Part 51 (1/2)

In addition to these sources of income, Charles applied to his subjects for _s.h.i.+p money_.[339] He was anxious to equip a fleet, but instead of requiring the various ports to furnish s.h.i.+ps, as was the ancient custom, he permitted them to buy themselves off by contributing to the fitting out of large s.h.i.+ps owned by himself. Even those living inland were asked for s.h.i.+p money. The king maintained that this was not a tax but simply a payment by which his subjects freed themselves from the duty of defending their country. John Hampden, a squire of Buckinghams.h.i.+re, made a bold stand against this illegal demand by refusing to pay twenty s.h.i.+llings of s.h.i.+p money which was levied upon him. The case was tried before the king's judges, a bare majority of whom decided against Hampden. But the trial made it tolerably clear that the country would not put up long with the king's despotic policy.

[Sidenote: William Laud made Archbishop of Canterbury.]

In 1633 Charles made William Laud Archbishop of Canterbury. Laud believed that the English Church would strengthen both itself and the government by following a middle course which should lie between that of the Church of Rome and that of Calvinistic Geneva. He declared that it was the part of good citizens.h.i.+p to conform outwardly to the services of the state church, but that the state should not undertake to oppress the individual conscience, and that every one should be at liberty to make up his own mind in regard to the interpretation to be given to the Bible and to the church fathers. As soon as he became archbishop he began a series of visitations through his province. Every clergyman who refused to conform to the Prayer Book, or opposed the placing of the communion table at the east end of the church, or declined to bow at the name of Jesus, was, if obstinate, to be brought before the king's special Court of High Commission to be tried and if convicted to be deprived of his benefice.

[Sidenote: The different sects of Protestants.]

Laud's conduct was no doubt gratifying to the High Church party among the Protestants, that is, those who still clung to some of the ancient practices of the Roman Church, although they rejected the doctrine of the Ma.s.s and refused to regard the pope as their head. The Low Church party, or _Puritans_, on the contrary, regarded Laud and his policy with aversion. While, unlike the Presbyterians, they did not urge the abolition of the bishops, they disliked all ”superst.i.tious usages,” as they called the wearing of the surplice by the clergy, the use of the sign of the cross at baptism, the kneeling posture in partaking of the communion. The Presbyterians, who are often confused with the Puritans, agreed with them in many respects, but went farther and demanded the introduction of Calvin's system of church government.[340]

[Sidenote: The Independents.]

[Sidenote: The Pilgrim Fathers.]

Lastly, there was an ever-increasing number of Separatists, or Independents. These rejected both the organization of the Church of England and that of the Presbyterians, and desired that each religious community should organize itself independently. The government had forbidden these Separatists to hold their little meetings, which they called _conventicles_, and about 1600 some of them fled to Holland. The community of them which established itself at Leyden dispatched the _Mayflower_, in 1620, with colonists--since known as the Pilgrim Fathers--to the New World across the sea.[341] It was these colonists who laid the foundations of a _New England_ which has proved a worthy offspring of the mother country. The form of wors.h.i.+p which they established in their new home is still known as Congregational.[342]

[Sidenote: Charles summons Parliament once more, to aid him in fighting the Scotch Presbyterians, 1640.]

186. In 1640 Charles found himself forced to resort to Parliament, for he was involved in a war with Scotland which he could not carry on without money. There the Presbyterian system had been pretty generally introduced by John Knox in Queen Mary's time, but the bishops had been permitted to maintain a precarious existence in the interest of the n.o.bles who enjoyed their revenues. James I had always had a strong dislike for Presbyterianism. He once said, ”A Scottish presbytery agreeth as well with the monarchy as G.o.d with the devil. Then Jack and Tom and Will and d.i.c.k shall meet and at their pleasure censure me and my council.” He much preferred a few bishops appointed by himself to hundreds of presbyteries over whose sharp eyes and sharper tongues he could have little control. So bishops were reappointed in Scotland in the early years of his reign and got back some of their powers. The Presbyterians, however, were still in the majority, and they continued to regard the bishops as the tools of the king.

[Sidenote: The National Covenant, 1638.]

An attempt on the part of Charles to force the Scots to accept a modified form of the English Prayer Book led to the signing of the National Covenant in 1638. This pledged those who attached their names to it to reestablish the purity and liberty of the Gospel, which, to most of the Covenanters, meant Presbyterianism. Charles thereupon undertook to coerce the Scots. Having no money, he bought on credit a large cargo of pepper, which had just arrived in the s.h.i.+ps of the East India Company, and sold it cheap for ready cash. The soldiers, however, whom he got together showed little inclination to fight the Scots, with whom they were in tolerable agreement on religious matters. Charles was therefore at last obliged to summon a Parliament, which, owing to the length of time it remained in session, is known as the Long Parliament.

[Sidenote: The measures of the Long Parliament against the king's tyranny.]

The Long Parliament began by imprisoning Strafford, the king's most conspicuous minister, and Archbishop Laud in the Tower of London. The help that Strafford had given to the king in ruling without Parliament had mortally offended the House of Commons. They declared him guilty of treason, and he was executed in 1641, in spite of Charles' efforts to save him. Laud met the same fate four years later. Parliament also tried to strengthen its position by pa.s.sing the Triennial Bill, which provided that it should meet at least once in three years, even if not summoned by the king. The courts of Star Chamber and High Commission, which had arbitrarily condemned a number of the king's opponents, were abolished, and s.h.i.+p money declared illegal.[343] In short, Charles' whole system of government was abrogated. The efforts of the queen to obtain money and soldiers from the pope, and a visit of Charles to Scotland, which Parliament suspected was for the purpose of forcing the Scots to lend him an army to use against themselves, led to the Grand Remonstrance. In this all of Charles' errors were enumerated and a demand was made that the king's ministers should thereafter be responsible to Parliament.

This doc.u.ment Parliament ordered to be printed and circulated throughout the country.

[Sidenote: Charles' attempts to arrest five members of the House of Commons.]

Exasperated at the conduct of the Commons, Charles attempted to intimidate the opposition by undertaking the arrest of five of its most active leaders, whom he declared to be traitors. But when he entered the House of Commons and looked around for his enemies, he found that they had taken shelter in London, whose citizens later brought them back in triumph to Westminster.

[Sidenote: The beginning of civil war, 1642.]

[Sidenote: Cavaliers and Roundheads.]

187. Both Charles and Parliament now began to gather troops for the inevitable conflict, and England was plunged into civil war. Those who supported Charles were called _Cavaliers_. They included not only most of the aristocracy and the papal party, but also a number of members of the House of Commons who were fearful lest Presbyterianism should succeed in doing away with the English Church. The parliamentary party was popularly known as the _Roundheads_, since some of them cropped their hair close because of their dislike for the long locks of their more aristocratic and worldly opponents.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Oliver Cromwell]

[Sidenote: Oliver Cromwell.]

The Roundheads soon found a distinguished leader in Oliver Cromwell[344]

(b. 1599), a country gentleman and member of Parliament, who was later to become the most powerful ruler of his time. Cromwell organized a compact army of G.o.d-fearing men, who indulged in no profane words or light talk, as is the wont of soldiers, but advanced upon their enemies singing psalms. The king enjoyed the support of northern England, and also looked for help from Ireland, where the royal and Catholic causes were popular.

[Sidenote: Battles of Marston Moor and Naseby.]

[Sidenote: The losing cause of the king.]

The war continued for several years, and a number of battles were fought which, after the first year, went in general against the Cavaliers. The most important of these were the battle of Marston Moor in 1644, and that of Naseby the next year, in which the king was disastrously defeated. The enemy came into possession of his correspondence, which showed them how their king had been endeavoring to bring armies from France and Ireland into England. This encouraged Parliament to prosecute the war with more energy than ever. The king, defeated on every hand, put himself in the hands of the Scotch army which had come to the aid of Parliament (1646), and the Scotch soon turned him over to Parliament.