not only gave his consent, but expressed his readiness to do as much for every parish in his diocese.1

content that

Strafford's impeach

ment shall

In the meanwhile Charles was looking on passively whilst Strafford's impeachment was being prepared. Hamilton, anxiCharles ous to curry favour with the Commons, assured him that all was for the best. After receiving a remonstrance from the Irish Parliament, which was now proceed. entirely in the hands of Strafford's enemies, Charles acknowledged that the Lord Lieutenant might possibly have committed some actions which called for investigation.2 He was far from acknowledging how completely the reins of government had passed out of his own hands; and when The Scottish the Scottish and English commissioners met at Westnegotiation. minster to complete the negotiation which had been interrupted at Ripon he fully expected to take part personally in their discussions. Much to his surprise he found that the commissioners of both nations were of one mind in objecting to his presence, and he was therefore compelled to give way. The negotiation was nominally carried on between himself and the Scots. In reality it was carried on by the Scots with the English Parliament.3

Nov. 19.

in the

Nov. 9.

The House of Commons was busy with many matters. Every member who spoke had some particular grievance to Want of recount, and some particular remedy to demand. organisation There was no party organisation and no recognised Commons. leadership. It was hard to fix the attention of the House even to the most necessary subject, and a debate once begun was apt to wander away in all sorts of directions. At one time the question of the monopolies appeared to Attack on be coming into the foreground. It was ordered that all monopolists should be excluded from sitting in the House, though complaints were afterwards made that some escaped through favour. These men,' said Culpepper, 'like the frogs of Egypt, have gotten possession of our dwellings, and we have scarce a room free from them. They sup in our cup, they dip in our dish, they sit by our fire; we find them in the 2 Baillie, i. 273.

the monopo

lies.

1 C. J. ii. 32.

Notes by Sir J. Borough, Harl. MSS. cccclvii. fol. 3.

1640

THE MONOPOLIES.

239

dye-vat, wash-bowl, and powdering-tub; they share with the butler in his box, they have marked and sealed us from head to foot. . . . They have a vizard to hide the brand made by that good law in the last Parliament of King James; they shelter themselves under the name of a Corporation; they make bye-laws which serve their turns to squeeze us and fill their purses.'1 At another time the ecclesiastical complaints had the precedence. The provision of money, however, would admit of no delay. On the 21st Alderman Pennington, a cousin of the sailor, and a Puritan member for the City, announced that his constituents had subscribed 21,000l. to the loan. It was suggested that the members of the House might be willing to offer their personal security for definite sums. Member after member rose to give his bond for 1,000l. In a short time facility for borrowing 90,000l. was thus obtained.2

Nov. 21. > The City loan.

The members' loan.

Nov. 23.

assassination

of the peace.

On the 23rd the House met under circumstances of some excitement. The prospect of renewed persecution had stirred the indignation of the Catholics, and that indignation Attempted was likely to find a vent in passionate action. A of a justice justice of the peace named Heywood had possession, as justice of the peace, of a list of recusants marked out for removal from the neighbourhood of the Court and of the Houses. As he was stepping across Westminster Hall with the list in his hand, a man named James rushed at him and stabbed him with a knife. The wound was not serious, and there is strong reason to believe that the assailant was a lunatic.3 Yet the event carried conviction to the minds of the members that the great Popish plot of which they had heard so much was indeed a reality. Pennington rose to offer a guard of three hundred citizens. Pym thought

Alarm of the
House.

1 Rushworth, iv. 33. C. 7. ii. 24.

2 D'Ewes's Diary, Harl. MSS. clxii. fol. 13. D'Ewes's own diary begins on Nov. 19.

2 On Nov. 7 a committee was ordered to take into consideration his lunacy' (C. F. ii. 37). Rudyerd stated that his brother had been mad, and that he himself had often been out of his mind (Sir J. Northcote's Notes, 11).

that the best means of meeting the evil was to put in execution the penal laws. Sir Thomas Jermyn sensibly argued that a guard at the doors of the House would only protect the members when they were all in one place and well able to protect themselves. Holles replied that every man must take care of himself when he was alone, but that the real danger was 'a general assassination.' The feeling of the House was for the acceptance of Pennington's offer. Common sense prevailed in the end, and the idea was abandoned. James, however, was not to be allowed to escape. A committee appointed to consider his case, recommended that a Bill should be prepared enacting that this fact of his' should be held to be felony.1

Nov. 24. The evidence

Of

Multifarious as the business of the House was, the preparation of the evidence against Strafford occupied the greater part of the attention of its most important members. the committee appointed for this purpose, Pym was the leading spirit. He obtained from the Lords an Strafford. order authorising the examination of Privy Councillors upon oath, in order to enable him to substantiate the charges which he intended to found on the notes taken by Vane.2

against

The preliminary charge

The preliminary charge-as yet it had not assumed its final shape-consisted of seven articles. The gist of them all lay in the first. The Commons were asked to declare 'that Thomas, Earl of Strafford, hath traitorously enagainst him. deavoured to subvert the fundamental laws and government of the realms of England and Ireland, and instead thereof to introduce an arbitrary and tyrannical government against law, which he hath declared by traitorous words, counsels, and actions, and by giving his Majesty advice by force of arms to compel his loyal subjects to submit thereunto.' He had, it was added, been as greedy as he had been tyrannical. He had converted to his own use large sums belonging to the King at a time when the army was unpaid. He had given encouragement to Papists with the object of gaining their support to his evil designs. He had maliciously stirred up

1 C. J. ii. 37.

2 L. 7. iv. 95, 96.

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.'

1 L. 7. iv. 97.

"3

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.

The trial delayed.

Nov. 23.

tion with the

Scots.

It would still be long before the trial could begin. There were witnesses to be brought from Ireland, evidence to be 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.1

Dec. 3.

Dec. II.

Dec. 10. Two subsidies voted.

be granted.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, Money sent to the North. instead of 100,000l., as had been originally proposed, two subsidies, equivalent to about 140,000l., should 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 Newcastle, 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.