withdraw. The restored members began with repealing all those orders by which they had been expelled. They renewed and enlarged the general's commission; fixed a proper stipend for the support of the fleet and army; and, having passed these votes, dissolved themselves, and gave orders for the immediate assembling a new parliament. Mean while, Monk newmodelled the army to his purposes. Some officers, by his direction, having presented him with an address, in which they promised to obey implicitly the orders of the ensuing parliament, he ordered it to be signed by all the different regiments; and this furnished him with a pretence for dismissing those by whom it was rejected. In the midst of these transactions, Lambert, who had been arrested, escaped from the Tower, and began to raise forces; Monk therefore despatched against him colonel Ingoldsby, with his own regiment; and, though Lambert had taken possession of Daventry with four troops of horse, the greater part of them Joined Ingoldsby; to whom he himself surrendered. Monk persisted all this time in his reserve; and referred all the communications of the king to one Morrice, a gentleman of Devonshire. At last however he disclosed his favorable intentions towards the exiled monarch to Sir John Granville, who held a commission from him. In consequence of this, the king left the Spanish territories, where he narrowly escaped being detained, and retired to Holland, to wait the issue of his overtures. The new parliament being assembled, Sir Harbottle Grimstone, a well-known royalist, was chosen speaker; and Monk gave directions to Annesly, president of the council, to inform them, that one Sir John Granville, a servant of the king's, had been sent over by his majesty, and was now at the door with a letter to the house. This message was received with the utmost joy. Granville was called in, the letter read, and the king's proposals immediately accepted. He of fered a general amnesty to al. persons, and without any exceptions, but what should be made by parliament. He promised to indulge scrupulous consciences with liberty in matters of religion; to leave to the examination of parliament the claims of all such as possessed lands with contested titles; to satisfy the army under general Monk with respect to their arrears, and to give the same rank to his officers when they should be enlisted in the king's army; and to confirm all these concessions by act of parliament. In consequence of this agreement between the king and parliament, Montague the English admiral waited on king Charles, to inform him that the fleet expected his orders at Scheveling. The duke of York immediately went on board, and took the command as lord high admiral. The king embarked, and, landing at Dover, was received by the general, whom he tenderly embraced. He entered London in 1660, on the 29th of May, which was his birth-day; and was attended by an innumerable multitude of people, who testified their joy by the loudest accla mations. 3. Of the Stuart dynasty from the Restoration to the expulsion of James II.-Charles II. was only thirty years of age at the Restoration. Being naturally of an engaging disposition, he soon became the favorite of all ranks, and his first measures were calculated to give universal satisfaction. He seemed desirous of losing the memory of past animosities, and of uniting every party in affection for their prince and country. In his council were found the most eminent men of the nation, without regard to former distinctions. The presbyterians shared this honor equally with the royalists. Calamy and Baxter, presbyterian clergymen, were even made chaplains to the king. Admiral Montague was created earl of Sandwich, and Monk duke of Albemarle. Morrice, the general's friend, was appointed a secretary of state. The parliament, having been summoned without the king's consent, received at first only the title of a convention; and it was not till after an act passed for that purpose, that they were acknowledged by the former title. Both houses now owned the guilt of the late rebellion, and gratefully received in their own name, and in that of all his subjects, his majesty's gracious pardon and indemnity. The king, as we have seen, had promised an indemnity to all criminals, but such as should be excepted by parliament: he now issued a proclamation, declaring, that such of the late king's judges as did not surrender themselves within fourteen days should receive no pardon. Nineteen surrendered; some were taken in their flight; others escaped beyond sea. The peers seemed inclined to great severity on this occasion; but were restrained by the king, who in the most earnest terms it is said pressed the act of general indemnity. After repeated solicitations, the act of indemnity passed both houses, with the exception of those who had an immediate hand in the king's death. Even Cromwell, Ireton, and Bradshaw, though dead, were considered as proper objects of resentment: their bodies were dug from their graves; dragged to the place of execution; and, after hanging some time, buried under the gallows. Of the rest who sat in judgment on the late monarch's trial, some were dead, and some thought worthy of pardon. Ten only, out of eighty, were adjudged to suffer death; and these were enthusiasts who had all along acted from principle, and who, in the general spirit of rage excited against them, showed a fortitude that would have done honor to any cause. The army was disbanded, that had for so many years governed the nation; at this time prelacy, tithes, and all the ceremonies of the church of England, were restored; the king at the same time endeavouring to preserve the air of moderation and neutrality. In fact, with regard to religion, Charles in his gayer hours was a professed deist; but in the latter part of his life he evidently inclined to the Catholic persuasion, and is known to have died a Catholic. On the 13th of September died the young duke of Gloucester, a prince of great hopes. The king was never so deeply affected by any incident in his life. The princess of Orange, having come to England to partake of the joy attending the restoration of her family, with whom she lived in great friendship, soon after also sickened and died. The queen mother now paid a visit to her son, and obtained his consent to the marriage of the princess Henrietta with the duke of Orleans, brother to the French king. His power ditary, divine, and indefeasible. well. These animosities were heightened by the ejected clergy, especially when they saw Dunkirk, which had been acquired during the usurper's vigorous administration, sold to the French, and that merely to supply the king's extravagance. From this time (August 17th 1662) Charles found himself perpetually opposed, and his parliaments granted supplies much more reluctantly than before. A few months previously the continual exigencies of the king had forced him to conclude a marriage with the Infanta of Portugal for the sake of her portion, which was £500,000 in money, together with the fortress of Tangier in Africa, and Bombay in the East Indies. The chancellor Clarendon, the dukes of Ormond and Southampton, urged many reasons against this match, particularly the likelihood of her never having any children; but all their objections could not prevail, and Clarendon, therefore, set himself to promote it. Still, however, the king's necessities were greater than his supplies. He therefore resolved to sacrifice his minister, the great Clarendon, to the resentment of the parliament, to whom he was become obnoxious, in order to procure more supplies. On the 12th June, 1663, he sent for the commons to Whitehall; complained of their inattention to him, and acquainted them with a conspiracy to seize the castle of Dublin. Four subsidies were immediately granted, and the clergy in convocation followed the example of the commons. On this occasion the earl of Bristol ventured to impeach the chancellor in the house of peers; but, as he did not support his charge, the affair was dropped for the present. With a view probably of having the money to be employed for that purpose in his hands, Charles was induced to declare war against the Dutch in 1664. Parliament having met on the 6th November, and carried on business with the greatest unanimity and dispatch, was dissolved by the king on the 29th of December, 1660. During the reign of this prince the spirit of the people took a direction totally opposite to that of the time of Charles I. The latter found his subjects animated with a ferocious though ignorant zeal for lib-geous comparisons between him and Cromerty. They knew not what it was to be free, and therefore imagined that liberty must at once result from throwing off the royal authority. They gained their point: the unhappy monarch was dethroned and murdered; but instead of liberty they found themselves oppressed by greater tyranny than ever. Being freed from this by the Restoration, nothing now prevailed but as unbounded a spirit of submission; and Charles rendered himself at last almost an absolute monarch. A revolution equally great took place with regard to religious matters. During the former reigns a spirit of the most gloomy enthusiasm had overspread the land, and men imagined the Deity was only to be pleased by their denying themselves every social pleasure. The extreme hypocrisy of Cromwell, and the absurd conduct of many of his associates, showed that this was not religion; but, in avoiding this error, they ran into one equally dangerous; and every thing religious or serious was discountenanced. Nothing but riot and dissipation succeeded. The court set the example; scenes of gallantry and festivity were the order of the day; the horrors of the late war became the subject of ridicule; the formality of the sectaries was displayed on the stage, and even laughed at from the pulpit. In short, the best mode of religion now was to have as little as possible; and to lay aside not only the enthusiasm of the sectaries, but even the common duties of morality. In the midst of this boundless licentiousness, the old and faithful adherents of the royal family were left unrewarded; and the act of indemnity was justly said to have been an act of forgiveness to the king's enemies, and of oblivion to his friends. In 1661 the Scottish and English parliaments seemed to vie with each other in their prostrations to the king. In England monarchy and episcopacy were raised to the greatest splendor. The bishops were permitted to resume their seats in the house of peers; all military authority was acknowledged to be vested in the king. He was empowered to appoint commissioners for regulating corporations, and expelling such members as had intruded themselves by violence, or professed principles dangerous to the constitution: and an act of uniformity was passed, by which it was required, that every clergyman should be re-ordained, if he had not before received episcopal ordination; that he should declare his assent to every thing contained in the book of Common Prayer, and should take the oath of canonical obedience. In consequence of this law, above 2000 of the presbyterian clergy resigned their cures at once. In Scotland the right of the king was asserted in the fullest and most positive terms to be here In this contest the English, under the command of Sir Robert Holmes, expelled the Dutch from Cape Corse Castle on the coast of Africa, and seized on their settlements of Cape Verd and the Isle of Goree. Sailing thence to America, the admiral possessed himself of Nova Belgia, since called New York; and which continued subject to Britain, till the American revolution. On the other hand, De Ruyter, the Dutch admiral, disposessed the English of all their settlements in Guinea except Cape Corse. He afterwards sailed to America, where he attacked Barbadoes and Long Island, but was repulsed. Soon after, the two most considerable fleets of each nation met; the one under the duke of York, to the number of 114 sail; the other commanded by Opdam, admiral of the Dutch navy, of nearly equal force. The engagement began at four in the morning, and both sides fought with equal intrepidity. The duke was in the hottest part of the engagement, and behaved with great spirit, while many of his lords and attendants were killed around him. In the heat of the action the Dutch admiral's ship blew up; which so discouraged and disheartened the enemy, that they fled towards their own coast, having thirty ships sunk and taken, while the victors lost only one. This success so much excited the jealousy of the neighbouring states, that France and Denmark immediately resolved to protect the Dutch republic. Admiral De Ruyter, on his return from Guinea, was appointed, at the head of seventy-six sail, to join the duke of Beaufort the French admiral, who it was supposed was then entering the British Channel from Toulon. The duke of Albemarle and prince Rupert now commanded the British fleet, of seventy-four sail. Albemarle detached the prince with twenty ships to oppose the duke of Beaufort; against which piece of rashness Sir George Ayscue in vain protested. The fleets thus engaging, upon unequal terms, a memorable battle ensued, in which the Dutch admiral Evertzen was killed by a cannon ball, one of their ships was blown up, and three of the English ships taken. The combatants were parted by darkness. The next day they renewed the battle with incredible fury. Sixteen fresh ships joined the Dutch; and the English were so shattered, that their fighting ships were reduced to twenty-eight. Upon retreating towards their own coast the Dutch followed them; where another dreadful conflict was beginning, but closed by the darkness of the night. The morning of the third day the English continued their retreat, and Albemarle came to the desperate resolution of blowing up his own ship rather than submit to the enemy, when he found himself happily reinforced by prince Rupert with sixteen ships of the line. By this time it was night; the next day the fleets came close combat, which was continued with great violence, till they were parted by a mist. Both sides claimed the victory, but the Dutch certainly had the advantage. engagement happened soon after, with larger Another bloody fleets on both sides, commanded by the same admirals. In this the Dutch were vanquished; but they were soon in a condition to face their enemies, by the junction of Beaufort the French admiral. The Dutch fleet now appeared in the Thames, and the whole British nation was thrown into the utmost consternation: a chain had been drawn across the river Medway; and some fortifications added to the forts along the bank. But all these were unequal to the present force: Sheerness. was soon taken; the Dutch passed forward and broke the chain, though fortified by some ships sunk by Albemarle's orders, destroying the shipping in their passage, and advanced, with six men of war and five fire-ships, as far as Upnore Castle, where they burned three men of war. It was Dutch might sail up next tide to London bridge, now expected that the and destroy not only the shipping, but even the buildings of the metropolis. The Dutch, however, were unable to effect this, from the failure of the French, who had promised them assistance. once more to a 421 Spreading, therefore, an alarm along the coast, and having insulted Norwich, they returned to their own shores. During these transactions the plague raged in London, and destroyed 100,000 of the inhabitants. This calamity was soon followed by another equally dreadful. A fire broke out in and spread with such rapidity that no efforts baker's house in Pudding Lane, near the bridge, could extinguish it, till it laid in ashes the most considerable part of the city; but not a single life, it is said, was lost. These complicated misfortunes did not fail to excite many murmurs among the people: the blame of the fire was laid on the Papists: the Dutch war was 'exclaimed against as unsuccessful and unnecessary; .and Charles himself began to be sensible that all the likely to be entirely frustrated. Instead of being ends for which he had undertaken the war were able to lay up money for himself, the supplies of parliament had hitherto been so scanty that he found himself considerably in debt. therefore, was set on foot, which was concluded at Breda on the 21st of July, 1667, by which the A treaty, only advantage gained for the country was, the cession of the colony of New York. It was thrown entirely upon the earl of Clarendon. therefore judged disgraceful, and the blame of it Along with this, he was charged with the sale of Dunkirk; the bad payment of the seamen; the disgrace by the Dutch fleet; and his own ambimenced an amour with the duke of York; and, tion. His daughter, while yet in Paris, had comunder a solemn promise of marriage, had admitted him to her bed. Her lover, however, afterwards married her; but this act of virtue in the prince was imputed as a crime to Clarendon. Clarendon was soon therefore deprived of the the seals, and impeached; and thought proper to withdraw into France. formed an alliance with Holland and Sweden, Soon after the king to prevent the French king from completing his began to act in a very arbitrary manner. He had conquest of the Netherlands. The king now long wished to extend his prerogative, and to be able to furnish himself with whatever sums he most likely to be pleased with those ministers might want for his pleasures, and therefore was who could flatter both his wishes. These he found in Clifford, Ashley, Buckingham, Arlington, and Lauderdale, a junto distinguished by the name of the Cabal; a word formed by the initials of their names. The first effect of their advice was, a secret alliance with France, and a rupture with Holland. Soon after this the duke of conscience was proclaimed to all sectaries, of York declared himself a Papist; and liberty whether dissenters or papists: a proclamation for the impressment of seamen; and another full was also issued containing very rigorous orders of menaces against those who should speak undu、 tifully of his majesty's measures, &c. These measures, however, gave very great and just offence to the people; but they were especially alarmed the treachery of that court. On the 28th of May, at an alliance with France, and justly afraid of 1672, the English fleet under the duke of York About 8 A. M. began a most furious engagement. was surprised by the Dutch in Southwold Bay. The gallant Sandwich, who commanded the was a grievance: and then the house rose in great confusion. The king, finding that he could expect no supply from the commons for carrying on the war, resolved to make a separate peace with the Dutch, on terms which they had proposed by the Spanish ambassador. For form's sake he asked the advice of parliament, who concurring heartily in his intention, a peace was accordingly concluded. English van, drove his ship into the midst of the enemy, beat off the admiral that ventured to attack him, sunk another ship that attempted to board him, and three fire-ships that offered to grapple with him. Though his vessel was torn with shot, and out of 1000 men there only remained 400, he still continued to fight. At last a fire-ship, more fortunate than the rest, having laid hold of his vessel, her destruction became inevitable, and the earl himself was drowned in The prepossession which Charles had all along attempting to escape. Night parted the combat- shown for France, and his manifest inclination ants; the Dutch retired and were not followed upon all occasions to attach himself to that court, by the English. The loss sustained by the two had given great offence. Other circumstances maritime powers was nearly equal; but the also co-operated to produce general discontent. French suffered very little, not having entered The toleration of Catholics, so much wished for into the heat of the engagement. It was even by the king; the bigotry of the duke of York, supposed that they had orders for this conduct, the heir apparent to the crown, and his zeal for the and to spare their own ships, while the Dutch propagation of the Catholic religion; excited a and English should weaken each other by their general and just apprehension that the Protestant mutual exertions. The combined powers were religion was in danger. These discontents were much more successful against the Dutch by land. increased and fomented by designing men, who, Louis XIV. conquered all before him, crossed the to promote their own interests, did not scruple Rhine, took the frontier towns of the enemy, and to advance the grossest falsehoods. In 1678 an threatened the new republic with a final dissolu- account of a plot formed by the Papists, for detion. Terms were proposed to them by the stroying the king and the Protestant religion, conquerors, which would have deprived them of was given in by one Kirby a chemist, Dr. Tong, a all power of resisting an invasion from France weak credulous clergyman, and Titus Oates, who by land. Those of Charles exposed them equally had likewise been a clergyman, but was a most to every invasion by sea. At last the murmurs abandoned miscreant. The circumstances atof the English at seeing this brave and industri- tending this pretended discovery were so perfectly ous people, the supporters of the protestant incredible, that it appears amazing how any percause, totally sunk and on the brink of destruc- son of common sense could give ear to them. tion, were too loud not to reach the king. He Nevertheless, so much were the minds of the nawas obliged to call a parliament, to take the sense tion in general inflamed against the Catholics, at of the nation upon his conduct; and he soon this time, that it produced the destruction of sesaw how his subjects stood affected. Parliament veral individuals of the Romish persuasion, and began business with repressing some of the king's a universal massacre of that sect was appreextraordinary exertions of his prerogative, and hended. The parliament, who ought to have reestablishing uniformity in religious matters. The pressed these falsehoods, and brought back the celebrated Test act was passed: which, besides people to calm enquiry, were found more credutaking the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, lous than even the people themselves. The cry imposed the receiving of the sacrament once a of plot was echoed from one house to the other; year in the established church, on all persons the country party could not slip so favorable an in place or power. As the dissenters also opportunity of managing the "passions of the had seconded the efforts of the commons, people; and the courtiers were afraid of being against the king's declaration of indulgence to thought disloyal if they should doubt the guilt Roman Catholics, a bill was passed for their of those who were accused of designs against the ease and relief; which, however, went with dif- king's person. Danby, the prime minister himficulty through the house of peers. The Dutch, self, persisted in his enquiries, notwithstanding in the mean time, continued to defend themselves the king's desire to the contrary. Charles himwith such valor that the commons began to de- self, who was the person that ought to have been spair of success. They therefore resolved that most concerned, was the only one who treated it the standing army was a grievance: they next with contempt. Nothing, however, could stop declared that they would grant no more supplies the popular fury; and for a time the king was to carry on the Dutch war, unless it appeared obliged to give way to it. During this uproar, that the enemy were so obstinate as to refuse all the lord treasurer Danby was impeached in the reasonable conditions. To cut short these alter- house of commons, by Seymour the speaker. cations, the king resolved to prorogue the parlia- The principal charge against him was, his having ment; and, with that intention, went to the house written a letter to Montagu, the English ambasof peers, whence he sent the usher of the black sador at Paris, directing him to sell the king's rod to summons the commons to attend. It good offices at the treaty of Nimeguen, to the happened that the usher and the speaker met at king of France, for a sum of money. Though the door of the house; but, the speaker being the charge was just, Danby had the happiness to within, some of the members suddenly shut the find the king resolved to defend him. Charles door, and cried To the chair. Upon which the assured the parliament, that, as he had acted in following motions were carried in a tumultuous every thing by his orders, he held him entirely manner-That the alliance with France was a blameless; and, though he would deprive him of grievance; that the evil counsellors of the king all his employments, yet he would positively inwere a grievance; that the earl of Lauderdale sist on his personal safety. The lords were obliged to submit; though they continued to impeach him, till Danby was sent to the Tower. These proceedings were carried on by the house of commons that had continued undissolved for above seventeen years. Charles at last called a new parliament, which, however, proved as unmanageable as the preceding. The members, resolved to check the growth of popery by striking at the root of the evil, brought in a bill for the total exclusion of the duke of York from the crown of England and Ireland, which passed the lower house by a majority of seventy-nine; they next voted the king's standing army and guards to be illegal; they proceeded to establish limits to the king's power of imprisoning delinquents; and had the great merit of passing the celebrated statute called the Habeas Corpus Act, which confirms the subject in an absolute security from oppressive power. During these commotions the duke of York had retired to Brussels; but an indisposition of the king brought him back to England, to be ready in case of any sinister accident to assert his right to the throne. After prevailing upon his brother to disgrace his natural son the duke of Monmouth, who was now become very popular, he himself retired to Scotland, to strengthen his interests in that part of the empire. This secession still more inflamed the country party, who were strongly attached to the duke of Monmouth, and were resolved to support him against the duke of York. Mobs, petitions, pope-burnings, &c., followed, and were employed to keep up the terror of popery, and alarm the court. The parliament had encouraged various tribes of informers, which increased the number of these miscreants, conspiracies were more numerous; plot was set up against plot; and the people were kept suspended in the most dreadful apprehensions. The nation now came to be distinguished into petitioners and abhorrers, and Whig and Tory were at this time first used as terms of reproach. Being apprised of the tendency of presbyterian principles to a republican form of government, Charles, like his predecessors, had long endeavoured to introduce episcopacy into Scotland. The rights of patrons had for some years been abolished; and the power of electing ministers had been vested in the kirk sessions and lay elders: but it had of late been enacted, that all incumbents who had been admitted upon this title should receive a presentation, and be instituted anew by the bishop, under the penalty of deprivation. In consequence of this, 350 parishes were at once declared vacant. New ministers were sought for all over the kingdom, and none, however vicious or ignorant, were rejected. The people, as might have been expected, were displeased to the highest degree; they resolved, however, to give no sign of mutiny or sedition, notwithstanding their discontent. This submission made it foolishly imagined that they would submit altogether if they were worse treated. In 1661 a severe act was passed in England against conventicles, and this severity was imitated by the Scottish parliament. Military force was next let loose. Wherever the people had generally forsaken their churches, the guards were quartered throughout the country, who, without any proof, or legal conviction, demanded fines from the people for being absent from church; and quartered soldiers on the supposed criminals till they received payment. An insurrection being dreaded during the Dutch war, new forces were levied, and entrusted to the command of Dalziel and Drummond, men of very cruel dispositions. Representations were now made to the king, who promised some redress. But his lenity came too late. In 1668 the people rose in arms. They surprised Turner, the English commander, in Dumfries, and resolved to have put him to death; but, finding his orders to be more violent than his execution of them, they spared his life. At Lanark they renewed the covenant, and published their manifesto; professing at the same time their submission to the king. Their force did not exceed 2000 men; and, though the country in general bore them great favor, men's spirits were so subdued, that the insurgents could expect no great increase of numbers. Dalziel took the field to oppose them. The number of the covenanters was now reduced to 800, and these no way capable of contending with regular forces. Having advanced near Edinburgh, they attempted to find their way back into the west by the Pentland hills; but were here attacked by the king's troops, and received the first charge very resolutely; but this was all the action. Immediately they fell into confusion and fled. About forty were killed on the spot, and 130 taken prisoners. So early as the year 1661, the presbyterians had deputed one Sharp, to lay their grievances before the king. Instead of this, their deputy abandoned their cause altogether, became their violent enemy, and as a reward of his treachery was made archbishop of St. Andrew's. After the battle of Pentland hills, this renegado, as the Scottish historians call him, was the foremost to take vengeance on the unhappy insurgents, whose oppressed state and inoffensive behavior had made them objects of universal compassion. Ten were hanged on one gibbet in Edinburgh; thirty-five before their own doors: they might all have saved their lives, if they would have renounced the covenant; but this they absolutely refused. The executions were going on, when the king wrote a letter to the privy council, in which he ordered that such of the prisoners as should simply promise to obey the laws for the future should be set at liberty, and that the incorrigible should be sent to the plantations. This letter was brought to the council by Burnet, but was not immediately delivered by Sharp. It had been customary to put these poor creatures to very severe tortures, to make them confess. By Sharp's delay, one Hugh Maccail had been tortured, who would otherwise have escaped; and so violent were the torments he endured that he expired under them. Yet he seemed to die in an exstacy of joy. His last words were uttered with an accent which struck the by-standers with astonishment. Farewell,' said he, sun, moon, and stars; farewell world and time; farewell weak frail body; welcome eternity; welcome angels and saints; welcome Saviour of the world; and welcome God the judge of all.' |