hath pronounced +damnation, for the company and conversation of innocent and worthy +persons. Whatever low obedience, which was in truth gross flattery, some +people might pay to what they believed would be grateful to his Majesty, +they had in their hearts a perfect detestation of the persons they made +address to; for his part, he was resolved that his wife should not be one +of these courtiers." + +The King could only reply "that he was wrong, and had an understanding +different from all men who had experience in the world." + +Clarendon's are brave words, and we may well doubt whether the like were +ever addressed by a Minister of the Crown to the occupant of a throne +which still retained so much of the kingly prerogative as did that of +Charles. But do they leave us to seek for new grounds for Clarendon's +approaching fall? Do they not, indeed, prove that, but for his thorough +grasp of the essentials of sound administration, his predominant +forcefulness, and the urgent need of his wise and experienced guidance, +the King would have yielded to his own growing irritation, and that +Clarendon's fall would have come, and the eager longings of his enemies +have been gratified, far earlier than was the case? + +Before we enter upon the last stage of Clarendon's ministry, so fateful +for the future history of England, it may be well to turn to another +aspect of his life, which is not without its use in helping us to estimate +his character. We have already seen how the high office which he held, and +for which his unswerving loyalty, his long service, and his ample +experience had so fully designated him, had been accompanied by exalted +rank in the nobility of England, which required him, according to the +fashion of the time, to maintain great state, and involved heavy +expenditure. He had inherited a fair estate; had married the daughter of +an ancient family, with no small dowry; and, in his early days, his +fortune had been increased, not only by further inheritances, but by the +lucrative practice of his profession. When he first entered Parliament, he +had before him the prospect of a prosperous career; and when he was +induced to enter the service of Charles I. it was possible for him to do +so without emolument and in full security that his own means would be +ample for his requirements. During the troubled years that followed these +means rapidly decreased. He could draw no revenue from his estates, and +during the long years of his banishment from the country he had been +reduced to the direst straits of poverty, and had been forced to subsist +on the scanty grants that could be made to him, and to others, from the +funds supplied to the King by those loyal supporters who could spare +something from their own impaired revenues. After the Restoration, +Clarendon found himself in possession of an office of which the +emoluments, without any of those malpractices or extortions which were +then too common, and which his enemies did not scruple to charge against +him, [Footnote: Hints and gossip as to such bribes and commissions were +inevitable in an age when they were only too common, and in the mouths of +men whose consciences were blunted by long practice. Such gossip readily +spread, as it is, in all places and in all ages, too apt to do. We may +safely discard the slanderous garrulity of Pepys, and just as safely the +ridiculous libel of Anthony a Wood, who tells us how one David Jenkyns, a +friend of Wood's and a good Royalist, would certainly have been made a +judge at the Restoration, if he "had paid money to the Lord Chancellor." +Anthony a Wood had no kindly feeling to a family from whom he received +such castigation as he did from the Hydes. Lies of that sort always +propagate themselves, like noisome weeds; it is the part of the wise to +neglect them until they are established by proof.] were still large. There +is not a tittle of evidence to disprove Clarendon's assertion, that he +confined himself to those revenues of his office which were strictly +legal; and to suppose otherwise would be to suppose him false to all those +ideals which were the foundation of his character, and to which his pride, +if nothing else, compelled him. Naturally he recovered the full use of his +private property, and some, at least, of the arrears due to him would +undoubtedly be paid. Very soon after the King's return a grant--in no +degree above his merits--of £20,000 was made to him by the King out of the +present sent by the Parliament. Clarendon found himself in the position of +a fairly wealthy man, and it was not unnatural that he should desire to +maintain that position which was commensurate with his rank. He knew +himself to be the founder of a family which must take its place in the +ranks of the great nobility of England, and must hold a conspicuous place +in her annals. To him, as to many men for whom the pettiness of personal +position weighs for little, the maintenance of that family in worthy +dignity became a legitimate object of ambition. [Footnote: Clarendon did, +indeed, as he was fully justified in doing, procure for some of his +relations posts for which there is no reason to judge them unsuitable. One +cousin, Alexander Hyde, became Bishop of Salisbury. Another, Robert Hyde, +became Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in 1661. The brother of these +two, Henry Hyde, had been executed for his loyalty in 1650, and thereby +had established no mean claim to loyal gratitude. Clarendon, in this, did +no more than any one in his circumstances was not only entitled, but bound +to do.] To his historic sense a place amongst the nobility of his country +was attractive, and its stateliness was something which his imagination +clothed with more than merely superficial allurement. It was from no +selfish feeling and no vanity of personal display, that he conceived the +idea of leaving to those who were to come after him an inheritance +compatible with that position. It would be unjust to blame Clarendon +because he gave the scanty leisure, which his absorbing business permitted +him, to attaining that object. For years after the Restoration he had no +house of his own in London, and occupied one or other of the houses either +lent or hired to him by members of the great nobility who now looked upon +him as their equal. After his private affairs were on a more secure basis, +he began to build for himself. He chose a site near the top of St. James's +Street, just where Piccadilly began to melt into the fields beyond, and +there he constructed a mansion which he fondly hoped would carry on his +name for many a generation. It was conceived on ample lines and with all +that pride of architecture which his own cultured taste and the stately +ceremonial of the day made congenial to him. As in temperament and style, +so in his conception of the constitution, in his taste, and in the +ordering of his life, Clarendon was essentially an aristocrat; and it was +in harmony with that idea that the mansion which faced St. James's Palace, +[Footnote: It was flanked by Lord Berkeley's house to the west, and by +Burlington House to the east.] and was to bear the name of Clarendon +House, was now rising in all the bravery of ornament and amplitude of +design which were in keeping with its owner's taste; and that it should +earn the praise of Evelyn as likely to be the stateliest house in London. +[Footnote: "To my Lord Chancellor at Clarendon House," says Pepys, in his +_Diary_ for May 9, 1667. "Mightily pleased with the nobleness of this +house, and the brave furniture and pictures, which indeed is very noble." +He had been impressed with it as strongly in its early stages, and writes +in January, 1666: "It is the finest pile I ever did see in my life, and +will be a glorious house." The building was begun early in 1665. Evelyn is +not so complimentary. He thought it "a goodly pile to see, but had many +defects as to the architecture, yet placed most gracefully" (_Diary_, +Nov. 28, 1666). A longer passage from Evelyn's _Diary_, of a later +date, is quoted in the note on p. 324. + +Pepys was greatly impressed with the view, to which he more than once +returned, from the roof of the house. "It is the noblest prospect that +ever I saw in my life; Greenwich being nothing to it" (Feb. 1665/6).] But +envious tongues and malicious gossip soon taught its builder that his +pride was vain, and that he could not indulge his fancy with the ease of +one who held obscurer rank. The crowd is fickle, and Clarendon took little +care to secure its lenient judgment. Already his mansion was nicknamed +Dunkirk House, and the quidnuncs told how it was built out of the bribes +which had made him contrive the sale of that port to France. To decorate +his mansion it was his ambition to collect a gallery of portraits, which +should represent all those who had foremost places in the eventful history +of his time. Such a design involved an expenditure very small compared +with the notions of the present day. Clarendon procured all the notable +portraits which were available. It is quite possible--and Evelyn admits +it--that when the statesman's foible became known; pictures were sold to +him at easy prices, or even presented as a compliment to the power and +position of the collector. It is absurd to suppose that Clarendon either +would or could have brought any pressure to bear upon the owners. But a +falling statesman is an easy aim for slander, and it was whispered that +the Clarendon collection was enriched by oppressive means. [Footnote: The +chief authority for this accusation against Clarendon is an ill-natured +insinuation by Lord Dartmouth, in his notes on _Burnet's History of His +Own Times_,--notes which were in MS. only, and which were not intended +for publication. It carries its own refutation, and Dartmouth could not +possibly have had any knowledge of the circumstances. Clarendon no doubt +received certain complimentary gifts. But we know that many private +collections were broken up and sold by impoverished Cavaliers, and such +pictures must at that time have been procurable at easy prices. Many of +the pictures were interesting as portraits, rather than as works of art, +although there were good specimens of Vandyke, Jansen, Kneller, and Lely +amongst the collection; and Clarendon was probably able to pursue his +hobby of collecting portraits of the outstanding men in English history at +no great cost. + +In a letter to Pepys of August 12, 1689, Evelyn gives a list of pictures +in the collection of which he himself had advised the purchase, and some +of which, he admits, had been presented by those who "strove to make their +court" to the Chancellor, by such timely gifts, when his design was known. +They comprised portraits of all the leading men in the reigns of +Elizabeth, James I., and Charles I., and others were added from more +remote history, and from his own later contemporaries. It is interesting +to note that there were portraits of Chaucer, Shakespeare, Beaumont, and +Fletcher--"which was," adds Evelyn, "most agreeable to his Lordship's +general humour." + +When Clarendon House was destroyed, the collection went to his country +house, at Cornbury, in Oxfordshire. On the death of Lord Rochester, in +1753, they were divided between his daughters, Jane, Countess of Essex and +Catherine (the famous "Kitty" of Pope and Gay), Duchess of Queensberry. +The first moiety is that now at the Grove, Watford; the second is that +which descended to the Douglas family, and is now at Bothwell Castle.] If +Clarendon's very natural ambition to bequeath a dignified home to his +family and to make it a treasure-house of portraits which represented a +great page in English history, was any weakness, it was one for which he +may well be pardoned, and for which he paid heavily. He lived to regret +the error into which a very human pride had led him. We must leave it to +sterner moralists to deal out censure upon a weakness which he shared with +other men of genius, who have found a solace in raising a stately monument +which they may bequeath to posterity, and which may preserve another +memory of them than that of their toils and their struggles and their own +personal ambitions. But in the case of Clarendon this weakness--of which +he himself clearly saw the error--had this additional disadvantage, that +it spread the belief that he had acquired wealth proportionate to such +architectural expenditure. Like many another man, Clarendon overbuilt +himself; and his miscalculation made his contemporaries suppose him the +possessor of a superfluity of ill-gotten wealth. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +INCREASING BITTERNESS OF HIS FOES + + +In the midst of thickening troubles at home and abroad, in Court, in the +city, and in the provinces, Parliament met on the 2lst September, 1666. +The new session was destined to bring sharply to an issue more than one of +the questions in regard to which long-drawn friction had vexed the soul of +Clarendon, and as it proceeded it was to reveal more clearly the designs +of those who had striven so persistently to fret irritations and sow new +seeds of dissension between him and the King. Their success, ignoble as it +was, and little profitable either to the Crown, the kingdom, or +themselves, was soon to be achieved. + +Parliament met under the oppression of gloom caused by the Fire. Whitehall +and Westminster were safe, but scarcely a mile distant the smoke which +rose from the desolated city had hardly died away. "They saw," said the +King in his opening address, "the dismal ruins the Fire had made; and +nothing but a miracle of God's mercy could have preserved what was left +from the same destruction." He was forced once more to apply for their +assistance to meet the vast expense of the war, to which no end could be +foreseen. The disasters of the kingdom had doubled the insolence of their +enemies; and nothing could save the country but a vigorous effort to show +the world that, in spite of these disasters, it was still equal to its own +defence. It was a crisis which sorely needed all the energy of firm and +united statesmanship; and very scantily was that need supplied. The +interruption of credit; the bankruptcy of many of the leading citizens; +the general paralysis that had fallen upon commerce--all these made it +hard to say how money could be raised, and Clarendon notes, with none of +the satisfaction that the truth of his prophecy might have brought, that +the Appropriation Proviso had resulted in the check, rather than in the +boasted increase, of the supply of funds. There was, indeed, "a faint vote +procured," that they would give a supply proportionate to the wants of the +Crown; but no sum was fixed, and after this first vague resolution the +matter hung in suspense, and even a Parliament that was so strongly +loyalist found it needful to delay and insist upon conditions before any +new supply was voted. Their loyalty had now a strong vein of stubbornness. +The country gentlemen could no longer blind themselves to the scandals of +the Court, and the intractable mood bred by these scandals could be +skilfully turned to their own purposes by Clarendon's enemies. What had at +first been only dilatoriness soon developed into sharp criticism and angry +remonstrance, for which Clarendon knew that there was only too good +ground. It was an ill time to press for new supplies when the national +resources were drained to the dregs. If the King needed more after the +lavish grants of recent years, there must have been mischief afoot which +should be probed to the bottom. All those through whose hands the money +had passed must give a strict account of it. + +A Bill was introduced for the appointment of Audit Commissioners, who were +to examine all accounts and report to Parliament any defaulters, whose +punishment Parliament was to determine. So strongly was the country party +bent upon this financial inquest that it was difficult to withstand their +zeal in the hunt for malpractices. The naval administration was chiefly in +their view, and their threats caused much searching of heart amongst those +whose consciences told them that their methods could hardly meet the +perilous light of day. A certain amount of corruption was an ordinary +incident of all administrative dealings. Pepys had no wish to be +dishonest, and was, indeed, a fairly incorrupt official, according to the +ideas of the day. Many times he had withstood flagrant waste, and he was +vigilant in promoting sound economies. But a barefaced system of secret +commissions, which he honestly records in the faithful pages of his +_Diary_, was universally practised, and the only admitted scruple was +that such commissions should not be allowed to operate so as to permit a +flagrantly dishonest contract. Subject to this, he evidently thought +himself neglectful of his rightful interests if he did not make the most +out of every transaction, and he piously invokes the blessing of Heaven +upon the unsavoury business, as, with unctuous complacency, he counts up +his gains. But, however such things may be condoned by the prevailing +practice they have an ugly appearance when exposed to the public gaze, and +Pepys was sorely alarmed both for himself and his principals at the +prospect of a strict investigation. Others besides Pepys were involved. +Ashley's administration of the prize-money had been expressly set free +from any auditing authority except that of the King; and under the +protection of this proviso he had expended the proceeds not only with the +sanction, but at the instigation of Charles, on objects which could not be +made public without exposing the Crown to the contempt of the nation, and +making the resistance of the country party more obstinate and more +outspoken. Charles took alarm, and consulted the secret committee of the +Privy Council on the subject. He was determined, he said, to defend his +Ministers against an inquiry conducted on methods for which there was no +precedent, and under which no man would be safe. He trusted that the Bill +would receive no support in the Commons; that if it passed the Commons it +would be rejected by the Lords; but in any case, he was resolved never to +give it his assent. The committee appeared to assent to these bold words, +and to see in the proposal a dangerous menace to the prerogative of the +Crown; and Clarendon, obeying his natural dislike of such encroachments, +confirmed the view of the King, hoped that he would abide by his +resolution, and promised his own vigorous opposition to any such Bill in +the Lords. + +It is hard to find any adequate ground, either in policy or in justice, +for Clarendon's resistance to this proposal. He had himself nothing to +fear from it. He had no part in the details of naval administration, and +those who were chiefly threatened had no claim to his protection. He had +been strongly opposed to Ashley's appointment to administer the prize- +money, and he could not but know that the investigation would ruin +Ashley's reputation. Had he boldly placed himself at the head of the +country party and made himself the foremost champion of financial purity, +he might have established a firm hold upon the affections of all that was +best in the nation, and he might have trusted to their loyalty and his own +to prevent any serious blow to the prerogative of the Crown and the +respect due to the King. As a fact, he did assent, subsequently, to the +nomination by the Crown of an audit commission, and it does not seem as if +a simple alteration of procedure would have seriously affected the +substance of the matter. Of his failure to act thus, his increasing age, +his infirmities of health, the anxieties by which he was oppressed, and +the lack of powerful and confidential allies may have largely been the +cause. But we must remember also the ruling principles in Clarendon's +conception of the constitution, and his own deep-seated prejudices. He was +unwilling to stoop to injure an enemy by a weapon which might diminish the +prerogative of the Crown. He never sought the position of leader of a +party, which would thus have been forced upon him, and he felt that +position to be incompatible with his own loyalty as servant of the Crown. +He disliked the idea of Parliamentary tactics; and all his past experience +identified such tactics, in his mind, with the beginnings of rebellion. It +was not given to him to see so far into the future as to conceive that an +independent Minister might be the strongest buttress of the Crown. + +But the tactics from which he recoiled were put into practice, with less +than his honesty, but with much more skill in stratagem, by those who +sought to accomplish his fall. The very courtiers whose influence was +accountable for the scandals which stirred the indignation of the country +party, made themselves the trusted friends of the parliamentary +opposition, and carefully nursed it for their own purposes. The +irresponsible and flighty genius of Buckingham made him, for the moment, +the chosen patron of those who were murmuring against the abuses of the +Court, stimulated him to organize and conciliate the Parliamentary faction +that grumbled against the waste of the national resources, and induced him +to cast aside for the time the habits of a profligate voluptuary, and +throw himself with ardour into the labours of Parliamentary debate. +Rivalry in debauchery had made him, for a season, the object of the King's +personal dislike, and had involved him in a bitter contest with Lady +Castlemaine; and this tempted him to adopt the uncongenial part of a +moralist, who found it convenient to cultivate the friendship of the +strictest sectaries, and to pose as the saviour of the kingdom. It was not +the first, nor the only, antic by which he made himself, as Zimri, the +easy butt of Dryden's satire. He became the prime favourite of the people, +and his power with the mob seemed to make him the rival of the King. It +added to the zest with which he pursued this new freak, that it helped him +to satisfy private and personal piques. In particular the Duke of Ormonde +had become the object of his almost insane jealousy. Ormonde's lofty +character, his consistent loyalty, his influence in the counsels of the +King, above all, his vast power as a great territorial magnate, had +wounded the vanity of Buckingham; and he was able to evoke against +Ormonde, as an Irish peer, the jealousy of those English nobles who +thought themselves unduly eclipsed by the great possessions, and high +official rank, of a peer of a lower order--that of the Irish nobility. + +It was largely in obedience to this personal jealousy, that Buckingham had +made himself the prominent promoter of a Bill of singular injustice to the +sister kingdom. It was conceived that the importation of Irish cattle was +a serious injury to the English agricultural interest, and was enriching +the Irish at the expense of the English proprietors; and it was therefore +proposed to forbid any such importation. That it involved practical ruin +to Ireland, and promised to lay the seeds of deep-rooted hatred, mattered +nothing to those who had their own selfish objects to pursue, or who had +private grudges to satisfy. It was only natural that the Bill found ready +assent amongst some honest men, who were earnestly desirous to relieve the +agricultural interest, suffering heavily under the pressure of taxation, +and who had something else than private venom to indulge. The bitter +complaints of Ireland could not be expected to weigh for much. It remained +to be seen whether the short-sighted selfishness, which was sedulously +fostered in order to gratify personal spleen, would be allowed to inflict +upon a nation, united under the same Crown, this scandalous injustice. At +first it was proposed that the embargo should extend to Scotland also; but +at a later stage this was dropped. + +[Illustration: JAMES BUTLER, DUKE OF ORMONDE. (_From the original by Sir +Godfrey Kneller._)] + +The King was not deceived as to the injustice of the Bill, and in its +earliest stages he professed that his conscience would never allow him to +give it his assent. He urged the Council "to give such a stop to this Bill +that it might never be presented to him; for if it were, he must +positively reject it." It was not the first, nor the last, pronouncement +of the King that was to turn out an empty threat. + +The Council did not unanimously accept the opinion of the King. Those whom +he consulted took diverse views of the Bill, and some even who doubted its +policy were not prepared to face the opposition of the English +agricultural interest. Amongst the members of both Houses of the English +Parliament there was a deeply-seated jealousy of Ireland, inherited from +the days of her resistance to English power, and sharpened by fervent +opposition to her Roman Catholic predilections. The promoters of the Bill +soon found themselves backed up by a solid phalanx of English prejudice, +which held the Commons staunch to their support of its provisions. +Buckingham and Ashley learned that their championship added to their hold +upon the nation, and gave them a new chance of inflicting a defeat at once +upon the King, and upon his older Minister. Clarendon fully recognized the +iniquity of the Bill, and welcomed the stalwart resistance which the King +avowed that he would give to it. [Footnote: It is odd to remark how the +incurable prejudice of Whig historians blinds them to the real bearing of +the Bill, and forces them, in their desire to avoid any agreement with +Clarendon, to find some excuse for it. "It is by no means clear," writes +Mr. Christie, the biographer of Ashley, "that special circumstances did +not counsel an exception to the general rules of political economy." So +easily are fundamental principles made to bend to the exigencies of +personal advocacy!] But the result was to prove to him once more how +little reliance could be placed on any apparently settled conviction of +the King. + +The House of Commons had now become too stubborn to yield to any arguments +of justice; and that the King and his Ministers opposed the Bill only +added to the obstinacy with which it was pressed. There was now a +deliberate opposition to the Crown, and of the two Bills--that about Irish +cattle, and that for a commission of audit--the first was "driven on with +more fury, and the other more passionately spoken of." Any support which +the party of the Court could reckon on, rapidly diminished; and even its +adherents applied to the King for permission to record their votes in +favour of the Bill. [Footnote: _Life_, iii. 141.] Again Sir William +Coventry, who, to Clarendon's mind, was the evil genius in every plot, +appeared upon the scene. He persuaded the King of the strength of the +supporters of the Bill, and the small prospect of any supply until the +House was satisfied that it would pass. Perhaps, he added, if the friends +of the Court withdrew their opposition to the Irish Bill, they might thus +be able to elude the threatening provisions of the Bill for the audit of +accounts. [Footnote: _Ibid._, p. 142.] + +Under such inducements, Charles's conscientious opposition to the Bill +soon disappeared. His henchmen in the House received new orders, and +amidst the plaudits of Buckingham's sycophants, this iniquitous Bill +passed through the House of Commons. The triumph only made the Commons +insist with the more vigour upon the Bill for the audit of accounts. Again +the King yielded to pressure, to the alluring prophecies of abundant +supplies as the reward of surrender, and to the dire threats of exposure +of Court scandals if the will of the House were thwarted. The result was a +new surrender, and the Accounts Bill followed the other to the House of +Lords. + +The scene of the struggle was now changed, but it was evident that the +persistence of opposition was in no way checked, and that a fierce +struggle between Parliamentary power and the royal prerogative was +threatened in the immediate future. To Clarendon, the opposition in the +House of Commons centred in these two Bills. Taken together, they roused +his unrelenting hostility, the one because it was founded upon no +constitutional precedent, and was dangerous to the royal prerogative, the +other because it was conceived in a spirit of reckless animosity, and was +flagrantly unjust to Ireland. Up to a certain point, the King had +cordially agreed with that view; but once more that fickle support went +for nothing; a few threats and allurements disposed of Charles's +conscience as well as of his judgment. For him precedent did not count; +the royal prerogative meant only what secured for himself an easy life, +and the prospect of supply; and as for injustice to Ireland, the burden of +conscientious scruples was easily transferred to other shoulders. A strong +will and a scrupulous conscience were inconvenient equipments for a +Minister of Charles II. + +But it was still Clarendon's duty to do his best to save the King from +treacherous plotters, as well as from the consequences of his own fickle +waywardness. There was one way which occurred to Clarendon, and which he +seems to have urged upon the King without success. The Parliament had now +sat for six years, and perhaps contact with the constituencies might prove +a solvent of their irksome obstinacy, and also of those dangerous +combinations which were threatening to foil all schemes of sound policy. +Might it not be that the sound loyalty of the nation would send to +Westminster a Parliament, not servile or subservient, but less truculent +and intractable, than the present? Whatever the soundness of his opinion-- +and it may perhaps be doubted if a new election would have been a safe +expedient for the King--it obtained scanty support. The little clique of +intriguing courtiers thought that it portended danger to their own +influence. Some who had proved ineffective asserters of the views of the +country party were alarmed for their seats; the King was easily persuaded +that many of his own most obedient placemen might disappear. Buckingham +and his friends managed even to + +alarm the bishops, by predicting a majority for the enemies of the Church. +Clarendon never found that the ecclesiastical mind was one upon which, as +a statesman, he could place any reliance. They judged now as far from the +mark as usual, and yielded to the persuasions of his foes. Clarendon was +fain to be content with the existing House of Commons; and the fight was +now to be how far the Lords would bow to the imperious demands of that +House, and allow themselves to be managed by the little band of +malcontents, whose main object was to make the present administration +impossible. + +In the House of Lords the leading part in pushing forward the Irish Cattle +Bill was taken by the Duke of Buckingham. His new-found ardour for +political intrigue had changed for the moment his habits of life as a +voluptuary. Under the impulse of his present irritation, his usual haunts +were abandoned, and he spent laborious days in the House, the first to be +present, and the last to disappear. [Footnote: The usual hour for the +meeting of Parliament was early, and Clarendon complains of the laxity +which, of recent years, had made the hour as late as ten o'clock A.M. The +House of Lords had of late shown so little zeal for work that they +frequently adjourned after a few minutes. But now, in the excitement of +the discussion on the Irish Bill, they again sat early, and did not +adjourn till four o'clock, or even "till the candles were brought in."] He +had the eager support of Ashley, inspired like him, by jealousy of +Clarendon and Ormonde, and bringing to the unholy partnership a lack of +principle equal to that of Buckingham, and far greater powers of +concentration, and of persistent strategy. With two such protagonists, the +debates in the House of Lords lost their usual repose and dignity, and +became scenes of turmoil and almost of personal violence. [Footnote: +Clarendon tells us an amusing story of a fracas which occurred between +Buckingham and Lord Dorchester, during a conference between the Houses. +The two peers, who were avowed enemies, chanced to sit together, and each +endeavoured, it would seem, to claim more space than was convenient to the +other. From hustling they came to blows, and Lord Dorchester had the +misfortune to lose his wig in the shuffle. But "the Marquis had much of +the Duke's hair in his hands to recompense for the pulling off his +periwig, which he could not reach high enough to do to the other" +(_Life_, iii. 154). The matter was settled without bloodshed, and +both peers were sent to cool their tempers by a short detention in the +Tower. We are apt, on doubtful grounds, to think that the debaucheries of +Charles's Court were redeemed by elegance of manners. As a fact, the +morals which Dr. Johnson ascribes to Lord Chesterfield's Letters were +often joined, in that Court, to manners which would have shocked the +dancing master of his apothegm.] Buckingham on one occasion provoked a +scene by insolently stating "that whoever was against that Bill had either +an Irish interest or an Irish understanding." The remark, as well as +Buckingham's habitual arrogance, aroused the wrath of Lord Ossory, +Ormonde's eldest son, and a challenge was the consequence. Buckingham, who +did not, to the other attributes of finished courtier, add that of +personal courage, contrived to miss the rendezvous, and, with a lack of +spirit which men of less bravado could hardly have equalled, and which +might have made him blush before his own swashbucklers, he proceeded to +lay before the House a narrative of the case. Both parties, it was held, +had been to blame, and both were, as usual, to pass a short period of +penance in the Tower. But Buckingham's enemies contrived, under the rules +of the House, to inflict an insult upon him, which might have stirred the +blood of a Quaker, not to speak of that which flowed in the veins of this +model gentleman. It was unjust, they urged, that any punishment should +fall upon the Duke. He had done his best to prevent the encounter, and had +prudently mistaken the rendezvous. His friends, not unnaturally, thought +"that it would be more for his honour to undergo the censure of the House +than the penalty of such a vindication." + +But apart from these comic accompaniments, the debate upon the Bill in the +Lords raised grave constitutional questions. Clarendon opposed the Bill as +radically unjust, and economically wrong. But he found in it also much +that encroached upon the prerogative. Cases might easily occur where a +remission of the Act was imperatively required in the public interest, and +in special exigencies, and the usual course was to give such dispensing +power to the Crown, just as it is now given under many statutes, by the +machinery of an Order in Council. But the prejudices of the promoters of +the Bill were too virulent to be satisfied with anything less than the +strict and universal application of the embargo; nor did they scruple to +suggest that new restraints were required upon the power of the Crown. All +that Clarendon and his friends in the House of Lords could do, was to +insist that some of the clauses most offensive to the prerogative, and +most opposed to precedent, should be expunged from the Bill before it was +returned to the House of Commons. + +The struggle then entered upon a new phase, involving another +constitutional principle. The Commons were prepared to agree to the +omission of Scotland from the Bill; + +but in regard to all else, they refused to accept the amendments of the +Lords. The two Houses were in sharp conflict, and for a time it appeared +as if the disagreement could result only in the loss of the Bill. Its +friends had no wish to see this catastrophe, and a conference between the +Houses was therefore arranged. The result was not such as to encourage +those who wished for the settlement of a vexed question, or who hoped that +prudent counsels would be brought to bear on a constitutional difficulty. +To the irritation which the country party had conceived against the Court, +and to the obstinate determination that the royal prerogative should yield +to the will of Parliament, there was now added a bitter fight between the +two Houses; and here again Clarendon's long-cherished opinions forced him +to take the unpopular side. Once more the habits of a lifetime refused to +disappear before an unwarranted, and, as he thought, dangerous innovation. +We may doubt whether he duly estimated the forces to which he was opposing +himself, or rightly gauged the direction in which men's minds were moving. +We may say, with full confidence, that he chose his part with singular +indifference to what was politically or personally expedient. Neither now +nor at any other time did Clarendon yield to anything but his own +conscientious convictions. Nature had not so framed him as to give him the +faculty of making these convictions any more palatable by his methods of +enforcing them. He recognized this fully himself. + +"In all the debate upon this Bill, and upon the other of accounts, the +Chancellor had the misfortune to lose much credit in the House of Commons, +not only by a very strong and cordial opposition to what they desired, but +by taking all occasions which were offered by the frequent arguments which +were urged of the opinion and authority of the House of Commons, and that +it was fit and necessary to concur with them, to mention them with less +reverence than they expected. It is very true he had always used in such +provocations to desire the Lords to be more solicitous in preserving their +own unquestionable rights, and most important privileges, and less tender +in restraining the excess and new encroachments of the House of Commons." +[Footnote: _Life_, iii. 163.] + +He listened with ill-concealed irritation to assertions of supreme power +on the part of the Commons, which aroused echoes of the old days of the +Long Parliament. His cherished hope was not for an absolute monarchy, but +for such maintenance of the royal prerogative as might assure the delicate +balance of the constitution; and he saw that the degradation of the Lords +to a mere chamber for registering the determination of the House of +Commons was a first step in throwing that delicate balance out of gear. +"His opinion was that the late rebellion could never be extirpated and +pulled up by the roots, till the King's regal and inherent power and +prerogative should be fully awarded and vindicated;" and that prerogative +to his mind was associated with the maintenance of adequate authority in +the House of Lords. It was not given to him to recognize how deeply that +rebellion had struck its roots, and how sure it was that from these roots +would grow a strong plant of Parliamentary power, and of predominance of +the Representative House, which it was now too late to extirpate. He saw +that the irregularities of administration, and the proneness of +irresponsible men "to meddle and interpose in matters out of their own +sphere, to give their advice in matters of peace and war, to hold +conferences with the King, and offer their advices to him," were +inevitably breaking down that scheme of the Constitution to which his life +had bound him. He was by no means inclined to flatter the House of Lords, +or to exempt them from blame for much that he thought mischievous. They +had neglected their business, their discharge of their functions had been +careless and perfunctory, their meetings had been short, and their +intervention in public affairs scanty, "while the other House sat, and +drew the eyes of the kingdom upon them, as the only vigilant people for +their good." Clarendon's constitutional ideals might be mistaken; but he +was under no mistake as to the process by which they were being +undermined. He saw how fatal was the error by which the peers insisted +upon special personal privileges which lessened the esteem of their order. +He protested against that claim of exemption from arrest for debt, which +they sought to extend to their menial servants, and which led to such +exemptions being often sold by these servants to bankrupt citizens, to the +scandal of the law. It was this petty personal arrogance of the peers +which gave the House of Commons their opportunity, of which they were not +slow to make use, and in doing so they were encouraged even by those +members of the House of Peers who found their personal aims advanced by +fostering the obstinacy of the House of Commons opposition. It was his +misfortune thus to offend the sticklers for privilege in the House of +Lords, while the House of Commons were coming to consider him as the prime +obstacle in the way of their newly asserted independence. His enemies +rejoiced in such clumsy tactics, while his friends vainly desired him "to +use less fervour in these argumentations." In describing these +contentions, he uses of himself almost the very words which he had applied +to Laud in the old days when Clarendon had urged his patron to be more +careful how he gave unnecessary occasion of offence. [Footnote: Clarendon +himself remarks "that he was guilty of that himself of which he used to +accuse Archbishop Laud, that he was too proud of a good conscience" +(_Life_, iii. 266).] + +"He was in that, as in many things of that kind, that related to the +offending other men, for his own sake un-counsellable; [Footnote: +_i.e._ according to Clarendon's idiom, less amenable to advice than +it would have been in his own interest to be.] not that he did not know +that it exposed him to the censure of some men who lay in wait to do him +hurt, but because he neglected those censures, nor valued the persons who +promoted them." + +It was a sturdy attitude no doubt; but the Court of Charles was hardly a +scene in which it could be assumed with safety. In that tainted atmosphere +blunt-spoken sincerity could scarcely breathe. + +Clarendon had attempted to make the House of Lords a buttress to the royal +prerogative. A sardonic fate taught him that the weakest support upon +which he could rely was the King, for whose power he was ready to +sacrifice his own popularity, and hazard his fortune and even his life. +His enemies could always appeal to the King's love of ease, and to his +dread of troublesome interference with his pleasures and his lavish +expense. It was on these ignoble motives that they now relied. The Irish +Bill must be passed, or supplies would not be forthcoming, the threatening +murmurs of the people would take shape in action, and the luxuries and the +debaucheries of Whitehall would no longer be left in peace. So Charles's +conscientious objections again disappeared. The Lords who were in the +confidence of the King were bidden to abate their opposition; the Commons +had their way, the injustice to Ireland was forgotten, and the Bill was +passed. Charles and his flatterers persuaded themselves that the surrender +was the fruit of sagacious policy; they gave full rein to their sarcastic +humour in the ridicule of Clarendon and the belated obstinacy of his +loyalty to the constitution. + +Charles gave his assent to the Irish Bill on January 18th, and in his +Speech on that occasion he announced to Parliament their speedy +prorogation, and recalled to their minds with some emphasis the forgotten +business of supply. This appeal had a good effect, and for very shame the +House placed the King in the position to discharge some of his seamen's +arrears of pay, and to put some portion of his fleet in fighting trim. +[Footnote: In the speech of thanks for this grant the Chancellor persuaded +the King to express his hope that provisos like that of the Appropriation +Bill would in future be dropped. It was a reflection on Sir W. Coventry's +plan, and as such was taken by Coventry himself. (See Pepys, April 1, +1667.)] Parliament was prorogued on February 8th, and the King had the +satisfaction of reminding the Commons that the Bill for the audit of +accounts had never been presented to him, and that he proposed himself to +issue a commission for the purpose. We can scarcely doubt that this last +resolution was adopted by the advice of Clarendon himself. He disliked the +encroachment of the Commons, but it was no part of his desire to keep the +light of day from the scandals of financial administration. Such a +commission, not extorted from the King as an insult, but resting upon his +own authority, might perform a necessary and useful work, and care was +taken in the selection of commissioners to give no suspicion of weakness +or partiality. Before it could do effective work, Clarendon had ceased to +guide the nation's policy. + +The pressure of Parliamentary opposition was for the time removed. But the +troubles of the King's Minister were by no means at an end. The war +dragged on its course, our resources were nearly drained, the navy was +reduced to inefficiency, our foes were encouraged to new efforts by our +disasters. We have already [Footnote: Chapter XXI.] seen the insults which +England was yet to undergo before the relief of a not very creditable +peace was won, and to what dire necessities the Treasury was reduced for +lack of funds. We have learned how, at that juncture, [Footnote: Chapter +XXI.] Clarendon differed from the other advisers of the King, was adverse +to convoking Parliament, and suggested the unwelcome device of a loan to +tide over the emergency. Peace came at last. But it brought no +satisfaction to the nation, and no recompense for her vast expenditure. It +left the relations between Clarendon and the King sadly strained, and it +did not soften the growing unpopularity of the Minister with the country +party, or bring oblivion of his sharp passages with the House of Commons. +On the contrary, it is precisely from this moment that Clarendon dated the +rise of that storm that was to "destroy all his prosperity, and shipwreck +all his hopes." The cloud had indeed been thickening, and the waves had +been gathering new force, for months and even years. Clarendon professes +his knowledge of the plots that had long been undermining his power. + +All that he means by dating the storm from this period, is that the long +threatened tempest now burst in its full force. But the struggle was to be +maintained, not without hopes, for a few months more. + +Clarendon had the satisfaction of finding that the summoning of +Parliament, in the spring of 1667, to which he had been strongly opposed, +and the legality of which he doubted, [Footnote: See _ante_, p. 206.] +was after all rendered unnecessary by the near prospect of peace. But +Clarendon's opposition to the proposal had increased, if possible, his +unpopularity with the Commons, and suspicions had been rife that he +desired to raise revenue without Parliamentary consent. The disasters +which attended the last stages of the war did not allay the general +discontent, and when the peace was at last signed on July 2lst, 1667, it +found Court and Ministers alike under the cloud of popular jealousy. Only +two months before Clarendon had lost the stay and support of that +colleague, whose sympathies were closest to his own, the loyalty of whose +friendship was most untainted, and upon whose character and high rank +Clarendon could rely to balance the jealousy of his own promotion--too +sudden not to offend the pride of the older nobility. With touching +anxiety, Clarendon had sought to defend his old friend, now enfeebled by +age and ill-health, from the unseemly efforts that had been made to remove +him by those who sought to fill his place, but it may be doubted whether +in doing so he acted in the real interests of Southampton's reputation. +His desire to keep his old friend at his side was only natural. Both had +passed through hard straits, and both--because Southampton was only the +Chancellor's senior by a year--were now prematurely aged. Clarendon and he +were the last of the old band who had rallied to the King in 1640, and a +true instinct taught him that they must stand or fall together. All the +most cherished memories of his life, all that was most sacred in his loyal +devotion to his first master, all the vicissitudes of his fortunes, were +associated in Clarendon's mind with the friendship which began when they +were students together at Magdalen, and was cemented when they had been +forced together, by the excesses of the party with which they had at first +been in sympathy, to attach themselves to the Royalist side, at a time +when that side had ceased to have any means of attracting the support of +selfish ambition. They had alike been averse to the proceedings of the +Court during the days when Parliamentary Government was suspended, +[Footnote: Southampton had suffered severely in purse from the claims put +forward by the Crown on his estates in Hampshire; and we have already seen +how little Hyde sympathized with the rigour with which such claims were +pressed. + +This Thomas Wriothesley, third Earl of Southampton, was the son of the +second Earl, whose name is immortalized as the patron and the friend of +Shakespeare. It is interesting to remember that one of his daughters (he +left no male heir) was the wife of William, Lord Russell, condemned and +executed in 1683.] and had welcomed what they hoped would be a return to +sounder methods when Parliament was again summoned. Both had seen much +amiss in the government of Strafford, and had been glad to think that what +they deemed his innovations would receive a check. Both had revolted +against the proceedings of the Parliament, when these transgressed the +law, and both resented the flagrant injustice which procured the judicial +murder of Strafford. Southampton brought to the service of the King the +prestige of high rank, the respect earned by a character which scorned +intrigue, and a judgment too sound to be led astray by any violence of +partisan passion. His loyalty was untainted and unswerving. [Footnote: +Southampton is said to have kept watch over the body of the murdered King, +during the night when it lay in Whitehall. It was he who told of the +mysterious muffled figure that stole into the Hall during the night, and +muttered the words, "Imperious necessity," and whom he always believed to +have been Cromwell. After his master's death he compounded with the new +Government for his delinquency, and lived in retirement. But he sent +encouragement to Charles when a fugitive after the battle of Worcester, +and continued, according to his abilities, to minister to his needs during +the long exile.] Save to those who knew him intimately, his character was +tinged with melancholy, and its impression was not lessened by the +habitual gloom which his outward aspect wore. In the inner circle of his +friends, he could indulge in a quaint humour, and was no unkindly +companion. He was not the only one of Clarendon's contemporaries whose +temperament was not proof against the depression born of the troubles of +the time. Alike from the ungrudging admiration which Clarendon expresses +for his life-long friend, from the captious criticism of those to whom his +long tarrying on the stage was irksome, and from the irresponsible gossip +of Pepys, we have a vivid picture of the veteran statesman as he appeared +to his contemporaries. In outward carriage grave and distant, girt with +that ample ceremony of manner which repelled familiarity; easy and prompt +in debate, with that sense of self-confidence which permits a man to think +on his feet, and to dispense with any niceties of diction; ready to rouse +himself to prolonged and earnest labour, but by habit and preference +indolent and a lover of his ease--they all present the same features in +their portraits. He was a loyal friend, save when a nice sense of the +respect due to his rank and character, provoked him to resentment against +any fancied neglect; prudent and adroit in counsel, but perhaps lacking in +the energy which was required to translate that counsel into action; +steadfast, rather than alert, in vindicating the primary duty of sound +finance. Clarendon is compelled to admit that "he was naturally lazy, and +indulged over much ease to himself;" but he can tell us of the unwonted +exertion of which Southampton showed himself capable during the treating +at Uxbridge, when he worked continuously for twenty days on end, and +curtailed his habitual ten hours of sleep to a maximum of five. His pride +involved him in a passing quarrel with Prince Rupert, whose extravagant +assertion of precedence provoked him, and whose challenge he accepted; but +his sound judgment, and his well-tried rectitude were enough, after +friends had interfered, to prevent the untoward meeting, and to bind him +and the Prince in the bonds of an enduring friendship. Like Clarendon, a +sound friend to the Church, he was, also like him, essentially a layman, +not without distrust of the wisdom of political ecclesiastics. Because he +was not disposed to underrate the force of the Presbyterian party, and was +disinclined to provoke them to open revolt, the Bishops, according to +Clarendon, were wont to impute to him disloyalty to the Church. Clarendon +himself, confirmed enemy of Presbyterianism as he was, knew by experience +on how flimsy grounds such charges might be brought. [Footnote: Pepys, in +many lively passages, adds new touches to the portraiture of the +Treasurer. On November 19, 1663, he is summoned to the Lord Treasurer's +house, and finds him "a very ready man and certainly a brave subject to +the King." Pepys is troubled only with the "long nails, which he lets grow +upon a pretty short white hand." On September 9, 1665, he recounts the +story of one of his gossips--how "the Lord Treasurer minds his ease, and +lets things go how they will; if he can have his £8000 per annum, and a +game at _l'ombre,_ he is well." When the end comes, Pepys--while he +admits that "the slowness and remissness of that great man" have done much +harm--yet discerns that the prospect for the future is far gloomier by his +loss. Even Coventry, when he was gone, could recall the Lord Treasurer +whom he had so often thwarted as "a wise and solid though infirm man."] + +Southampton was not one of those personalities that stand out strongly +upon the page of history. Born to great station, he accepted and fulfilled +its responsibilities; but he was without initiative, and without that +secret of personal force which dominates a generation and leads a party. +As in the case of many a Minister, before and since, it is to be feared +that what his enemies said was true--that Sir Philip Warwick, his +secretary, was Treasurer in all but name. Pepys tells us of his own long +interviews with Warwick, and it is clear that it was at these interviews, +and not at formal conferences with the Lord Treasurer, that the finance of +the navy was arranged. He pictures [Footnote: _Diary_, April 12, +1665.] in a few graphic words, the scene at one of these formal +conferences. + +"Strange to see how they hold up their hands crying, What shall we do? +Says my Lord Treasurer, 'Why, what means all this, Mr. Pepys? This is all +true, you say; but what would you have me to do? I have given all I can +for my life. Why will not people lend their money? Why will they not trust +the King as well as Oliver?'" + +It is true comedy. But the flux of Pepys's gossippy confidences is a hard +ordeal even for a Minister so worthy as Southampton to pass. Perhaps Pepys +also gives us the best picture of his death, quaintly as it is expressed. +[Footnote: _Diary_, May 19, 1667.] + +"Great talk of the good end that my Lord Treasurer made; closing his own +eyes, and setting his mouth, and bidding adieu with the greatest content +and freedom in the world, and is said to die with the cleanest hands that +ever Lord Treasurer did." + +It is no dishonourable epitaph. The career that closed left no brilliant +mark, but in its tenor, as in its ending, it is typical of the grave and +balanced dignity, the loyalty to his Church, to his sovereign, to himself, +that were distinctive of that race of the English nobility who were now to +give place to a newer fashion. For us, the closing of that career is +chiefly interesting, as it revives in Clarendon the memory of that older +order to which he was so passionately attached, and as it carried away one +of the few remaining barriers between him and friendless isolation. + +The question of the succession to Southampton gave new subject of +difference between the Chancellor and the King. Charles was determined, as +he had been when there was a talk of Southampton's resignation, to replace +the Treasurership by Commissioners, and had been persuaded by the faction +opposed to Clarendon no longer to have one Minister supreme in finance. +Again Clarendon remonstrated, and urged that this was a scheme fitted for +a republic, and incompatible with the principles of monarchy. It seemed to +him one more symptom of the substitution of an official bureaucracy for +personal rule. It is no reflection upon his sincerity to admit that, in +this, as in many of the principles to which he so obstinately adhered in +these later days, he was sometimes moved rather by prejudice than by sound +reason. He knew the rottenness of the Court, and the little trust that was +to be placed in those who had gained Charles's ear; and that knowledge +blinded him to the fact that inveteracy in opposition to prevailing views +was no safe or prudent policy for him at this juncture. Himself a man +risen from the middle class, he nevertheless held that the natural +custodians of the executive power were men who by hereditary rank, and by +outstanding position, could acquire, if not the confidence, at least the +implicit obedience, of the people. Long association with men of the +highest rank, had imbued him with their feelings, and made him the +champion of their privileges. Familiar with the ignoble wiles and +stratagems which impelled political adventurers, he clung, like many a man +before and since, to the habits and the prejudices of a lifetime, and +refused to admit any change operating in the spirit of the age. Amongst +the forces opposed to him, he still looked with special dislike upon the +active and indomitable spirit of Sir William Coventry. Coventry's ability +Clarendon was compelled to admit; but he gave him perhaps too little +credit for energy and foresight, and for undoubted administrative +efficiency. We need not take Coventry altogether at Clarendon's valuation. +The two men were out of sympathy, and Coventry was far from sharing that +ungrudging loyalty to King and Church which Clarendon reckoned as the test +of a sound citizen. Coventry irritated that love of discipline which was +the habit of Clarendon's life. He belonged to a new generation, and did +not conceal his contempt for that careful attention to precedent which was +to Clarendon a second nature. His advancement had seemed to Clarendon +unduly rapid, and his impetuous self-assertion, both in Parliament and in +the Privy Council, provoked Clarendon's ire. His one actuating motive, in +Clarendon's eyes, was boundless ambition, and he saw him only as the +confederate of those who thought to govern at once King and Parliament, by +dexterous parliamentary management, and by grasping at the machinery of +administration. Coventry's later life proved that he was no eager seeker +after office. Only a few months after Clarendon's fall, he stoutly opposed +the insolence of Buckingham, and felt the effects of royal displeasure +when Buckingham had regained his hold on the facile disposition of the +King. He lost all his appointments; and even though, after a short +detention in the Tower, he recovered his freedom and gained the cordial +support of a powerful body of friends, he refused to range himself with +any party, and declined all suggestions that he should again take office. +Of his personal ability, of the respect which he inspired in others than +Clarendon, and of his administrative efficiency, we have abundant evidence +from other authorities, including both Evelyn and Pepys. He professed +himself, in confidential conversation with Pepys, as inspired by no +personal prejudice against Clarendon or Southampton. Even the fullest +confidence in Clarendon's rectitude cannot blind us to the fact that +neither he nor the Treasurer was now in the full vigour of his prime, that +more direct and personal supervision of the details of administration than +they could give was needed to restore either efficiency or confidence, and +that Coventry might honestly believe this. It is no reflection on the +loyalty with which Clarendon clung to a thankless task, if we admit that +it might have fared better with him had he recognized sooner that the +accomplishment of that task, as he had conceived it, was now hopelessly +impossible. The truth is that Clarendon's memory still turned to a time, +not so distant, when the relinquishment of office by a Minister meant a +permanent breach with the Sovereign, suspicion of treason, the downfall of +his fortunes, and also the hazard of his life. The change brought about by +government by party, in which a Minister might retire from office, and +none the less continue to play a high and influential part in the +political history of his country, was slowly but surely coming. Had +Clarendon recognized it, there seems to have been nothing to prevent his +retiring from office, and still continuing to exercise a potent influence +in the counsels of the nation. But he found no precedent in history for +such a course. Retirement to him meant defeat, disgrace, and ruin. It may +be doubted whether his own dogged tenacity, brave and conscientious as it +was, did not itself give his ultimate retirement that added meaning. In +adhering to the service of the King, he perhaps forgot that loyalty may +only be wasted on an unwilling object, and that satiety is a prolific +breeder of ingratitude. + +Before the storm broke, there was another Court scandal--for it is worthy +of no higher name-that stirred the turbid political waters, and further +complicated the difficulties of Clarendon's position. The Duke of +Buckingham, that strange personality--half statesman, half buffoon--who +occupied no inconsiderable part of the stage in Charles's Court, managed +to embroil himself in some extraordinary escapade, or some more than +usually freakish piece of mischief, which for once stirred the ordinarily +phlegmatic temper of the King. To probe its details would serve no good +purpose; if it did not originate in, it was no doubt aggravated by, one of +those entanglements common to the life of the bagnio, which Charles's +Court so faithfully reflected. Some wrangle as to the enjoyment of the +facile charms of one of the royal mistresses, or the disputed paternity of +some bastard, very probably was the origin of an ignoble quarrel which +presently reached the dimensions of an affair of State, occupied the +attention of the Privy Council for no inconsiderable period, and involved +a charge of treason, formulated and then abandoned with the reckless +frivolity of the comic stage. We shall probably not be far wrong in +ascribing the beginning of the trouble to Lady Castlemaine, who found her +hold upon the royal favour threatened by some ill-timed intrigue of +Buckingham. A charge of treason was brought against Buckingham, who was +known to have at his command a rascally band of bullies and charlatans, +who disturbed the streets of London, and whose outrages were not kept +outside the precincts even of the Court itself. An assortment of sorry +evidence was brought before the Council, and Buckingham was shown to have +trafficked with astrologers and cut-throats, whose designs seemed to have +threatened even the life of the King. He had permitted them to address him +in language which indicated that he had cherished ambitions of hair- +brained folly, if not of treasonable insolence, and which flattered him +with thoughts of his boundless influence with the mob. The matter was +brought to Clarendon's knowledge by the King; but the Chancellor +endeavoured as far as possible to hold aloof from the squalid inquiry, +which was pushed forward chiefly by Arlington and his sworn ally, the Lady +Castlemaine. A warrant was issued for Buckingham's apprehension; and when +he withdrew from the Court, a proclamation was published that charged him +with treason, and required his surrender. The sheriff's messenger that +followed him to his retreat in the country was openly defied, and +Buckingham managed for weeks to elude the clutches of the law. The dignity +of justice was degraded, and the King's warrant was mocked, as long as +Buckingham thought he might rely upon the weakness of the King, and his +fears of Buckingham's being provoked to reprisals which might attach new +scandal to the Court. While the warrant was out against him, the Duke was +bold enough to resort to Clarendon, and to invoke his aid in securing for +him an interview with the King, in which he was confident that he might +allay the passing anger. Clarendon could only advise his surrender, and +assure him that nothing would be allowed to interfere with the even-handed +administration of justice. Clarendon refused to denounce to Buckingham +those who were his enemies, and evidently had no desire to secure for +himself, by so doing, the gratitude or the alliance of such a man. The +Duke at length found that it was either necessary or safe to surrender +himself; and, in the examination which ensued, he showed all his usual +insolence, and his confidence in his hold over the King. He treated the +evidence as worthless, and forced Charles himself to admit that some of +the correspondence had its origin in Court intrigue. The quarrel with Lady +Castlemaine was composed, and from being bitter enemies, she and the Duke +became sworn allies, who joined forces in denouncing Clarendon, and found +abettors in those who had lately been the Duke's accusers. A man of much +less than Clarendon's pride and dignity might well have despised such +intrigues; but events soon proved how fickle was the support upon which he +could rely in trusting to the gratitude of the King. The incident, as +lightly closed as it had been recklessly begun, resulted only in knitting +more closely the designs of those who were relentlessly pursuing the +object of ending his power and procuring his downfall. No scruples were +likely to stay the hands of the sorry band of conspirators. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE TRIUMPH OF FACTION + + +Just as peace had been cemented amongst his enemies, in preparation for a +final attack, Clarendon was struck by a heavy blow of domestic +bereavement. Throughout all the vicissitudes of his life, amidst the +hardships of exile, and in the still heavier anxieties that surrounded his +later years of seeming prosperity, Clarendon had ever found in his family +a centre of affection, and a source of consolation--broken only for a +season when his eldest daughter was raised, by her marriage with the Duke, +to a position which Clarendon knew well involved danger, both for her and +for himself. His wife had proved an affectionate helpmate, and it is to +her credit that in these Court circles which jealousy had rendered +vigilant of any trace of scandal, and keen to note any assumption of +arrogance, the wife of the Chancellor provoked the attacks of no enemies, +and managed to elude the wrangles and bickerings of the Palace. In the +summer of 1667, after a brief illness, she who had been his life's +companion was taken from him, when, deprived of all his early friends, he +was most in need of the comfort of a loving heart. Belonging, by birth, to +the higher grade of the squirearchy, Lady Clarendon had married in her own +rank, with every promise of all the comfort and dignity of honoured +station, and in the first years had enjoyed a rare felicity of happy +wedded life. When the career of politics absorbed her husband, she +submitted without murmur to the interruption of that happiness, and in +after years, without repining, she accepted the burden of the breaking up +of her home, long years of anxiety, and the trials and privations of +exile. She carried her later elevation to high rank without pride or +ostentation. She does not lose her right to our respect because she earned +what the Greek historian pronounces to be woman's highest glory, the least +noisy echo either of praise or blame. That helpmate he lost just at the +moment when all the forces of factious bitterness, of meanness, and of +ingratitude, were preparing to vent their venom upon him. + +The loss fell upon one already sorely tried by long and painful illness, +against which he fought with courageous manliness. He was well aware that +the weight of ill-will was rapidly accumulating against him. He had +opposed the summoning of Parliament for the purpose of securing supplies +to meet the exigencies of the war, on the ground that such anticipation of +the day fixed for the resumption of its business was illegal. The +expedient he had contemplated was a temporary loan, and this had been +easily twisted, by the perverseness of his enemies, into a suggestion of +raising funds without the consent of Parliament, in order to maintain a +standing army. His advice had been set aside, and Parliament had been +summoned for July 25th. But peace had already been secured, and immediate +supply was no longer necessary. The King prorogued Parliament on July +29th, but not before the House had passed a resolution against a standing +army. This abrupt dismissal of Parliament, when its presence was no longer +called for, inflamed the anger against Clarendon. Those who had hoped to +find an opportunity of pressing home their attack upon him in Parliament +were indignant at the loss of this opportunity. Even the moderate men +desired an explanation, and wished to be relieved of suspicions that +arbitrary taxation was once more to be attempted. Those who were +scandalized by the proceedings of the Court were prepared to make their +anger felt, and had no mind to be silenced. The country members had +trooped to Westminster from all parts of England, when long journeys were +no easy matter. They returned home in no pleasant humour, grudging at once +the expense which they had borne, and the muzzling to which they were +subjected; [Footnote: See Pepys' _Diary_, under July 29,1667.] and +the murmuring all fell upon Clarendon's devoted head. It was just as it +grew most threatening that his wife's death plunged him into mourning. + +"Within a few days after his wife's death, the King vouchsafed to come to +his house to condole with him, and used many gracious expressions to him." +[Footnote: _Life_, iii. 282.] When Charles had a scheme on foot that was +peculiarly shabby or selfish, he knew how to conceal his intention under a +gracious manner. The limit of his patience to suffer Clarendon's +scoldings, or of his power to resist the pressure of his boon companions, +was nearly reached; but he could yet hope that a solution might be found +that would save any vexatious upbraidings. Clarendon might surely be +persuaded to retire, and the peace of the Court would not then be broken +by these troublesome wranglings. Less than a fortnight afterwards, the +Duke of York was made the bearer of an astounding message. The King, he +told Clarendon, had asked after him, and had been told by the Duke that +"he was the most disconsolate man he ever saw;" that not only was he +grieved for the loss of his wife, but that he feared he had lost the +favour of his master, who seemed of late to have "withdrawn his +countenance from him." Charles had made an evasive answer; but on a later +day he explained himself more fully to the Duke. He knew, he said, from +sure information that the Chancellor was "very odious" to the Parliament, +and that at its next meeting an impeachment would certainly be moved. "Not +only had he opposed them in all those things upon which they had set their +hearts, but he had proposed and advised their dissolution." For the good +of his Majesty's service, and for his own preservation, it was +imperatively necessary that he should deliver up the seal. He might choose +himself what should be the manner of doing so--whether it should be done +personally, or through an intermediary. The Duke did not deny the danger, +but he lamented the resolution of the King. + +Clarendon was profoundly astonished. That the plainness of his criticism +and advice had come to irritate the King, and that a persistent plotting +against his influence was on foot, could hardly have been news to him. +Strong as were his reasons for distrusting Charles, he can hardly have +failed to have measured the depths of his dissimulation, or to have +realized his readiness to yield to pressure. But his confidence in his own +rectitude made him bold. He refused to believe that the majority of the +House distrusted him, or that his enemies had that commanding influence +which they claimed in order to intimidate the King. He was confident that, +be their malice what it might, the Parliament was not of their mind. In +that belief he demanded to speak with the King, before he delivered up the +seal. He could not, indeed, go to the King, as gout disabled him, and the +usages of the day did not permit of his being seen abroad so soon after +the death of his wife; but the Duke did not doubt that he could prevail +with the King to do as he had often done before, and come to Clarendon +House. That hope was not fulfilled; the King declined to visit Clarendon, +but was prepared to see him at Whitehall. + +It may well be doubted whether Clarendon would not have served his own +cause better, and that with no injury to public interests, had he complied +with the request. His health was now broken; the phalanx of his enemies +was overwhelmingly strong; and even had he been allowed to breast the +storm for a few years more, and had he found that courageous support which +it was not in Charles's nature to give, in maintaining the fight, he must +have carried on his work in the face of increasing petulance on the part +of his master, and increasing bitterness of venom from his enemies. The +hopes that had inspired him, when he saw the Restoration accomplished, had +long vanished; it could have been with only a shadow of his old courage +that he would still have continued to guide the ship of the State. Charles +was shrewd enough in judging the temper of the nation, and could form a +good estimate of the force of the opposition; and there is no reason to +think that he was wrong in supposing that a timely surrender would have +saved his Minister from anything more than the loss of office--a loss to +which Clarendon would not have attached much importance. The very fact +that his enemies were obnoxious to the darts of scandal, and that the +nation was watching them jealously; the very probability that many would +have resented the fall of a Minister who had notoriously fought against +the flagrant indecencies of the Court--these were additional reasons why +Arlington and his faction would have been content with the removal of the +object of their hatred, and would perhaps have foregone further +persecution. Clarendon's voluntary retirement, upon the private suggestion +conveyed from the King, might have saved him from the hardships that +darkened his closing years, and might have prevented his feeling, in its +full force, the poison of the King's ingratitude. + +But we must remember other considerations that could not be absent from +Clarendon's mind. History had not yet many instances to show of a Minister +who had fallen from high place, and yet was suffered to lead a private +life in peace. It was just a quarter of a century since Essex had used the +menacing words in regard to Strafford, "Stone-dead hath no fellow." +Arlington's ill-gotten influence might have felt itself threatened, if an +ex-Chancellor with Clarendon's unrivalled prestige had been ready to +permit his mansion in Piccadilly to be the resort of all who sought to +form a powerful parliamentary opposition. The instinct of self- +preservation may well have suggested to Clarendon that there might be few +steps between his abdication and the Tower and scaffold. But still more, +the central principles of his life forbade Clarendon to desert his post. +He might not infrequently be prejudiced; he certainly was often sternly +obstinate; he took too little account of the views of other men, and +failed to adapt himself to the changed circumstances of the day. But +never, in all his career, did he compromise with his duty, or give way to +threats of personal danger. Adversity and he had long been familiar, and +it may be doubted whether he would not have preferred to accept those few +last years of banishment, rather than have yielded one jot of his own +relentless resolution, or given occasion to his enemies to boast that they +had made him shrink before them. We may doubt the wisdom of his decision; +we cannot refuse our homage to his undaunted courage. + +But the breach between the King and the Chancellor, and Clarendon's +threatened fall, were already the theme of Court gossip. The Duchess +learned that his resignation had been demanded, and she, with his old +friend Archbishop Sheldon, and the Duke of Albemarle, joined in +remonstrating with the King in no measured terms. Other lesser persons +followed their example, and Charles soon found that the change was not to +be carried out without seriously impinging on his own cherished ease. He +protested that he sought nothing but Clarendon's safety, and that he had +believed from what he had heard "of the extreme agony the Chancellor was +in upon the death of his wife, that he had himself desired to be dismissed +from his office." Albemarle was sent to require Clarendon's presence at +Whitehall, and seems both to have believed, and to have desired, that what +was but a passing misunderstanding might be easily arranged. The +interview, at which the Duke of York was present, took place upon August +26th. Charles received him graciously and protested his sense of his high +services, and his earnest desire to preserve him from the malice of his +enemies. He did not scruple to add that he "had verily believed" that the +demand for his resignation "had his own consent and desire." He had +fancied that his brother concurred, however much he now protested. It is +not impossible to believe that James may have found it convenient not to +speak in exactly the same tone to his father-in-law and to his brother. + +But apart from all mistakes as to personal feeling, the King was positive +not only as to the intention of impeachment, but that the fate of +Strafford would be the probable result for Clarendon, if he did not yield +to the storm. If he did so yield, Charles was confident that he could +preserve him, and that he could in this way best provide for his own +business. He added a consideration which really gave the lie to what he +had just said. "He was sorry that the business had taken so much air, and +was so publicly spoken of, that he knew not how to change his purpose." He +had surely a better reason for not changing his purpose, if he was +persuaded that no change could be made without hazard to the Chancellor's +life. + +Clarendon's reply to Charles's shuffling was firm and dignified. He had no +desire that the King should change his resolution. But he would not suffer +it to be believed that his delivery of the seal was his own willing act. +"He should not think himself a gentleman, if he were willing to depart, +and withdraw himself from office, in a time when he thought his Majesty +would have need of all honest men." Neither was he ready to acknowledge +that the deprivation was "in order to do him good." It was "the greatest +ruin he could undergo," and instead of saving him, it would deliver him, a +discredited man, to the malice and vengeance of his enemies. His last +declaration was the most scornful of all. + +"He renounced his Majesty's protection or interposition towards his +preservation. He feared no censure, if his Majesty should reveal all that +he had counselled him in secret. If any one could charge him with a crime, +he was ready to undergo the punishment." + +Such words as these are strange, to be uttered by a falling Minister to +his King, when that King is trying to cloak his own meanness by a pretence +of a single-minded desire to save that Minister; they would be stranger +still if they had been used by a man conscious of any guilt. But Clarendon +did not stop there; he turned the tables fiercely upon the King. + +"He doubted very much that the throwing off an old servant who had served +the Crown in some trust near thirty years (who had the honour by the +command of his blessed father, who had left good evidence of the esteem he +had of his fidelity, to wait upon his Majesty when he went out of the +kingdom, and, by the great blessing of God, had the honour to return with +him again; which no other counsellor alive could say), on a sudden, +without any suggestion of a crime, nay, with a declaration of innocence, +would call his Majesty's justice and good nature into question." + +Charles had pretended to be working for his servant's safety, and in +accordance with what he thought that he desired. That servant brushes +aside his subterfuges, renounces his protection, and plainly tells him +that the course he proposes to follow will stamp him as an ungrateful +master, and drive every honest man to abandon his service. No wonder that +the King seemed "very much troubled." He pleaded the power of Parliament, +and how he was "at their mercy." Clarendon could only advise him not to +act the coward. He had a warning in the fate of Richard II. of what faint- +heartedness in a King might bring. In his last thrust Clarendon forgot--as +he himself admits--the bounds of prudence. "In the warmth of this relation, +he found a seasonable opportunity to mention the Lady with some +reflections and cautions, which he might more advisedly have declined." +The close of his final interview was perhaps an ill-chosen moment for +wounding the King's pride by another reference to the foul-mouthed +termagant, who now swayed the Court, and trampled on her royal lover with +the usual insolence of the pampered courtesan. + +The visit of the King and the Duke to Clarendon's chamber at Whitehall, +where the interview took place, lasted two hours, and at its end the King +rose in silence and retired ill-pleased. Meantime the tongues of the Court +gossips were busy. When the conference closed, the garden was filled with +a crowd of courtiers, eager to watch the countenance of the King. As the +Chancellor left the presence of his master, "the Lady, the Lord Arlington, +and Mr. May, [Footnote: Bab May, the Keeper of the Privy Purse, and +minister to Charles's pleasures. See _ante_, p. 244.] looked together +out of her open window with great gaiety and triumph, which all people +observed." The fallen Minister could spare a moment's attention, to mark +the dramatic fitness of the scene. [Footnote: Clarendon, _Life_, iii. 291. +Pepys gives us the scene with more detail (_Diary_, August 27). "Mr. +Pierce, the surgeon, tells me how this business of my Lord Chancellor's +was certainly designed in my Lady Castlemaine's chamber; and that, when he +went from the King on Monday morning, she was in bed, though about twelve +o'clock, and ran out in her smock into her aviary looking into Whitehall +Garden; and thither her woman brought her her nightgown; and stood joying +herself at the old man's going away; and several of the gallants of +Whitehall, of which there were many staying to see the Chancellor's +return, did talk to her in her bird cage; amongst others Blancfort (the +Marquis de Blanquefort), telling her she was the bird of Paradise."] + +Two or three days passed, during which the plot ripened amidst the gossip +of the quidnuncs. To those of his more sober-minded counsellors, who spoke +for the Chancellor, the King professed much kindness for him, but "he had +made himself odious to the Parliament, and was no more capable to do him +service." The Lady, Arlington, and Bab May still honoured him by their +fervent denunciation, and by their sure prediction of his speedy fall. +Evelyn visited him the day after his interview with the King, and "found +him in his bedchamber, very sad." "He had enemies at Court," Evelyn goes +on, "especially the buffoons and ladies of pleasure, because he had +thwarted some of them and stood in their way; I could name some of them." +The next day Evelyn dined with him, and found him "pretty well in heart, +though now many of his friends and sycophants abandoned him." Clarendon +knew the world too well to be surprised or grieved by such abandonment, or +to allow it to affect his fortitude. + +The Duke of York, none of the most adroit or persuasive of advocates, +still stood his friend, and endeavoured to bend the purpose of the King. +Sir William Coventry, always--although afterwards he disclaimed it to +Pepys--one of the most pronounced of Clarendon's enemies, found it +necessary to resign his post of secretary to the Duke, and the place was +filled by one whom Clarendon suggested. It may be doubted whether the +change was meant as more than an outward sign to Clarendon that he still +retained his son-in-law's respect. The fight between his friends and +enemies still proceeded apace. When the Duke of York attempted to stem the +tide against him, Charles only replied, "that he had gone too far to +retire; that he should be looked on as a child if he receded from his +purpose." Selfishness and love of ease blunted Charles's judgment; they +did not interfere with that obstinacy which was a dominant trait in the +family character. Only two days later he took the decisive step, and sent +Secretary Morrice with a warrant under the sign manual, to demand the +seal.[Footnote: The seal was entrusted to Sir Orlando Bridgeman, as Lord +Keeper.] The Chancellor delivered it "with all expressions of duty to the +King." If Charles felt the stings of conscience for his sorry action, he +could comfort himself with the congratulations of the Court pandar, Bab +May. That worthy fell upon his knees, kissed the King's hand, and told him +"that he was now King, which he had never been before." [Footnote: See +Pepys, _Diary_, November 11, 1667.] It was an odd change, from the +dignified loyalty of Clarendon to the fulsome flattery of Bab May. Even +the scanty pride that had survived in one degraded by sottish debauchery +might have been nauseated by the contrast. + +Clarendon was mistaken if he thought that compliance with the King's +request had either satisfied the rancour of his enemies, or secured for +him the King's support. At first he hoped the storm was over, and after an +interval sufficient to show that he was conscious of no guilt, and sought +to hide himself from no inquiry, he intended to retire to the country, and +live as a private gentleman. He had no fear either of Parliament or of his +countrymen, and was ready to abide their question. He heard that the King +dreaded his assumption of the part of leader of a Parliamentary +opposition, and hastened to assure him that he had no such intention. His +friends still resorted to his house, and those who respected themselves +declined, at the bidding of an ignoble clique, to lessen the signs of +their respect for him. The King had not courage enough to forbid such +demonstrations; but at the instigation of his new confidants he sulked and +uttered vague hints, to which Clarendon's enemies gave open and more +definite utterance. They had secured the cordial alliance of Buckingham, +by persuading him that Clarendon had been at the root of his recent +prosecution. Thus reinforced they resolved to make their vengeance more +complete. + +The King had induced Clarendon to yield, as the only means by which the +wrath of Parliament could be stayed, and that had undoubtedly been the +pretext put forward to the King by Arlington, and those who acted with +him. But now they went further. So long as Clarendon remained at liberty, +they dreaded his influence, and persuaded the King that he would spread +suspicion and disaffection, and would obstruct every design of the +Government. Charles was weak enough to believe a slander, which no one who +has studied Clarendon's life and character can for one moment accept, and +which Clarendon himself had expressly repudiated. When the Duke of York +expostulated, Charles shuffled and prevaricated after his wont. "All might +have been quiet, if only the Chancellor had been more practicable; but he +had delayed so long, that now the King was compelled 'in the vindication +of his honour,' to give some reason for what he had done." Those who +praised the Chancellor so loudly were reflecting upon himself. But if he +were freed from these inconvenient demonstrations, the Chancellor would +not suffer, and he would use his sons as kindly as ever, Charles was not +rancorous, but his gleams of good nature only mark his cowardice more +strongly. + +In his Speech at the opening of Parliament on October loth, the King +attempted to smooth matters over. "There had been miscarriages;" but he +"had altered his counsels;" "what had been done amiss had been by the +advice of the person whom he had removed from his counsels, and with whom +he should not hereafter advise." No man ever betrayed a faithful servant +with more consummate self-abasement. + +The House was asked by some to thank the King "for removing the +Chancellor," but it was thought premature to do so, and a committee was +appointed to draft a reply. The King--so Clarendon's enemies represented-- +was offended by the omission, and the Court party pressed for a specific +vote, which should endorse his action in the dismissal. That was carried +after a keen debate, and by similar Court action it was pushed through the +House of Lords. The Duke remonstrated, but was told by the King "that it +should go the worse for the Chancellor if his friends opposed." We need +not be surprised that Charles doubled the weakness of the coward by the +allied blustering of the bully. + +Again the King thought that he had satisfied the rancour of Clarendon's +enemies, and had vindicated sufficiently the petty jealousy which he +himself still felt at the memory of the Chancellor's sway. But he soon +found that he had to satisfy more exigent taskmasters. Clarendon's power, +they urged, was only scotched, not killed. His influence would soon be +supreme, and "he would come to the House with more credit to do mischief." +Grounds of accusation were greedily sought for, and readily supplied, +[Footnote: Briefly stated, these were-- +1. That the Chancellor had advised the King to dissolve the Parliament and +said there could be no further need of Parliaments. That it would be best +for the King to raise a standing army, and govern by that. +2. That he had reported that the King was a Papist in his heart. +3. That he had advised the grant of a Charter to the Canary Company for +which he had received great sums of money. +4. That he had raised great sums of money by the sale of offices. +5. That he had introduced an arbitrary government into his Majesty's +several plantations. +6. That he had issued _quo warrantos_ against most corporations till +they paid him good sums of money. +7. That he received large sums for the settlement of Ireland. +8. That he had deluded the King, and betrayed the nation in all foreign +treaties. +9. That he had farmed the customs at under rates, in return for money. +10. That he had received bribes from the Vintners, to free them from +penalties due. +11. That he had raised a great state, and got grants of Crown lands. +12. That he had advised the sale of Dunkirk. +13. That he had caused letters under the great seal to be altered. +14. That he had arbitrarily raised questions of titles to land. +15. That he had been the author of the fatal counsel of dividing the fleet +in June, 1666. +16. That he had been in correspondence with Cromwell during the King's +exile.] and these contrivances soon resulted in a violent harangue from +Edward Seymour, who now made himself conspicuous in the attack upon the +fallen Minister. It is not easy to trace the special source of Seymour's +violence, but we can find sufficient to account for it in the character of +the man himself. He was of illustrious descent, as the head of the great +house of Seymour; [Footnote: Seymour was the direct representative of the +great Duke of Somerset, the Lord Protector; but the Dukedom had, by +special remainder, passed to a younger son, over the head of Edward +Seymour's ancestor. "You are of the family of the Duke of Somerset," said +William III. when he was first presented. "Pardon me, Sire," answered +Seymour, "the Duke of Somerset is of my family." ] possessed of abundant +wealth, and unbounded territorial interest in the west. But his birth and +wealth were accompanied by overweening pride and ambition, and by a +restlessness of rancorous temper that made him for more than a generation +a thorn in the side of every successive Government. With high ability, he +combined the character of a selfish voluptuary; and although possessed of +great wealth, his support was always to be bought by the offer of a place, +and he did not disdain the malpractices of a cozener in his eagerness to +increase his store. After serving as Speaker, he remained in the +Parliament, over which he had presided, as a captious and unruly partisan, +forgetting alike dignity and honour in his factious virulence. Such was +the spokesman chosen by Clarendon's enemies to frame the indictment. It +was enough for Seymour that the task seemed likely to gratify his own +ambition. His pride of birth and station no doubt gave a zest to the +attack upon one who had raised himself from the smaller squirearchy to the +place of foremost Minister. The Chancellor, he avowed vaguely, had +designed to govern by a standing army. Seymour swore that he would produce +ample proofs, and meantime he urged that a charge of treason should be +laid against Clarendon in the House of Lords. The wiser spirits, and those +who preserved some regard for the decencies of justice, refused to assent +to a course so flagrantly illegal, upon the unsupported clamour of an +arrogant youth. + +After protracted debate a committee was appointed to examine precedents in +cases of impeachment. On October 29th, it presented its report, and +another keen debate ensued. Some argued that they should prefer a general +impeachment, without adducing any special charge; others, like Maynard, +argued that "common fame is no ground to accuse a man where matter of fact +is not clear; to say an evil is done, and therefore this man hath done it, +is strange in morality, more in logic." As a result, another committee was +appointed to reduce the charge against the Chancellor into heads; and that +committee then formulated their charges in seventeen heads. Again a debate +ensued upon these charges. They were discussed _seriatim_, and the +sixteenth head was reached without one being found to involve a charge of +treason. + +But the zealots had now gone too far to turn back. Another of the band, +conspicuous for his profligacy even in a Court of libertines, Lord +Vaughan, the son of the Earl of Carbery, [Footnote: With bitterness, which +is perhaps pardonable, Clarendon gives him a line of unflattering +portraiture: "A person of as ill a face as fame, his looks and his manners +both extreme bad" (Clarendon, _Life_, iii. 317).] undertook to prove +another charge. The Chancellor, he avowed, had discovered the King's +secrets to the enemy. He was prepared to prove it, and, to stimulate the +virulence of those who were bent on Clarendon's ruin, Vaughan passed the +whisper along the benches, that this was in truth the source of the King's +anger against him. Charles, it would seem, had dissembled the cause of his +own jealousy to his Minister; he was content that it should be suggested +as a new incentive to that Minister's foes. Opposition was trampled upon, +and, with unseemly haste, on November 12th, Seymour was sent to the House +of Lords to impeach the Earl of Clarendon at the bar, and to desire that +his person be secured. + +A new stage in the fight now began. The House of Lords, weak as, in +Clarendon's opinion, it had often been in yielding to the encroachments of +the Commons, yet contained many members who were not prepared to abandon +the very semblance of justice, and of dignified procedure, either at the +bidding of a Court clique, or before the unseemly rancour of a party in +the House of Commons. They urged that the demand of the Commons should be +peremptorily refused, and they maintained their ground so firmly before +the blustering of those who were ready not only to commit, but to convict, +the Chancellor, in obedience to the dominant faction, that the debate was +perforce adjourned. The delay continued, and the dispute raged fiercely. +To the persecution of the Chancellor there was now added the additional +zest of a struggle between the two Houses, All business was suspended +while the fight went on. The angry clique saw all their schemes +threatened, the King found his cherished ease disturbed; by some means or +other the wrangle must cease. To those who refused to bend to the storm, +hints were conveyed that they were incurring the anger of the King. +Desperate plans were discussed; and if other means failed, a guard of +soldiers might be sent to arrest the Chancellor and convey him to the +Tower. How far Charles was privy to these designs, it is impossible to +say. Reverence for the law would be no potent motive either to him, or to +the gang who had for the moment secured his confidence. + +His friends urged Clarendon to make his escape. They saw the danger +increasing, and they guessed that no ill-timed interruption would be +placed in his way. Such an escape would relieve the King of a vexing +situation, and would satisfy those enemies who might, by means of it, +effectually destroy his reputation and his influence. An escape would +doubtless have been construed as an evidence of guilt; but to give way to +the malignity of his persecutors would at least have been better than +life-long imprisonment, or death upon Tower Hill. To yield to such advice +was not in keeping with Clarendon's character. He was eager to stand his +trial. Rightly or wrongly, he did unquestionably feel absolute confidence +in the support of his countrymen at large. Even were he proved to have +been mistaken, and were the power of his enemies greater than he reckoned, +he was yet ready to bear the consequences so long as his good name was +secure. Were he to fly, he would abase his pride before his foes, and +would give just ground for impugning his innocence. Nay, more, how could +he trust that he would not be captured at the first attempt to escape? It +might only be a trap laid by his enemies, who would bring him to trial +with that frustrated attempt as their securest evidence of his guilt. +Rumours were rife of the King's growing irritation, of the specific +charges to be preferred, of the proposed constitution of the commission by +which he was to be tried. The Duke of York, still faithful to the +Chancellor's cause, resolved to seek an explanation from the King. He +asked if his Majesty was determined either to have the Chancellor's life, +or his condemnation to perpetual imprisonment. Charles repudiated with his +usual facility, either idea, and swore that he wished the matter were +ended. Had the Chancellor, asked the Duke, ever proposed to govern by an +army? "Never," answered the King; "on the contrary, his fault was that he +always insisted too much upon the law." The Duke asked again, if he might +say as much to others. "With all my heart," said the King. + +The statement of the King was creditable, and gave hopes to Clarendon's +friends. But when the words were repeated, they were found to be +disheartening to the conspirators, who thereupon carried their complaints +to the King. "They had tried to serve him, and now knew not how to behave +themselves." Their weapons would be gone, if the King indulged in such +inconvenient candour. The messenger was repudiated by the King with just +as much readiness as he had shown in giving his original assurances. The +Duke remonstrated, and the King's only answer was "that he would be more +careful hereafter what he said to him." The Duke might surely have learned +that the King's candid truths were often uttered only to be repudiated +when convenient. + +Once more the petty scandals of licentious intrigue obtrude themselves at +the most critical juncture of a grave historic drama. In no transaction +where Charles was concerned could such sordid details be long absent. The +King's fancy had shortly before been attracted by a new denizen of the +"Lady's" drawing room, and he had become so infatuated with the charms of +Miss Stuart, [Footnote: Frances Teresa Stuart, born in 1648, was the +daughter of Dr. Walter Stuart, a cadet of the House of Blantyre. Her +father, an ardent Royalist, fled from the vengeance of Parliament, and +Frances was brought up at Paris, where her beauty and peculiar charm +attracted even royal attention. When she joined the household of Queen +Catherine in England, her loveliness captivated all hearts, and stirred +the fire of passion even in such a jaded voluptuary as the King. Her +subtle combination of virgin simplicity and adroit prudence only inflamed +him the more. For once he was consumed by an ardent love, and tortured by +a real jealousy. Hence his anger at the runaway match and all concerned in +it. + +Frances Stuart steered her course with safety through many quicksands, and +died, not without honour, in 1702.] that he had seriously contemplated a +divorce, which might enable him to offer her those terms of lawful +marriage which could alone overcome her stubborn virtue, or her ambitious +prudence. Whether any such designs were actually entertained or not, the +amorous hopes of the King were speedily disappointed by the lady's +marriage with the Duke of Richmond. The royal lover was ignominiously +defeated in the only sort of rivalry which seriously touched him, and the +pride of the jaded voluptuary was more easily wounded than the honour of +the King. His vanity was ruffled, and nothing was easier for Clarendon's +enemies than to inspire Charles with the belief that his Chancellor had +arranged the marriage as the best means of stopping his licentious freak. +The story was absolutely untrue; but the certainty that it had been +conveyed to the King [Footnote: An accidental meeting of the King with +Clarendon's eldest son, Lord Cornbury, at the door of Miss Stuart's +lodging, contributed, it is said, to the King's belief of the Chancellor's +agency in the matter. Ludlow can have had no personal knowledge of the +circumstances. But he does not scruple to describe the marriage as a +contrivance of Clarendon, "that old Volpone." Volpone was a character in +one of Ben Jonson's plays.] induced Clarendon to write to Charles a letter +which might well have stirred remorse even in a heart as hardened by +selfishness as his-- + +"MAY IT PLEASE YOUR MAJESTY, + +"I am so broken under the daily insupportable instances of your Majesty's +terrible displeasure, that I know not what to do, hardly what to wish. The +crimes which are objected against me, however passionately soever pursued, +and with circumstances very unusual, do not in the least degree fright me. +God knows I am innocent in every particular as I ought to be; and I hope +your Majesty knows enough of me to believe that I had never a violent +appetite for money that could corrupt me. But, alas! your Majesty's +declared anger and indignation deprives me of the comfort and support even +in my own innocence, and exposes me to the rage and fury of those who have +some excuse for being my enemies; whom I have sometimes displeased, when +(and only then) your Majesty believed them not to be your friends. I hope +they may be changed, I am sure I am not, but have the same duty, passion, +and affection for you that I had when you thought it most unquestionable, +and which was and is as great as ever man had for any mortal creature. I +should die in peace (and truly I do heartily wish that God Almighty would +free you from further trouble, by taking me to Himself) if I could know or +guess at the ground of your believing that I have said or done somewhat, I +have neither said nor done. If it be for anything my Lord Berkeley hath +reported, which I know he hath said to many, though being charged with it +by me he did as positively disclaim it; I am as innocent in that whole +affair, and gave no more advice or counsel or countenance in it, than the +child that is not born; which your Majesty seemed once to believe, when I +took notice to you of the report, and when you considered how totally I +was a stranger to the persons mentioned, to either of whom I never spake a +word, or received message from either in my life. And this I protest to +your Majesty is true, as I have hope in Heaven; and that I have never +wilfully offended your Majesty in my life, and do upon my knees beg your +pardon for any overbold or saucy expressions I have ever used to you; +which, being a natural disease in old servants who have received too much +countenance, I am sure hath always proceeded from the zeal and warmth of +the most sincere affection and duty. + +"I hope your Majesty believes, that the sharp chastisement I have received +from the best natured and most bountiful master in the world, and whose +kindness alone made my condition these many years supportable, hath enough +mortified me as to this world; and that I have not the presumption or the +madness to imagine or desire ever to be admitted to any employment or +trust again. But I do most humbly beseech your Majesty, by the memory of +your father, who recommended me to you with some testimony, and by your +own gracious reflection upon some one service I may have performed in my +life, that hath been acceptable to you; that you will by your royal power +and interposition put a stop to this severe prosecution against me, and +that my concernment may give no longer interruption to the great affairs +of the Kingdom; but that I may spend the small remainder of my life, which +cannot hold long, in some parts beyond the seas, never to return, where I +will pray for your Majesty, and never suffer the least diminution in the +duty and obedience of, + +"May it please your Majesty, + +"Your Majesty's most humble and most obedient subject and servant, + +"CLARENDON. + +"_From my house this 16th of November._" + +To our ears these words have something of exaggerated humility; as a fact +they only clothe in the formal language of the day, that overflowing and +sincere loyalty which Clarendon wore on a background of indomitable pride. +That pride was so fundamental, that the high-sounding adulation is made +almost more palpable by the evident restraint which he places upon his +underlying indignation. His love for the King was honestly felt; but it +was the fruit only of long past memories, of the tenderest associations of +his life, of his profound reverence for his first master. He scarcely even +recognized how utter was his contempt for the man himself, as he now was, +with all his vulgar licentiousness, all his superficial good nature, all +his essential selfishness and cynicism. Clarendon himself would have been +surprised had he known how much of that contempt he had unconsciously +revealed, by an occasional phrase, or a half-perceptible stroke of +sarcasm. The effect of the letter was plain enough, and it conveyed a +covert defiance from the fallen Minister, both to his faithless master and +to his triumphant foes. "Withdraw your charges, and I shall free you of my +presence, conscious of my own innocence; but do not expect that I shall +slip away like a scared criminal to avoid the consequences of my guilt, or +that your cowardly hints have power to move me." + +Charles was free to accept the letter as a passionate appeal from a loyal +servant to all that there was of self-respect and honour in his breast. If +he so accepted it, he acted as only the boundless selfishness of cynicism +could have suggested. He read the letter, held it over a candle until it +was consumed, and then calmly said that he wondered that the Chancellor +did not withdraw himself. But, indeed, we can scarcely doubt that the King +was astute enough to see that the letter was, in truth, a note of +defiance. If he was to play the craven, Charles was bid to play it in the +light of day. To such a master of shuffling and evasion, the clear-sighted +determination which made Clarendon insist upon a point of form in +demanding an open order to depart, and which compelled his refusal to +allow a triumph to his foes, might well seem incomprehensible. The result +was only that Clarendon was besieged with new suggestions that he should +escape, by a flight which it was more than hinted would be connived at. +Charles's unkingly task was to bring about by hint and stratagem, what he +was not man enough to prescribe by order. He satisfied Clarendon's enemies +by openly proclaiming his anger at the Chancellor's delays; he kept up a +pretence of compunction to Clarendon's friends, and begged them to +persuade him how wise and prudent flight would be. + +Herbert Croft, now Bishop of Hereford, was one of the emissaries of the +King. [Footnote: Croft belonged to a Roman Catholic family of some +importance. He had first been educated at St. Omer's, although afterwards +he was admitted to the Anglican Church, and became an object of Laud's +special patronage. This naturally secured to him the favour of Clarendon, +and, as a fact, Clarendon informs us that he had placed Croft under heavy +obligations. But the friendship had not continued. In later years Croft +showed latitudinarian tendencies in his writings, which may have been +apparent in his conversation at an earlier date, and may well have +alienated Clarendon. The fact, however, that Croft belonged to a family of +high rank and large possessions may still more probably have induced him +to feel jealous of the quick rise of the more plebeian Edward Hyde, and +may have bred ill-will between them.] He was no pleasing agent to +Clarendon. He was not churchman only, but also an aristocrat, of great +wealth, whose jealousy of Clarendon's newly acquired rank had made him, +like Seymour, keen to reduce the pride of one whom he deemed an upstart, +and led him to show ingratitude for Clarendon's early patronage. He sought +an interview with the Chancellor, through Clarendon's early and trusted +friend, George Morley, now Bishop of Winchester. He explained his mission +with all the awkwardness of one who had a double part to play. "He had +good authority for what he had to say." But he shunned any mention of the +King's name, until his more candid brother, the Bishop of Winchester, +blurted out, to Croft's annoyance, his previous confession to the Bishop +that he came by the orders of the King. He could not contradict the other, +but could only repeat that he could not be so mad as to interpose without +authority. The Chancellor was meant to infer the truth, but he was to have +no express assurance of it. All Croft could say was "that if Clarendon +would withdraw himself beyond the seas, he would pledge 'his own +salvation,' that no interruption to his journey would be given." + +The Chancellor was inconveniently deaf to innuendoes. If he had the +commands of the King, or clear evidence that the King desired it, he would +face even the discredit of retreat. Without such orders or such assurance, +he would consult his own honour, and abide the issue. Clarendon was +determined to play only with the cards upon the table. Croft fell back +upon his former subterfuge, and at length it was agreed that Clarendon +should have a pass under the royal warrant which would ensure him against +misconstruction. So the interview ended. + +But he had not sounded the depths of Charles's cowardice. Word came that +the King could not grant the pass; it would incense the Parliament; he +could not face the risk that he asked his aged and discarded servant to +run. Clarendon held to his former resolution. He would not obey even his +sovereign in a trick. His decision may have been stubborn and ill-advised; +it was at least courageous. His friends vainly sought to bend his will. +Ruvigny, the new French ambassador, who had come to deal with Clarendon as +first Minister, in his master's affairs, and had soon discerned his +altered situation, sent word to him of the intrigues he found at Court, +and advised his withdrawal to France, where he would find a ready welcome. +Clarendon remained immovable; and all the bluster of enemies, like +Seymour, who swore that the mob would wreak their vengeance on Clarendon's +adherents, failed to crush hia will. With a pardonable triumph, Clarendon +tells us how he scorned to take a mean advantage which offered itself +against his adversaries. Arlington had made many enemies by his insolence, +and Coventry was deeply involved in charges of malversation in dealing +with the monies of the navy, and in selling offices in the Admiralty. +Clarendon's friends urged him to divert the storm from himself by +betraying the misdeeds of these his foes. The suggestion was made in vain. +"No provocation," he declared, "should dispose him to do anything which +would not become him." These men were Privy Councillors, and of what he +saw amiss in them, he could inform the King. It was no business of his to +protect his own innocence by counter charges. He would leave them to their +fate. He would neither cower before the storm, nor divert it by spreading +scandal against others. + +It seemed as if the deadlock between the two Houses, and the tortuous +twistings of the King and the angry faction that had acquired his +confidence, had come to an insoluble entanglement. + +The knot was at length loosed by the Duke of York's intervention. James +had now recovered from an attack of small-pox, which had temporarily laid +him aside, and he received the personal commands of the King to "advise +the Chancellor to be gone." The Duke had no alternative but to convey this +message, through the Bishop of Winchester, to Clarendon. The King had +yielded to Clarendon's terms, so far as to send, through his brother, what +was next to a personal order. Hyde, however reluctant, had no alternative +but to obey. On the night of November 29th, he took coach, with two +servants only. A boat was ready for him at Erith, and he there embarked. +He had a stormy passage, which lasted three days and nights, and, sorely +against his will, as he knew the evil construction that would arise from +his resting on French soil, he was compelled to land at Calais. + +When the Chancellor left, he deemed it right in the interests of his own +honour, to leave a letter of explanation, which was read to the House of +Lords by the Earl of Denbigh. [Footnote: An early friendship, long +interrupted by estrangement during the Civil War, perhaps accounted for +Clarendon's choice of an intermediary. Basil Feilding, in age a +contemporary of Clarendon, was the son of William Feilding, whose marriage +to the sister of the first Duke of Buckingham had procured him advancement +at Court and high rank in the peerage as Earl of Denbigh. That Earl had +joined the Royalist forces, and died of wounds received in battle in 1643. +His son had, in 1628, been called to the House of Lords as Lord Feilding; +but for some reason, in spite of his antecedents, and the strong +remonstrances of his family, he joined the side of the Parliament, and +became one of their leading commanders. When Commissioner at Uxbridge, in +1645, he renewed his old intercourse with Hyde, who formed a high estimate +of his abilities, and Denbigh explained to Hyde his desire to get rid of +his present allies, and do something for the royal cause. "If any +conjunction fell out," he said, "in which by losing his life he might +preserve the King, he would embrace the occasion, otherwise he would shift +the best he could for himself" (_Hist. of Rebellion_, viii. 246). He +was one of several peers whose pride was wounded, and whose resentment +against Parliament was aroused, by the injury to their own order. He took +no part in the King's trial, and gradually withdrew from the Parliamentary +side. In 1660, he managed to prove himself of sufficient use to the +Royalists, to secure indemnity, and a certain degree of favour. He +retained enough of his former reputation as an ally of Parliament to be +characterized by Ludlow as "a generous man, and a lover of his country."] + +It grieved him, he said, that he should be the cause of difference between +the two Houses, and of obstruction to the business of the King. It was his +misfortune to stand accused of two charges, neither of which had any +foundation: that he had enriched himself wrongfully, and that he had been +sole and chief Minister, and was thus responsible for all miscarriages. As +to the first, he could only avow that he had received nothing, except by +the bounty of the King, beyond the lawful perquisites of his office, as +regulated by the traditions of the best holders of that office. For no +courtesies or favours, of which he had been the medium, had he ever +received as much as five pounds. He was now more than £20,000 in debt, +and, when his debts were paid, his estate was not worth two thousand a +year. All that he possessed did not amount to what the King in his bounty +had granted him--the gift of £20,000 when he first came over; £6000 from +the Crown estates in Ireland, and a yearly allowance to supplement the +scanty profits of his office. As Minister, he had only shared power and +responsibility with others; and it was notorious that, after the dismissal +of Secretary Nicholas, his influence had been greatly diminished. The new +appointments to the Privy Council had been, none of them, given to his +intimates, and many of them had gone to his most implacable enemies. As +for the mischief of the war, it had been undertaken against his earnest +advice, and his efforts to negotiate alliances, and to introduce order +into the conduct of the war, had been thwarted by the very men who now +charged him with the results of their own misdeeds. The conduct of foreign +affairs rested, not with him, but with the secretaries: and so far from +having been sole Minister, his advice had, of recent years especially, +been often opposed, solely because it was his. The storm now raised +against him was due only to his having discharged his duty without fear or +favour. He closes with these dignified words-- + +"This being my present condition, I do most humbly beseech your lordships +to retain a favourable opinion of me, and to believe me to be innocent +from those foul aspersions, until the contrary shall be proved: which I am +sure can never be by any man worthy to be believed. And since the +distemper of the time, and the difference between the two Houses in the +present debate, with the power and malice of my enemies, who give out that +I shall prevail with his Majesty to prorogue or dissolve this Parliament +in displeasure, and threaten to expose me to the rage and fury of the +people, may make me looked upon as the cause which obstructs the King's +service, and the unity and peace of the kingdom; I humbly beseech your +lordships, that I may not forfeit your favour and protection, by +withdrawing myself from so powerful a persecution, in hopes I may be able, +by such withdrawing, hereafter to appear and make my defence, when his +Majesty's justice, to which I shall always submit, may not be obstructed +or controlled by the power and malice of those who have sworn my +destruction." + +Not now only, but in the later years of his lonely banishment, Clarendon's +unbending courage saved him from despair, and he continued to hope for +brighter days. [Footnote: In his preface to his commentary on the Psalms, +addressed to his children, in 1670, he still hopes "that I shall yet +outlive this storm."] But he underrated the rancour and the twistings of +his enemies. The very men who had used every device to force him to +retire, and who knew that he was at Calais, now hypocritically urged that +the ports should be stopped, and pretended to be eager for his +apprehension. The Commons urged that he should be committed, in absence, +on the general charge of treason. The Lords declined to accede to their +request, and, in impotent revenge, the Commons resolved that his apology +should be publicly burned by the hangman. In this innocuous resolution the +Lords were persuaded to concur. + +From Calais Clarendon addressed the following memorable letter to the +University of Oxford:-- + +"GOOD MR. VICE-CHANCELLOR, + +"Having found it necessary to transport myself out of England, and not +knowing when it will please God that I shall return again, it becomes me +to take care that the University may not be without the service of a +person better able to be of use to them, than I am like to be. And I do +therefore hereby surrender the office of Chancellor into the hands of the +said University, to the end that they may make choice of some other person +better qualified to assist and protect them than I am. I am sure he can +never be more affectionate towards it. I desire you as the last suit I am +like to make to you, to believe that I do not fly my country for guilt, +and how passionately soever I am pursued, that I have not done anything to +make the University ashamed of me, or to repent the good opinion they once +had of me. And though I must have no further mention in your public +devotions, which I have always exceedingly valued, I hope I shall always +be remembered in your private prayers, as, good Mr. Chancellor, + +"Yours, etc., "CLARENDON. "Calais, Dec. 17, 1667." + +Archbishop Sheldon, his life-long friend, was elected as his successor. + +Clarendon stayed on at Calais, at a loss where he should turn. He knew the +suspicions which he might arouse, if he resorted to Paris, and meanwhile +wrote to the Earl of St. Albans, and desired to know whether he might +proceed to Rouen. The Earl of St. Albans acted as the representative of +the Queen Dowager, [Footnote: To whom he was generally believed to be +married.] and from her Clarendon could scarcely expect a cordial welcome. +St. Albans' reply was cold, but Clarendon learned both from him, and from +the Minister Louvois, that he had full permission to proceed to Rouen. At +first he received all courteous attention from the representatives of the +French Court. His only desire was to reach some mild climate before the +rigour of winter, which he was in no condition to sustain, should set in. +With all proper respect and escort, he passed on to Boulogne; from thence +to Montreuil, and next day to Abbeville. On Christmas Eve he reached +Dieppe, within a day's journey of Rouen. The gates of Dieppe were opened +at an unusually early hour next morning, at his request, to allow him to +begin that journey betimes. But, before he reached Rouen, a change had +come in his treatment by the French authorities. As he approached the +halting-place about noon, he was stopped by a gentleman on horseback, who +inquired whether "the Chancellor of England was in the coach," and, on +learning that he was, presented to him a letter from the French King, +desiring him to follow the directions which the bearer would give him. +These were, that his presence in France might occasion a breach between +the Crowns; that he was to make what speed he could to quit the dominions +of the king; and the bearer was to escort him, for his accommodation, +until he saw him out of France. + +Clarendon was sorely perplexed by this unexpected message, which was +explained by the negotiations now on foot between the French and English +Crowns. It was with difficulty that he persuaded his appointed escort to +accompany him to Rouen, rather than return to Dieppe, which the escort +would have preferred as the shortest way out of France. The journey to +Rouen was a hard one, and the Chancellor was bruised by repeated +overturnings of the coach. He was in no state to make forced journeys, and +begged time to write to Paris, and ask for less stringent orders. With +difficulty this small concession was obtained. But the reply from the +French Court only brought more peremptory orders to expedite his +departure. His health was now grievously broken. The severity of the +weather, the rapidity of his journeys under the most trying conditions, +above all, the anxieties and perplexities of his position, had brought on +an aggravated attack of the gout, and he was unable either to stand or +walk. Again he pleaded for that delay and consideration which even the +most meagre courtesy and the barest humanity regard as the prerogative of +the sick. He had no wish to linger on the inhospitable soil of France, and +desired only to reach Avignon, so that he might be beyond the King's +boundary; but he begged at least to be allowed to rest at Orleans. The +reply was barbarous in its peremptoriness. "His Majesty was much +displeased that he had not made more haste; if he chose to pass to +Avignon, he might rest one day in ten, which was all his Majesty would +allow." + +Meanwhile the virulence of his enemies at home was as relentless as the +barbarity of the French Court. The party which still adhered to him in +both houses was sufficiently large to be formidable to his opponents, who +could only feel themselves secure by his perpetual banishment. On the +pretext that he had fled from justice, a Bill of Banishment was passed +through both Houses, by which he was pronounced incapable of returning to +the country unless he surrendered before February 1st. It might have been +thought that it transcended even the bounds of Charles's shifty cowardice, +to give his assent to a Bill which imposed a punishment on his late +Minister, solely because he had done what the King commanded him to do. +But even to this depth the King descended. It was in vain that the Duke of +York urged that it was the King's own order that betrayed Clarendon into +making that escape from which his own judgment was so averse. Charles +could only plead "that the condescension was necessary for his own good," +and that he must compound with those who would else press for worse. +Charles shared in that fantastic pride of his family that often betrayed +them to their fall; in him it was united with a depth of abasement to +which only the selfish libertine could descend. What is strangest of all +is, that a man guilty of such meanness should yet have attracted to +himself such wealth of generous loyalty. + +When the news arrived that the Bill of Banishment had received the King's +assent, Clarendon resolved to make all haste back to England, before the +appointed day. All thought of Avignon was abandoned, and, at the risk of +his life, he pushed on to Calais. There he arrived on the last day of +January, a broken, and, it might well appear, a dying man. He was carried +helpless to bed, and there lay unable even to read the letters from +England, and incapable of thought and of speech. Even the wretched +emissary of the French Court, Le Fonde, was fain to leave him for a few +days, on what seemed to be his death-bed; but fresh orders compelled him +again to undertake the irksome task of harrying the sick-bed of a dying +man. "He must leave town next day; a few hours would carry him into +Spanish territory." + +Clarendon's old heat of temper burst out once more. The conversation was +in Latin, and the Chancellor's sick brain did not at once supply him with +sufficient store of classical phrases to express his wrath. At last he +told the Court emissary "that he must bring orders from God Almighty, as +well as from the King, before he could obey." The struggle still went on: +on the one side, the unlucky envoy of the Court was compelled to pursue +his degrading persecution; on the other hand, Clarendon and his physicians +urged the murderous cruelty of the King's orders. At length, in a last +burst of passion, he told the King's messenger that, though the King was a +great and powerful prince, he was not yet so omnipotent as to make a dying +man strong enough to undertake a journey. The King might send him a +prisoner to England, or carry his dead body into Spanish territory; but he +would not be the author of his own death by undertaking a journey which +was beyond his powers. Le Fonde was left to do his best to reconcile the +ruthless orders of his master with Clarendon's resolute appeal to a power +higher than that of kings. + +But of a sudden the scene changed. The negotiations between England and +France had failed, and the French Court no longer found themselves +compelled to sacrifice courtesy, and even humanity, in order to conciliate +a hopeful alliance. They had harassed Clarendon to please the English +Court; they were now to pay him every courtesy in order to show their +carelessness of English interests. The French Government had, perhaps, +found that a common hatred of Clarendon was not an enduring bond amongst +his enemies, and that the new administration of England rested on no very +secure foundation. A letter now reached him from the French Minister, +announcing that nothing was further from his Christian Majesty's wish than +in any way to endanger his health. All France was open to him, and the +King's subjects would have orders to pay him all honour. Le Fonde rejoiced +at this relief from a thankless task. He came now to say that he was to +attend the Chancellor, only to receive his orders. + +This happy alteration relieved Clarendon of his worst anxieties. He was no +longer a hunted fugitive, but an honoured guest. The rancour of his +enemies in England, however bitter, had now spent its force, and he could +despise it. His sons still held their places at Court. His household now +attended him, and the savage provisions of the Act of Banishment no longer +prevented the easy passage of correspondence between Clarendon and his +family and friends. + +He was still grievously ill, and for six weeks more be was confined to +bed. But as his health recovered he determined still to pass to Avignon, +by way of Rouen, and to take a course of the waters of Bourbon on the way. +He was not prepared to place undue trust in the new-found courtesy of the +French Court. + +It was on April 3rd, 1668, that he was strong enough to begin his journey. +We are again reminded of the hardships of travel in the France of the +Grand Monarch, when we read of repeated overturnings of his coach, and of +perils both by land and water that pursued the poor Chancellor, even under +the careful escort of attentive Court messengers. It was not till April +23rd that he left Rouen, and the stay for the next day was at Evreux, +where he had a most untoward experience. It chanced that a company of +English sailors, who appear to have been serving as a mercenary troop of +artillery in the French army, heard of the Chancellor's arrival. The +drunken crowd got out of hand, and vague memories of the naval pay of +which they had been bilked prompted them to take vengeance for old arrears +upon the luckless Chancellor, whom they deemed responsible for all the +misdeeds of the Admiralty. Old echoes of "Dunkirk House," and the ill- +gotten gains of Ministers who fattened on the plunder of poor men, were +doubtless ringing in their muddled heads. + +It would be absurd to attribute any political meaning to the incident, or +to suppose that it had any connivance from the French Government. The inn +where Clarendon alighted was attacked by the riotous mob. The local +magistrates were incapable of dealing with the riot, and were perplexed as +to the limits of their jurisdiction. Clarendon's attendants made what +defence they could, and Le Fonde, his former persecutor, and now his +courteous escort, received a dangerous wound in his defence. It was like +to go hard with the Chancellor himself. At the beginning of the fray, he +was struck a violent blow on the head with the flat of a broadsword. The +rioters used him with great violence, rifled his pockets and his baggage, +and dragged him into the courtyard to dispatch him with their swords. Not +a moment too soon, the commanding officer of the English sailors, with +some magistrates and a guard, broke into the inn, and rescued Clarendon, +when he seemed at the point of death. It looked as if his troubles were +not over; the magistrates were ready to fight upon the question of their +own jurisdiction, and would allow no one else to show that vigour of +resistance to the rioters of which they were themselves incapable. It was +only on Le Fonde's vigorous remonstrance, and his threats of the royal +vengeance on their remissness, that proper steps were taken for the safety +of the company. The Chancellor and his attendants obtained lodgings in the +neighbouring castle of the Duc de Bouillon. Having escaped from the perils +of the mob, Clarendon had to resist the equally dangerous designs of the +French physicians, who wished to perform the operation of trepanning. With +what haste he might, he pressed on to Bourbon, and, after some stay there, +he reached Avignon in June, Such satisfaction as he could find, in the +exemplary punishment of the rioters and in the gracious apologies of the +King, was readily accorded by his hosts of France. + +At Avignon he reached a haven of refuge, where he might rest from the +troubled experiences of the year that was past. It had, indeed, been one +of trial sufficient to test the staunchest courage. Within little more +than twelve months, he had lost his oldest and most trusted colleague, +Lord Southampton. His home had been made desolate by the death of his +wife. He had seen the growing boldness of his enemies, had detected their +ruthlessness in falsehood and in knavery, and had found that his loyalty +to the Crown was to go for nothing, and that his trust in the honour of +the King was based on no sound foundation. Against his own judgment, he +had resigned the seal, in order that the King's business might prosper, +and that the bitterness of his enemies might be assuaged. When he had been +persuaded to resign, he had found that his resignation was to be a new +ground of triumph for his enemies, and that it was a foothold for a new +attack. By the threat of prosecution they strove to drive him to fly, and +when he refused to yield to their threats, they contrived to make the King +the agent in their knavish schemes, and procured from him the peremptory +message which made Clarendon quit the field. No sooner was he gone, than +the very flight which they had contrived was made the ground of new +accusations, and he was sentenced to perpetual banishment for avoiding a +trial for which no summons had been issued, no indictment laid, no +commitment made. Stricken down by illness, he could not meet their +challenge by the date enjoined, and the beginning of February found him a +proscribed exile, a persecuted fugitive, hounded from post to post, a +stricken invalid, longing for the release of death. A few weeks brought +some relief at least to the stout spirit that had borne so much. His +enemies at home had sped their last bolt, and were fast becoming absorbed +in their own sordid quarrels. The French King had abandoned the barbarity +of which his own servants were ashamed, and addressed the honoured exile +in terms of gracious and almost fulsome courtesy. That exile reached the +haven of Avignon, to be received there not only without any of the +annoyance of suspicious espionage, but with all the courtesies that could +be paid to an honoured guest. The Vice-Legate and the Archbishop vied with +one another in the formal stateliness of their reception. The consuls and +the magistrates attended him with all ceremony, and paid him their service +in a Latin oration. The Court of St. James's might reject him, but the +high functionaries of European diplomacy accorded to him all that tribute +of respect which was due to the man who had shaped the policy of the +restored English monarchy, and had raised the standard of English +statesmanship. Clarendon was not too proud to feel his sense of self- +complacency flattered by such homage, and we like him none the less +because he allows his satisfaction to appear. + +Thus closes the political career which we have endeavoured to trace from +its first beginnings, through the period of long and arduous struggle, +amidst the clouds of exile and poverty, and once more in the full sun of a +triumphant restoration, largely contrived by his wisdom, and dominated by +his guiding hand. We have seen the disappointments that marred that +triumph, and the ignoble stain that smirched the ideal of a restored +monarchy which he had formed. We have seen how, one by one, his cherished +aims had been defeated, and how a King, the slave of selfish libertinism, +and a Court, the scene of gross debauchery and undisguised corruption, had +tempted him to despair of England. We have seen how high he bore himself +amidst the degraded crew, and how boldly he attacked the scandals of the +Court, and rebuked the craven self-indulgence of the King. We have marked +how the various factions that felt uneasy under his sway, gradually +coalesced into a rancorous opposition, that knew no bounds in the meanness +of their intrigues, and in the barefaced falsehood of their accusations. +We have seen how the King stooped to be their instrument, and allowed +himself to be the tool of their deceptions. Clarendon became an exile, +and, after a brief period of inhuman persecution from a false view of +diplomatic expediency, he received the homage of European Powers, as an +honoured guest. In honouring him, they showed what they thought of England +under the Cabal. Of what England lost in Clarendon, we can allow the +sordid history that followed his fall to afford a sufficiently sure and +graphic indication. + +It is no part of Clarendon's biography to linger over the revolting +details of that disgraceful time. Even in Clarendon's day, the King had +lamentably failed to maintain his dignity or to discharge his task. His +life now outraged all decency, and his Court fell below the standard of +the common bagnio. His prime favourite and his chief Minister was +Buckingham, stained by every crime, at once coward and bully, haughty in +his arrogant insolence, and yet stooping to intrigues that would have +disgraced the veriest rogue from the hulks. In the course of what seems to +have been rather a riotous brawl, than an honourable duel--a brawl in +which seconds as well as principals took part, and in which more than one +life was lost--the King's First Minister killed Lord Shrewsbury, the +husband of his paramour. The town was filled with the scandal, but by the +personal influence of the King, it was withdrawn from the courts of law. +Buckhurst and Sedley, the chosen associates of the King in his notorious +bouts of drunken debauchery, roused disgust by a freak of sickening +lewdness; the only result was the committal to prison, by the order of the +Lord Chief Justice, and at the behest of the King, of the constable who +interfered with the indecent escapade. We have a proof of the change that +had come since Clarendon's controlling hand had gone, when we remember +that some three years before, the same Buckhurst, for a similar outbreak +of indecency, was rated in terms of scornful rebuke by the King's Bench +Judges, and was bound over to good behaviour by a bond of £5000. The +King's harem was augmented by a flower-girl, who had attracted attention +on the stage, and was the discarded mistress of two of the King's +associates. Clarendon lamented what he had seen, as a sad lapse from +dignity, a grievous fall from the ideals that he had hoped for. What +followed was nothing but a carnival of mad obscenity. Samuel Pepys was no +squeamish critic; but even he was moved to some earnestness of indignation +at the foul orgies in which Charles and his new associates indulged, in +shameless publicity. As was natural, such advisers were no careful +guardians of Parliamentary or popular liberty. What attention could be +spared from debauchery was given to degrading compacts by which the King +was to be the submissive pensioner of Louis; to plans for thwarting the +prerogative of Parliament; to secret intrigues for subverting the +Protestant religion. If the cost to England of his fall was to be measured +by the depth of dishonour, and the flagrantly treasonable plots, of those +who followed him, Clarendon was triumphantly vindicated, and his wrongs +were amply avenged. + +In spite of the cordiality of his reception, Clarendon did not find +Avignon a desirable residence in the heat of summer. The streets had an +ill savour "by the multitude of dyers and of silk manufactures, and the +worse smell of the Jews," and he presently moved on to Montpelier, where +he made a lengthened stay. His reception was as courteous as before, and +this he ascribed to the good offices of Lord and Lady Mordaunt, old +friends whom he recommends to the good offices of his children. "When any +English came thither," he tells us, "none forbore to pay respect to the +Chancellor"; and, with a certain pride, he records how Sir Richard +Temple's refusal to visit Clarendon caused "a general aversion towards +him," so that he was compelled to quit the town, where "he left behind him +the reputation of a very vain, humorous, and sordid person." The good +Chancellor was not above the human capacity of a very cordial hatred, or +the inclination to feel piqued at a failure of kindly courtesy. + +He was now at ease, and in peace of mind. His health, although undermined +by long and painful illness, was sufficiently restored to enable him to +indulge his old habits of intellectual activity. "It pleased God in a +short time, after some recollections, and upon his entire confidence in +Him, to restore him to that serenity of mind, and resignation of himself +to the disposal and good pleasure of God, that they who conversed most +with him could not discover the least murmur of impatience in him, or any +unevenness in his conversations." Clarendon is none the less lovable, +because a good conscience preserved for him his old self-complacency. His +studies were again renewed. He made himself master of the French language +so far as the reading of its literature was concerned. The power of +speaking the language he, like many another, found "many inconveniences +in." He made a competent progress also in Italian. + +But his chief work was the preparation of his defences against the +seventeen clauses of the charges formulated against him in the Commons. +These were so extravagant that his accusers never sought to make them the +foundation of an indictment, and he had little difficulty in showing their +baselessness, and how much they contradicted the clearest features of his +policy, and the most notorious evidence as to his acts. The Vindication +carefully avoided anything that reflected on the King, and he left it to +his children, to whom it was conveyed by Lord and Lady Mordaunt, to choose +their own time for making it public. He was careful not to prejudice that +position at Court which they still owed to Charles's sense of justice. + +His serenity was disturbed only by two lingering apprehensions. The first +was the insufficiency of his means to maintain the establishment which his +crippled health rendered necessary. For that he could only trust the +affection and piety of his children, who, he doubted not, would do their +best to transmit to him, from their estates or his own, enough to secure +the decencies of life in a foreign land. The other more serious +apprehension was the fear that the machination of his enemies might still +have power to prejudice the French Court against him. He saw enough to +know that that Court still viewed his presence on French soil with some +nervousness. He could only soothe his anxieties by his trust in +Providence, and by the company of his books. "God blessed him very much in +this composure and retreat." + +He did not spare himself in his reflections on what had been amiss in his +own conduct. "There was nothing of which he was so ashamed, as he was of +the vast expense he had made in the building of his house." He could only +excuse, but not justify it. This is an old topic of accusation, to which +we have already alluded, but we may revert to it once again. Since the +Restoration, Clarendon had commanded little leisure to find a suitable +house, and had moved frequently from one to another. At first he had +resided at Dorset House, in Fleet Street, once occupied by Bacon, and +formerly the town house of the Bishop of Salisbury. From there he went to +Worcester House, [Footnote: The residence of the Marquis of Worcester +(previously Lord Glamorgan), and used by Cromwell during the Commonwealth] +for which he paid the large rent of £500 a year. After the Fire, he moved +to Berkshire House, in St. James (on the site of the present Bridgewater +House), which became known as Cleveland House when adopted as the +residence of Lady Castlemaine, then Duchess of Cleveland, in 1668. York +House, Twickenham, was assigned to him after the marriage of his daughter +to the Duke of York, and there the Princess, afterwards Queen Anne, was +born. It was only after many changes that he ventured, in the full tide of +his prosperity, and with the encouragement of the King, to provide a house +of his own; but his ignorance of architecture--and probably also his +absorption in weightier affairs--made him the victim of the architect, +[Footnote: The architect was Pratt. The house was built during Clarendon's +absence from London in the Plague year, when Parliament sat at Oxford.] +who estimated the cost at less than one-third of what it came to, which +was £50,000. He found himself not only involved in debt, but the mark of +envious scandal for the pride and ostentation of his dwelling. Yet when +its sale was proposed to him "he remained so infatuated with the delight +he had enjoyed, that, though he was deprived of it, he hearkened very +unwillingly to the advice." A lingering hope remained that he might still +live there, in all the pride of a restored good name. A weakness so +confessed may readily be forgiven. The harm it did was only to his own +estate. [Footnote: Evelyn, as we have seen (_ante_, p. 254) had +praised the house more guardedly than Pepys, but in a letter to Lord +Cornbury (Jan. 20, 1665/6) he speaks of it with perhaps courteous excess +of admiration. "Let me speak ingenuously," he says: "I went with +prejudice, and a critical spirit, incident to those who fancy they know +anything in art. I acknowledge to your Lordship that I have never seen a +nobler pile.... It is, without hyperbolies, the best contrived, the most +useful, graceful, and magnificent house in England." He enters into the +details of the building, and concludes thus: "May that great and +illustrious person, whose large and ample heart has honoured his country +with so glorious a structure, and by an example worthy of himself, showed +our nobility how they ought indeed to build, and value their qualities, +live many long years to enjoy it; and when he shall be passed to that +upper building, not made with hands, may his posterity (as you, my lord) +inherit his goodness, this palace, and all other circumstances of his +grandeur, to consummate their felicity." + +Evelyn may best be allowed to tell of the passing of Clarendon's +architectural glory. It is in the _Diary_ for September 18, 1683. + +"After dinner I walked to survey the sad demolition of Clarendon House, +that costly and only sumptuous palace of the late Lord Chancellor Hyde, +where I have often been so cheerful with him, and sometimes so sad; +happening to make him a visit but the day before he fled from the angry +Parliament, accusing him of maladministration, and being envious at his +grandeur, who, from a private lawyer, came to be father-in-law to the Duke +of York, and, as some would suggest, designing his Majesty's marriage with +the Infanta of Portugal, not apt to breed; to this they imputed much of +our unhappiness, and that he being sole Minister and favourite at his +Majesty's restoration, neglected to gratify the King's suffering party, +preferring those who were the cause of our troubles. But perhaps as many +of those things were injuriously laid to his charge, so he kept the +Government far steadier than it has since proved. I could name some who, I +think, contributed greatly to his ruin, the buffoons and the _misses_, to +whom he was an eye-sore. 'Tis true he was of a jolly temper after the old +English fashion; but France had now the ascendant, and we were become +quite another nation. The Chancellor gone, and dying in exile, the Earl +his successor sold that which cost £50,000 building to the young Duke of +Albemarle for £25,000, to pay debts which how contracted remains yet a +mystery, his son being no way a prodigal.... However it were, this stately +palace is decreed to ruin, to support the prodigious waste the Duke of +Albemarle had made of his estate since the old man died. He sold it to the +highest bidder, and it fell to certain rich bankers and mechanics, who +gave for it and the ground about it £35,000; they design a new town as it +were, and a most magnificent piazza.... See the vicissitudes of earthly +things!" + +In June of the following year Evelyn found streets and buildings--Bond +Street and Albemarle Street--encroaching on the beauty of the site. The +fall of Clarendon House had tempted Lady Berkeley to turn her gardens into +squares, and she actually realized the then amazing amount of £1000 a year +"in mere ground rents"! "To such a mad intemperance has this age come of +building about a city by far too disproportionate already to the nation." +If Evelyn's ghost still haunts the scene, what are its reflections now?] + +At the date of his banishment, Clarendon was not an old man, as age is +generally reckoned. He had not yet reached the age of sixty years, which +finds many men in possession of their full powers. But ill health, +anxiety, long years of hardship and incessant labour, had combined to make +him prematurely old. For a time, indeed, it seemed as if he could only +survive his fall by a few weeks or months, and as if his work were to +finish when he left his country for the last time. But his indomitable +energy, and the brave spirit that sustained him, brought back first a +tolerable measure of good health; then serenity of mind; and, lastly, that +industry which opened to him, in the reading and in the making of books, a +new world from which all the sordid pettiness, and the infinite +annoyances, of the political arena were banished. There is but little more +to tell of that strenuous life, which had seen so much of storm and +tempest, varied by gleams of sunshine, and, above all, illuminated by an +imagination so rich, and by an historic sense so gorgeous and so inspiring +to a man whose life was spent in making history. From what his pen has +left us, from that incomparable history where the scenes in which he had +played so great a part, and the actors amongst whom he had moved, are +portrayed with such dramatic force, we can easily picture to ourselves how +vivid were Clarendon's memories, and how richly the days of his retirement +were peopled with the thoughts of what had been. The respect paid to him, +the homage accorded to his great achievements and his great name, were not +merely soothing to his personal vanity--they served to bring him closer to +those historic scenes in which he had moved. He had still the invaluable +treasures of industry and hope. He could still add to that which he would +leave to his world; he could still hope that he might see his country, and +be honoured as of old by his countrymen. We must accept Clarendon as +nature made him. For him life was a large stage, on which he must act his +part with dignity. Like Ulysses, he "was a part of all that he had known"; +he could not rest from effort; if he could not act great deeds, he could +still wield his pen in stately eloquence. + +It was, he tells, the third of the retreats from a life of trouble and +vexation, which Heaven had granted him, and which he reckoned amongst his +choicest blessings. After the storms of the Civil War, he had one such +retreat at Jersey, when the Prince had, much against his advice, left for +France. In that first retreat he had gained much. He learned to know +himself better, and other men more truly. His youth had been engaged in +company and conversation, and in the full tide of early success at the +bar, followed by absorption in the turmoil of politics, he had moved on +the quick current, and had not had leisure for contemplation, or for +studying the ways of men. His early life had been one "of ease and +pleasure and too much idleness"; it was only the instinct of association +with men whom he could respect, that preserved him from "any notable +scandal," and made him live, as he naively tells us, at least +"_caute_, if not _caste_." Too much idleness he had exchanged for +too much business. The retreat at Jersey had come just when it was well +"to compose those affections and allay those passions, which, in the +warmth of perpetual actions, and chafed by continual contradictions, had +need of rest, and cool and deliberate cogitations." He learned "how blind +a surveyor he had been of the inclinations and affections of the heart of +man," and how warily he must walk who would avoid the pitfalls of human +intercourse. + +The next retreat came during the two years of his Embassy in Spain. It +gave him a respite from the petty, but none the less rancorous, bickerings +of the exiled Court. It offered him a new period of intercourse with his +books. It opened a new world to him in the intricacies of European +diplomacy. Above all, it allowed him once again to renew that spirit of +fervent religious devotion, which always served as the background of his +busy life. + +Now, in this the third of his retreats, spent and wearied, and, as it +might seem, baffled, he could find consolation in the opportunity of once +more adding to his intellectual stores, enriching his bequest to the +world, and amplifying the proud record which should serve as his +vindication to posterity. In his "Devotions on the Psalms," in his replies +to Cressy and to Hobbes, in a crowd of miscellaneous essays on those +general ethical topics which were suited to the taste of that day, and +have proved singularly ill-adapted to the taste of our own; above all, in +the completion of his great _History of the Rebellion_, with which he +incorporated his autobiography, Clarendon found abundant employment for +his crowded leisure. + +He remained at Montpelier until June, 1671, and thereafter resided at +Moulins, until the spring of 1674. He had the comfort of abundant friends, +of frequent correspondence, and of occasional visits from his sons, Lord +Cornbury, and Lawrence Hyde. [Footnote: Lawrence Hyde is always referred +to as "Lory" in his father's correspondence. He became Earl of Rochester.] +The management of his property, so far as he could carry it out in exile, +was a source of some annoyance, but doubtless also helped to keep alive +his hope of a return to his country and his home. We have no details of +his life in exile. We only know enough to show that it was one of no +listless indolence, no craven depression, and no vain repining. Clarendon +died, as he had lived, with energy unconquered, with hope unabated, still +clinging to all that made human life more noble in action, more stately in +its ordering, more lofty in its ideals. Alike by temperament, by training, +by all that had roused his enthusiastic devotion, and attracted his +passionate loyalty, and by the moulding of a long experience of struggle +and of suffering, he was apt to frame these ideals on the historic records +of the past. It was not his to strike out daring enterprises or to +initiate sweeping reforms. He built upon the associations that had been +handed down to him. But the memory of his achievements, marred and blurred +as these were by sordid surroundings, ignoble intrigues, and the +disappointments that tried his loyalty, was none the less precious; nor +was the inheritance of his literary accomplishment the less valuable. Can +England point to one who at once filled a larger part in her history, and +left a more enduring monument in the annals of her literature? + +Vexations still came to him in these closing years of exile. He had the +bitter mortification of learning, on evidence which he strove to think was +not fully proved, that his daughter had betrayed the traditions of his +house and of his teaching, and had been persuaded to accept those +doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church, which he held to be false to the +truth, and dangerous to the welfare of his country. In dignified words, he +strove to turn her from that error with all the weight of a father's +authority, which her exalted position as the wife of the Heir Presumptive +did not, in his view, weaken or control; but he heard of her death on +March 3lst, 1671, in the thirty-fourth year of her age, as the avowed +adherent of a Church of which he had all his life been a convinced +opponent. In June, 1671, through his son Lawrence, then returning from a +visit to Moulins, he addressed a letter to the King, beseeching him, in +memory of all his tried service and his devoted loyalty, to allow that he +should return to die in his own country. In August, 1674, he again +addressed the King, the Queen, and the Duke of York, in words of still +more earnest entreaty. + +"Seven years," he wrote to the Queen, in asking her aid, "was a time +prescribed and limited by God Himself for the expiration of some of his +greatest judgments, and it is full that time since I have with all +possible humility, sustained the insupportable weight of the King's +displeasure, so that I cannot be blamed if I employ the short breath that +is remaining in me, in all manner of supplication, which may contribute to +the lessening this burthen that is so heavy upon me. I do not presume to +hope ever to be admitted to your Majesty's presence. Though I have all +imaginable duty, I have no ambition, and only pray for leave to die in my +own country amongst my own children, which I hope his Majesty will at some +time vouchsafe to grant." + +"It is now full seven years," he wrote to the King, "since I have been +deprived of your Majesty's favour, with some circumstances of +mortification which have never been exercised towards any other man, and +therefore I may hope from your good nature and justice, that a severity +which you have never practised upon any other man for half the time, may +be diminished in some degree towards me." + +He prays "that you will at least signify your consent that I may return to +beg my bread in England, and to die amongst my own children." In terms as +strong and moving he besought the mediation of the Duke of York. But these +appeals, which might have touched the heart of the sternest tyrant, fell +dead upon the selfish cynicism of Charles, deaf at once to the calls of +honour, and to the gratitude due to unswerving loyalty. They met with no +response. + +In the spring of 1674, Clarendon moved to Rouen, indulging the hope of a +return to his country and his home, and eager to be nearer to answer any +summons sent by a relenting sovereign. But no such summons came, and the +weary exile was now at the end of his brave and strenuous labour. On +December 9th, 1674, he breathed his last. His son, Lord Cornbury, was +present at his deathbed, having been summoned when the end was near. The +French Court had granted him the privilege of making testamentary +provisions, which otherwise would not have been possible to him as a +foreigner on French soil. His will was dated on December 11th (French +style [Footnote: December 1st, according to the English calendar.]), but +it related only to his writings and papers, with which his heirs were to +deal subject to the advice of his old friends, Sheldon, Archbishop of +Canterbury, and Morley, Bishop of Winchester. He had probably disposed of +his other property by earlier gifts. His body was brought to England, and +was buried in the Henry VII. Chapel at Westminster. No monument marks the +spot where the great Minister rests amongst the monarchs whose throne he +served so well. [Footnote: The name was inscribed on the site of the +family vault, under Dean Stanley, in 1867. Clarendon's mother had been +buried there in 1661; and afterwards his third son, in 1664. It is at the +foot of the steps to Henry VII.'s Chapel.] We have endeavoured, from the +varied episodes of his life of strange vicissitude, and from the records +of his strenuous action, of his undaunted courage, and of his well-tried +loyalty, to draw the portrait of Lord Clarendon, to describe his character +as we conceive it, and to vindicate his place in history. We have not +sought to conceal his foibles, nor to palliate what may appear to some to +be his prejudices. We are concerned mainly to claim for him, as the first +of a long line of Conservative statesmen, a high ideal of statecraft, a +lofty patriotism, and a clear-sighted honesty of purpose. We admit, +without considering it necessary to apologize for, that impetuous temper, +which does not make us love him less, and those traits of self-complacency +which were a part of his fearless candour, and in no wise detract from the +dignity of his nature. We have tried to portray the secret of his +influence, his genius for friendship, and the wide range of his outlook +upon the drama of history. We have abundant evidence of the impression of +his personality upon life-long friends, and even upon doubtful critics. + +"He spoke well," says Burnet: "his style had no flaw in it, but had a just +mixture of wit and sense, only he spoke too copiously; he had a great +pleasantness in his spirit, which carried him sometimes too far into +raillery, in which he sometimes showed more wit than discretion." + +That is the verdict of an acute, but at best a lukewarm, judge. Elsewhere +Burnet writes: + +"Upon the whole matter, he was a true Englishman, and a sincere +Protestant, and what has passed at Court since his disgrace has +sufficiently vindicated him from all ill designs." + +"Sir Edward Hyde," writes Sir Philip Warwick, "was of a cheerful and +agreeable conversation, of an extraordinary industry and activity, and of +a great confidence, which made him soon at home at a Court... He had a +felicity both of tongue and pen, which made him willingly hearkened unto +and much approved." [Footnote: _Memoirs_, p. 196.] "I am mad in love +with my Lord Chancellor," says Pepys, "for he do comprehend and speak out +well, and with the greatest ease and authority that ever I saw man in my +life. I did never observe how much easier a man do speak when he knows all +the company to be below him, than in him." + +The gossipping diarist was no inapt observer of the ways of men, and had +no small experience. Evelyn was a more attached and grateful admirer. To +him, the great Chancellor was "of a jolly temper, of the old English +fashion." Yet Evelyn had known Clarendon when his courage was most tried, +when his hopes were baffled, and when the sordid crowd of courtiers and +profligates had baited him almost to the death. It is little touches like +these that fill in the picture of the man. + +Of his literary achievement this is not the place to speak. It has a +secure and proud niche in the annals of our literature. We have tried to +present him as the Statesman and the Man of Action, and as the tried, the +faithful, and the ungrudging, friend. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Life of Edward Earl of Clarendon V2 +by Henry Craik + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EARL OF CLARENDON V2 *** + +This file should be named 6671.txt or 6671.zip + +Produced by Anne Soulard, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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