1640 THE CHARGES AGAINST STRAFFORD.

241

enmity between England and Scotland, and had designedly betrayed Conway to his destruction at Newburn, in order to make the quarrel between the two nations irreconcilable. Finally, with a view to self-preservation, he had laboured to subvert the rights of Parliaments, and the ancient course of parliamentary proceedings.'1

Grounds of

On these grounds Strafford was to be impeached as a traitor. We cannot wonder that so it was to be. If no candid investigator of Strafford's actions can for a moment admit the impeach- that he was capable of stirring up strife from motives of personal ambition, there can be no doubt that, on every point, Pym had some evidence upon which, in his ignorance of the true key to his great opponent's character, he might be justified in arriving at the conclusions to which he came.2

ment.

Nov. 25.

carried up

Dec. 13.

letter to his

wife.

These charges were at once adopted by the Commons. On the 25th they were carried up to the Lords, and Strafford was immediately committed to the Tower. In all that was The charges done, the prisoner saw nothing but a fresh revelation to the Lords. of the malice of his enemies. He at least was not likely to recognise his own lineaments in this distorting mirror. "As to myself," he wrote, not long afterwards to his Strafford's wife, "albeit all be done against me that art and malice can devise, yet I am in great inward quietness, and a strong belief God will deliver me out of all these troubles. The more I look into my case, the more hope I have, and sure if there be any honour and justice left, my life will not be in danger; and for anything else, time I trust, will salve any other hurt which can be done me. Therefore hold up your heart, look to the children and your house, let me have your prayers, and at last, by God's good pleasure, we shall have our deliverance, when we may as little look for it as we did for this blow of misfortune, which I trust will make us better to God and man."3

1 L. J. iv. 97.

2 For Pym's speech see Northcote's Diary, where Lord T. is Thomond, not Dillon, as suggested by the editor. In the Somers Tracts, iv. 209, is to be found a brief abstract of this speech, though the name of the speaker is not given.

3 Strafford to Lady Strafford, Dec. 13, Biog. Brit. vi. 4182.

It would still be long before the trial could begin. There were witnesses to be brought from Ireland, evidence to be

The trial delayed.

Nov. 23.

tion with the

Scots.

Dec. 3.

mustered and tested, managers to be chosen and instructed. All this had to be done in the intervals of the most pressing business. The Scottish claims admitted no delay. The commissioners of the two nations, meeting without the presence of the King, had easily found a formula The negotia- by which Charles was to bind himself to accept those aws against which he had struggled so persistently. This had been followed by a demand which was far more galling than the mere abandonment of power. Charles was asked to send the incendiaries, as his advisers during the late troubles were called, for trial before the hostile tribunal of the Scottish Parliament. Naturally he struggled hard against the proposal that he should deliver up to the vengeance of their adversaries men whose fault was that they had served him too faithfully. He replied that his courts were open to every complainant. The promise required of him that he would not intervene to pardon offenders he could not be induced to give.'

Dec. 11.

Money sent

Dec. 10.

sidies voted.

2

The English Parliament was ready to support the Scots. Money had been got together and sent to relieve the two armies in the North. On December 10 it was voted that, to the North. instead of 100,000l., as had been originally proposed, two subsidies, equivalent to about 140,000l., should Two sub- be granted. The Puritan tide had been rising. steadily. On November 28 Prynne and Burton entered London in triumph. At least a hundred Prynne and coaches, a thousand horsemen, and a countless crowd on foot followed them in procession. On December 4 Bastwick returned amidst the applauses of a no less numerous throng. Their cases, together with those of Lilburne and Leighton, were ordered to be taken into consideration. In London, at least, public feeling was

Nov. 28. Return of

Burton.

Dec. 1, Their cases to be examined.

1 The Scottish Commissioners in London to the Committee at New: castle, Adv. Libr. Edin. 33, 4, 6. Notes by Sir J. Borough, Harl. MSS. cccclvii. fol. 10-27. Rushworth, iv. 366. Baillie, i. 279.

2 C. F. ii. 49.

1

1640

Growth of Presbyterianism.

FLIGHT OF WINDEBANK.

243

running strongly in the direction of Presbyterianism Even the scheme of the Separatists was not without support amongst the small tradesmen and artisans; but in the face of the common enemy all divisions of opinion were for the present waived. It was said that when bishops were removed, and the ceremonies abolished, it would be easy to agree on the plan of the new house to be erected on the ruins of the old one.

Nov. 30. Action against the

Dec. 1.

Glyn's report.

As yet the work of destruction was in full swing. The conviction that the Catholics had been treated with undue favour at Court, was continually receiving fresh support, and they were likely to pay a heavy penalty Catholics. for their entanglement in political strife. Orders were given to weed out the Catholic officers from the north2 ern army. A sharp report from Glyn pointed out that for some time priests and Jesuits had been almost entirely untouched by the recusancy laws. During the last seven or eight years no less than seventy-four letters of grace had been issued in their favour. Most of these had been signed by Windebank. On this report the House took sharp action. It directed the justices of the peace in and around the capital, to proceed Windebank against recusants according to law, notwithstanding any inhibition. Windebank was sent for, that he might give account of his interference.3

Dec. 3.

Dec. 4.

sent for.

Windebank had but obeyed the orders given to him, however cheerfully he may have carried out his instructions. He was not the man to face his enemies as Strafford had faced them. It may be that the secret of the request which he had made to Rossetti for Papal troops and Papal gold to be employed against his countrymen, weighed heavily on his mind. He kept out of the way as long as it was possible to conceal himself, and when concealment was no longer Winde- possible, he fled beyond the sea, with the King's conbank's flight. nivance. He arrived in France bearing letters of

Dec. 10.

The Queen's irritation.

to Rome for money.

The treatment which the Catholics were receiving at the hands of the Parliament had roused the Queen to a heat of indignation which made her capable of any folly. Before the end of November, in spite of her rebuff in the She applies preceding spring, she had renewed her application to Cardinal Barberini for money. She informed him that 125,000l. might be usefully spent in bribes to the Parliamentary leaders to induce them to deal more gently with the Catholics. Her temper was not softened when, a week or two after the proposal was made, she herself received a warning that she would do well to dismiss her Catholic servants. She replied proudly that she would rather dismiss the Protestants, and fill their places with persons of her own religion. Yet so powerless did she feel in the early part of December, that she recommended Rossetti to leave England, on the ground that it was no longer possible to protect him.

The Dutch alliance.

In these days of weakness, when the Queen and her husband were alike feeling the bitterness of obedience where they had been accustomed to command, the idea of the Dutch marriage rose before their minds as a means of escape from their difficulties. On December 10, the very day of Windebank's flight, Charles announced to the Privy Council that he had given his consent to a marriage between Prince William of Orange and his second daughter, though well-informed observers were aware that if a fresh application were made for the hand of the Princess Mary it would not now be refused. Yet even those who prided themselves on their knowledge of the King's intentions, did not know all his secret. In reality Charles was looking for help of a very substantial kind from the father of the bridegroom. He believed Proposed Dutch inter that Frederick Henry might be induced to mediate vention. between himself and the English Parliament, and he

had little doubt that the result of that mediation would be entirely in his own favour. It cannot be said certainly whether he already contemplated the landing of Dutch troops in England to support him against his own subjects. Frederick

1640

SHIP-MONEY ATTACKED.

245

Henry, as his subsequent conduct shows, was capable of attempting to re-enact the sorry part which had been played by St. Louis at Amiens, but it may be that Charles would for the present be content with merely moral support. He at once took a higher tone than he had done since the meeting of Parliament. He would not allow the Houses, he said, to punish his servants.1 A few days after these words were uttered, Laud was impeached, and Finch had fled to Holland.

Dec. 7.

against shipmoney,

supported by Falkland.

The foundations for an attack upon the Lord Keeper were already laid. On December 7, on St. John's report, the House resolved that ship-money was an utterly illegal impost, Resolutions and that the judges who had declared the contrary, had acted in defiance of the law. To this result no man contributed more than Falkland. Small of statue and wlthout any advantages of voice or person, he placed himself at once in the first rank of Parliamentary Burning indignation against wrong gave light and strength to his words. His ideal commonwealth was indeed very different from that of Pym. He was not anxious to put an end to the meddlesome interference of the few, merely to give free scope to the meddlesome interference of the many, and he would be sure to distrust any system which threatened to lay intellectual freedom at the feet of a Parliamentary majority. On the point for the moment at issue he was, however, at one with Pym, and in expressing the opinion which he had formed he was far more vehement and impetuous. He took no account of the natural tendency of the judges to give a hard and legal form to the political ideas which were floating in their minds, and he treated their arguments as an insult to common sense. They had seen danger from an enemy where danger there was none. It was strange that they saw not the law, which all men else saw but themselves. He then proceeded to reason that there was now no more questlon whether the judges were to be punished or not for past offences. Men who had delivered

1 Giustinian to the Doge, Nov. Dec.

20

4, 12, 18 14, 22, 28'

Ven. Transcripts,

R. O. Vane to the Prince of Orange, Dec. 11, Groen Van Prinsterer, Ser.

2, iii. 206.