1641 STRAFFORD AT REST. 371 In happier times Pym and Strafford need never have clashed together, save in the bloodless contests of parliamentary debate. Contem porary opinion on his death. Doubtless it was well for Strafford himself that he found no mercy. What a lot would have been his if he had lived to hear, from behind the prison-bars, of the rout of Naseby and the tragedy of Whitehall! What a far worse lot would have been his if he had lived to break away from his obligations, and to help the King to a victory which could only be made secure by the establishment of military rule! A pamphlet of the day represented the case more truly than is generally to be expected from such ephemeral productions. When Charon, we are told, was ferrying over the Styx the latest arrival, he complained that his boat was sinking under the unwonted weight. He is informed that the explanation is easy. That passenger had swallowed three kingdoms. On landing, Strafford is accosted by Noy, who asks him for news from the world of living men, and offers to conduct him amongst the lawyers, who are paying their respects to the ghost of Coke. Strafford turns proudly away. Noy wishes to know where he will choose his residence. "In any place," is the reply, "so that I may have that which I come for--rest." 1 Modern opinion. Such was the utmost for which a contemporary could dare to hope. A great poet of our own day, clothing the reconciling spirit of the nineteenth century in words which never could have been spoken in the seventeenth, has breathed a higher wish. On his page an imaginary Pym, recalling an imaginary friendship, looks forward hopefully to a reunion in a better and brighter world. "Even thus," Pym is made to say-and we may well wish that it had been possible for him to say it "Even thus, I love him now: And look for my chief portion in that world Where great hearts led astray are turned again, My mission over, I shall not live long,) 1 A Description of the Passage of Thomas, late Earl of Strafford, over the Styx, 1641 (E. 156). Ay, here I know I talk-I dare and must, To walk once more with Wentworth—my youth's friend Purged from all error, gloriously renewed, And Eliot shall not blame us. 991 1 Browning's Strafford, Act. v. sc. ii. CHAPTER XCIX. ECCLESIASTICAL DIVISIONS AND CONSTITUTIONAL REFORMS. 1641. May 10. Importance of the Bill for the continuance of It is probable that, in the humiliation of Strafford's death, Charles thought little of the abandonment of authority contained in the Act for prohibiting the dissolution of the existing Parliament. Onlookers saw the full effect of that statute. "I may live to you a kindness," said Dorset to the King, "but you can do me none." "Will it be possible," asked Williams, 66 for your truest lieges to do you service more?" 1 Parliament. do The Act, in truth, was a revolutionary one without being revolutionary enough. Traditional reverence stood in the way of the dethronement of a sovereign who was not to be trusted. In fear lest he should use his acknowledged powers to give a legitimate sanction to a dissolution accomplished by military violence, Parliament wrested from him the right of consulting the nation at all. It is hard to see how Parliament could have done otherwise so long as Charles remained on the throne. The execution of Strafford had fixed a great gulf, never to be bridged over, between the King and the House of Commons. To the Commons Charles was the supporter of a traitor to the liberties of England. To Charles the Commons were the murderers of a faithful servant, and rebels against lawful authority, with whom no terms were to be kept. The position had all the disadvantages and none of the advantages of a state of war. The new Act had constituted two independent powers, each of which was armed with sufficient authority to 1 Sir J. Bramston's Autobiography, 83. Hacket, ii. 162. reduce the other to impotence. Parliament had not ventured to claim that sovereignty for itself, before which all discordant elements must give way. Parliament May 13. For the present Charles had to acknowledge, practically, that he had found his masters. He had to promaster of the mise to disband the Irish army. He found himself position. checked in the distribution of offices. On the 13th he appointed Heath to the Mastership of the Wards. He was obliged to cancel the appointment and to give the post to Saye. He had destined the Lieutenancy of Yorkshire to + Savile, as a reward for the support which he had given to him during Strafford's trial. Parliament requested him to appoint Essex, and he was obliged to yield. The Treasury, May 20. vacated by Juxon, was put in commission. The secret committee was sitting daily to extract evidence of the Army Plot from the King's familiar attendants, and even from the ladies of the Queen's Bedchamber. It soon appeared that there need no longer be any fear from France, as the French troops, whose movements had scared the citizens of London, were heard of as landing in Picardy.2 Charles, however, knew full well how many other secrets existed which he would be loth to have dragged into the light of day. May 14. lics sus The Queen was even more deeply compromised than her husband. She had to look on in silent vexation whilst the Catholics were questioned for every rash word that The Catho had sprung to their lips. It was inevitable that the pected hopes which they had cherished of relief from the proscription to which Parliament had doomed them, should have found vent in wild expressions of anticipated triumph. It was inevitable, too, that Parliament, merciless towards those whom its oppression stung into anger, should believe the danger 1 Heath's appointment is on the Patent Rolls. Saye's was not enrolled. Mr. Selby, whose wide knowledge of the documents in the Record Office is always at the service of inquirers, discovered for me an entry on the Books of the Controller of the Hanaper, stating that Saye presented a 'carta' on the 24th. Whitelocke dates the appointment on the 17th. A news-letter gives the 16th.-Sloane MSS. mcccclxvii. fol. 37. 1641 MUTUAL DISTRUST. 375 greater than it really was, and should catch at chance phrases, some of them, perhaps, misreported or exaggerated, as evidence of a deliberate plot for the overthrow of the parliamentary constitution. One recusant's wife, it was reported, had predicted that the Parliament House would shortly be in flames. Another had been overheard to say, that there would be a black day before long, and that many would be fatherless. An incoherent letter, directed to a recusant lady-in all probability a silly forgery—was picked up in the streets. It contained a request for money, and referred with satisfaction to the approaching slaughter of the beast with many heads. Men, comparatively young, could remember how, in the days of the Gunpowder Plot, their fathers had been saved from destruction by a letter just as incoherent. Orders were given to imprison all the priests in England, and there were many who were dissatisfied that no harsher measures were taken. A closer home-thrust at the Queen was a demand that her mother should leave the country. May 18. Charles proposes to visit Scotland. If ever lesson had been plain to read it was that which had been given to Charles by his failure to save the life of Strafford. Yet scarcely was Strafford dead when he prepared himself to tread once more the weary round of intrigue which had already cost him so dear. It was now known that he proposed to visit Scotland in person as soon as the treaty between the kingdoms was concluded.2 Those who were trusted with his secrets were aware that he was looking to this journey as a means of regaining that authority which he had lost in England. Anything seemed to him to be better than an attempt to come to an understanding with Parliament.3 It is hardly likely that a secret shared I D'Ewes's Diary, Harl. MSS. clxiii. fol. 167 b, 180 b. 2 The Elector Palatine to the Queen of Bohemia, May 18.-Forster's Lives of British Statesmen, vi. 71. 3Sua Maestà francamente affermà di transferirsi a dissegno per aventura di rialzare con la presenza sua qualche altra machina et migliorar la conditione della propria autorità.’—Giustinian to the Doge, May 31, Ven. Transcripts. The intentions of the King were acknowledged by the 21, |