side soever the king turned his eyes, he saw no resource or security, except in submitting to the will of the populace. His courtiers, consulting their own personal safety, and perhaps their interest, more than their master's honour, advised him to pass the bill of attainder; the pusillanimous judges, when consulted, declared it legal: and the queen, who formerly bore no good will toward Strafford, alarmed at the appearance of so frightful a danger, as that to which the royal family must be exposed by protecting him, now became an importunate solicitor of his death. She hoped, if the people were gratified in this demand, that their discontents would finally subside; and that by such a measure, she should acquire a more absolute ascendant over the king, as well as some credit with the popular party. Bishop Juxon alone in this trying extremity, had honesty or courage to offer an opinion worthy of his prince : he advised him if, in his conscience, he did not think the prisoner criminal, by no means to give his assent to the bill64. While Charles was all anxiety and irresolution, struggling between virtue and necessity, he received a letter from Strafford, intreating him for the sake of public peace, to put an end to the innocent life of his unhappy servant; and thus to quiet the tumultuous people, by granting them that request for which they were so clamorous. "In this," added he, 66 my consent will more acquit you to God, than all the "world can do besides; to a willing man there is no in "A king of 64. Clarendon, vol. i. This opinion has been cavilled at. "England," it has been said, “ought never to interpose his private opi"nion against the other parts of the legislature." If so, the royal assent is a matter of mere form; and perhaps in most cases, it ought to be so, But, in the present instanee the king was surely the best judge, whether Strafford, as a minister, had advised the subversion of the constitution; or as an officer, had exceeded the extent of his commission: and, if he was blameable in neither capacity, Charles was surely bound, both in honour and conscience, to withhold his assent from the bill. The royal assent is not now necessary to bills of attainder; the jealousy of our constitution having cut off that, among other dangerous prerogatives. jury "jury. And as, by God's grace, I forgive all the world, " with a calmness and meekness of infinite contentment to "my dislodging soul; so to you, sir, I can resign the life of "this world with all imaginable cheerfulness in the just ac"knowledgment of your exceeding favours66" This illustrious effort of disinterestedness, worthy of the noble mind of Strafford, and equal to any instance of generosity recorded in the annals of mankind, was ill rewarded by Charles; who, after a little more hesitation, as if his scruples had been merely of the religious kind, granted a commission to four noblemen to give the royal assent, in his name, to the bill. These commissioners were also empowered, at the same time, to give assent to a bill, that the parliament then sitting should not be dissolved, prorogued, or adjourned, without the consent of the majority of the members67; a bill of yet more fatal consequence to his authority than the other, as it rendered the power of his enemies perpetual, as well as uncontroulable. But in the moment of remorse for assenting to the bill of attainder, by which he deemed himself an accomplice in his friend's murder, this enormous concession appears totally to have escaped his penetration, and to have been considered comparatively as a light matter. The king might still have saved his minister, by granting him a reprieve; but that was not thought advisable, while the minds of men were in such agitation. He sent, however, by the hands of the prince of Wales, a letter addressed to the peers, in which he entreated them to confer with the commons about a mitigation of the prisoner's sentence, or at least to procure some delay. Both requests were rejected; and Strafford, finding his fate inevitable, prepared to meet death with the same dignity with which he had lived. In those awful moments of approaching dissolution, though 65. It appears, that the king had sent a letter to Strafford during his confinement, in which he assured him, upon the word of a king, that he should not suffer in life, honour, or fortune. Strafford's Letters, vol. ii. 66. Clarendon, vol. i. Rushworth, vol, v. 67. Id. ibid. neither neither cheered by that ray of popular immortality, which beams upon the soul of the expiring patriot, nor consoled by the affectionate sorrow of the spectators, his erect mind found resources within itself; and, supported by the senti ment of conscious integrity, maintained its unbroken reso. lution amid the terrors of death, and the triumphant exultations of his vindictive enemies. His discourse and also. his deportment on the scaffold, discovered equal composure and courage. "The shedding of innocent blood," said he, as a propitiatory sacrifice, is a bad omen, I fear, of the "intended reformation of the state." And on preparing himself for the block, he made this memorable declaration : "I thank God I am no way afraid of death, nor daunted "with any terrors; but do as cheerfully lay down my head. "at this time, as ever I did when going to repose68!" He Не accordingly submitted to his doom; and, at one blow, the executioner happily performed his office. Thus, my dear Philip, perished, in the forty-ninth year of his age, Thomas Wentworth, earl of Strafford, the last great prop of royalty, under the turbulent reign of Charles I. His Character as might be expected, has been severely handled by our zealous republican writers; but by none of them has it been so completely mangled, as by a furious. female, who will allow him neither virtue nor talents. But his abilities as a statesman, and his unshaken attachment to his master, you will readily perceive, were the chief cause of his ruin and in the future proceedings of that parliament, to whose resentment he fell a sacrifice, you will find the best apology for his administration. A certain degree of vigour, and more perhaps than Strafford exerted, was necessary to preserve the church and monarchy from the ravages of those civil and religious enthusiasts, who soon overturned both. The immediate subsequent proceedings of the commons, however, though inroads on the royal prerogative, were by 68. Rushworth, vol. v. no no means reprehensible. They brought in a bill, which was unanimously passed by both houses, for abolishing the arbitrary star-chamber and high-commission courts, so grievous to all the lovers of liberty. By the same bill, the jurisdiction of the privy council was regulated, and its authority abridged. Charles, after some hesitation, gave his assent to this excellent statute, which produced a material, but salutary change. in our constitution. Several other arbitrary courts of an inferior nature were abolished: and the king, at the request of the parliament, instead of patents during pleasure, gave all the judges patents during their good behaviour69; an advance of the utmost importance toward the impartial administration of justice, and the exclusion of the influence of the crown from the ordinary courts of law. In a word, if the commons had proceeded no farther, they would have deserved the praise of all the friends of freedom, and even the iniquity of Strafford's attainder, their most blameable measure, would have been lost amid the blaze of their beneficial provisions and necessary regulations, which had generally a reference to posterity. But, like all political bodies who have rapidly acquired power, having gone so far, they did not know where to stop; but advanced insensibly, from one gradation to another, till they usurped the whole authority of the state. These usurpations, and their consequences, we shall afterward have occasion to notice. They will form the subject of another letter. In the mean time I must observe, that the parliament, after sending home the Scots, and dismissing the English army, put a temporary stop to its proceedings; and that Charles paid a visit to his native kingdom, in order to settle the government to the satisfaction of the Covenanters. 69. Clarendon. vol. i. Whitlocke, p. 47. May, p. 107. LET LETTER V. GREAT-BRITAIN AND IRELAND, FROM THE EXECUTION OF STRAFFORD, TO THE BEGINNING OF THE GRAND REBEL- WHEN Charles arrived in Scotland, he found his subjects of that kingdom highly elated with the success of their military expedition. Besides the large pay voted them for lying in good quarters at Newcastle, as long as the popular leaders had occasion for them, the English parliament had conferred on them a present of three hundred thousand pounds for their brotherly assistance'. They were declared in the articles of pacification, to have been ever good subjects; and their hostile irruptions were approved of, as enterprizes calculated and intended for his majesty's bonour and advantage! Nay, in order to carry yet farther the triumph over their sovereign, these articles, containing terms so ignominious to him, were ordered by a parliamentary vote, to be read in all churches, on a day of thanksgiving appointed for the national pacification2. People in such a humour were not likely to be satisfied with trifling concessions. The Scottish parliament began with abolishing the lords of Articles: who, from their constitution, were supposed to be entirely devoted to the court, and without whose consent no motion could be made3: a circumstance peculiarly grievous in the Scottish parliament, where the peers and commons formed only one house. A law for triennial parliaments was likewise passed; and it was ordained that the last act of every parliament should appoint the time and place for holding the parliament next ensuing. So far all perhaps was laudable; but subjects who usurp on the authority of their prince, never know where to 1. Nalson, vol. i. 2. Rushworth, vol v. 3. Burnet, Mem. 4. Burnet's Mem of the House of Hamilton. draw |