Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IV.djvu/287

CHARLES (ENGLAND) 279 after the accession of Charles, the ratification took place, and after the lapse of about three months, during which delays occurred owing to the illness of Louis, the queen was received by Charles at Dover, formally married by him at Canterbury, and installed at Hampton court, the entrance of the royal party into the me- tropolis being prevented by the ravages of a terrible pestilence, said to be the most destruc- tive within the memory of man. The marriage itself was inauspicious ; all its influences, both social and political, were of evil consequence to both king and kingdom ; and the wife of Bucking- ham's bestowal was, to say the least, as fatal to the prospects of Charles as were the teachings and example of that minister, and the animosi- ty excited against the crown, among the com- mons, by his baseness. Charles I. had educa- tion, some accomplishments, and a calm, grave demeanor. He had, moreover, a personal purity of morals and dignity of virtue which gave a new tone to the court upon his accession. But he lacked quickness of perception, and was very hard to convince or persuade ; while his age was an age of transition, when new ideas were working, and new issues arising, demanding the most original as well as the most firm states- manship. James had continually talked about his royal prerogative. Charles tried consis- tently to establish and maintain the ideas of which his father had been content merely to talk. To the end of his life he adhered stead- ily to the autocratic notions with which he began. On the other hand, he had learned to dissemble ; dissimulation was what his father had called "kingcraft;" and Charles contin- ually sought to secure power by this means, and to one supposing his concessions to his people sincere he appears weak and vacillating. His public course was changeful and fickle, but his letters to his queen and confidants reveal his duplicity, and his consistency to his first idea. His first parliament met June 18, 1625. It was not lavish in granting supplies, and was dissolved Aug. 12, and the king levied taxes and raised loans by his own authority, to carry on the war against Spain. On Feb. 6, 1626, a second parliament met, and was as unready to vote money as the first. It also impeached Buckingham, whose unpopularity was now great. Charles dissolved the parliament, im- prisoned some of the leaders of the opposition, and then raised money again by his own au- thority. He also billeted soldiers on the peo- ple and proclaimed martial law in places. Al- though already at war with Spain, he plunged into another war with France, and tried to carry on both by forced loans and other illegal ex- pedients. But all expedients were inadequate, and he was at length forced to call a third par- liament, which met March 17, 1628. In this body the opposition was stronger than ever, and framed a " petition of right," which claim- ed that the king should not levy taxes except with the concurrence of parliament, nor subject the people to trials by courts martial, nor im- prison any subject without due process of law. Upon his assent to this was conditioned any grant of money. Charles at length agreed to the petition, and there was great rejoicing among the people ; but after getting the money voted, he imprisoned Eliot and other distin- guished members of the house of commons. In the mean time the English arms were covered with disgrace ; yet still the king persisted in retaining Buckingham at the head both of his councils and of his army, and that favorite was on the point of again setting sail from Ports- mouth at the head of an expedition to the coast of France, when he was assassinated by a man named Felton. The expedition sailed under another commander, but was too late and too inefficient to relieve La Rochelle, which, after having had the most positive assurances of re- lief from Charles, and after incredible sufferings, was obliged to surrender. Parliament reas- sembled, after its recess, Jan. 26, 1629, but gave little comfort to the king, and on March 10 he dissolved it, with such expressions as were understood to preclude the assembling of an- other; and from this time till April, 1640, he tried to rule without a parliament. Upon the dissolution of parliament in 1629, Wentworth, afterward Lord Strafford, who had been one of the opposition leaders, attached himself to the king. He was a man of great ability, but of unscrupulous character. He resolved to make Charles in fact the absolute monarch which he claimed to be, and he saw that the means to this end was a standing army. At the same time the ecclesiastical government of England was confided to Laud, who was made arch- bishop of Canterbury. Charles was a devoted churchman, and made as much of Laud's ec- clesiastical work as of Wentworth's political schemes. It is doubtful whether the nation would not have submitted to "Wentworth and endured a military despotism, had not the re- ligious tyranny of Laud goaded the people into rebellion. Wentworth revived the court of the star chamber, and organized the council of York, by which the whole administration of justice was put under arbitrary control, while the high commission exercised a similar tyranny in ecclesiastical matters. The king raised " ship money," and Hampden and others who resisted the illegal tax could get no re- dress. By the extreme high church assumptions of Laud, the Puritans of England were led to believe that Charles and his primate were bent on reintroducing the ancient worship of the Ro- man Catholic church ; and although the sus- picion was not true, yet, knowing that it exist- ed, none are to be blamed but they for persist- ing in a course of conduct which could but ag- gravate and confirm it. Ireland, in the mean time, by the oppressive government of "Went- worth, whose only object was to raise money in order to meet his master's exigencies with- out resorting to the aid of parliament, was driven to the verge of rebellion. Scotland, maddened by the king's attempt, at the instiga-