the one hand, and the exasperation of the people on the other, had made a virtual transfer of power from the monarch to the Commons. It is reported, that never had the faces of the latter worn so proud an aspect in the presence of the sovereign, as on that occasion. The danger to be feared was, lest the sudden transition from despotic to popular government might induce results detrimental to the public welfare. Considering the remarkable circumstances under which parliament had assembled-more especially the pressure from without, which has not been sufficiently estimated by some writers-it appears to us deserving of all praise, for the calm and dignified manner in which it conducted its proceedings. Theirs was indeed a difficult task. With two opposing armies in the kingdom-with an express command from the king to render prompt assistance in driving out the Scotch rebels-with an angry people, complaining of oppression and demanding justice from their representatives-the wonder is that they knew which way to turn first. They had, however, the gift of a singular discretion, and their promptitude in action was equalled only by their intrepidity in decision. Attention was first paid to matters of grievance. The table of the House groaned under the petitions presented by the people. The whole country seemed suddenly to have recovered the faculty of speech, and the complaints of all classes were enunciated through the lips of the several delegates. One act of injustice after another,in rapid succession, passed in review; and all were condemned. Parliament became in fact a court of assize for the whole nation. At least forty committees were busily engaged, from day to day, in inquiring into abuses. Every town and district sent up its accusations. Every agent of injustice was marked down as a delinquent. The scene presented was that of a kind of rehearsal of the general judgment. While despotism in all its processes-its ministers, its tribunals, its laws, its worship-was everywhere paralyzed, the course of retributive justice was marked by amazing activity. Strafford and Laud were impeached as the greatest of delinquents, and eventually executed. The Star Chamber and High Commission courts were abolished. Informations were lodged against bishops Wren and Pierce, who were ordered to give security in ten thousand pounds, to await the judgment of parliament. The judges who had lent their sanction to the levying of ship-money were held to bail in the same amount. The most guilty of their number was impeached, arrested publicly on the bench, and brought to the bar of the House like a common felon. In addition to these things, the parliament ensured its own safety, by voting first, the Triennial Bill, and afterwards, that no power might dissolve it without its consent. Such bold proceedings as these struck terror into the hearts of all oppressors. The court was given up to dismay. The queen would have left the kingdomunder plea of ill health, but really for the purpose of procuring foreign aid-if the parliament had not requested her to remain. Charles had not, in the number of his counsellors, any that were able or influential enough to direct him aright. Now yielding to unmanly fears, and now endeavouring to outwit the nation by cunning, he became more and more involved in perplexity. The English army was disbanding; and the Scotch army, paid off by the Commons, had crossed the border on its way home. The king followed them; dined with Leslie at the head quarters of the covenanters ; and sought to ingratiate himself at Edinburgh with the people whom he had a little while ago ridiculed and insulted. While there he was suspected of intriguing with various parties for the recovery of his power; and during the excitement arising from this circumstance, news arrived from Ireland of an universal insurrection in that country on the part of the catholics, and the subsequent massacre of the greater part of the protestant population. According to one calculation fifty thousand, and according to another two hundred thousand were cruelly murdered in that dreadful slaughter. As a natural consequence a cry of horror, mingled with fierce denunciations against popery, arose from every part of England. The king was requested to return from Scotland, and on doing so, devolved the work of putting an end to the rebellion in the sister country upon parliament. Parliament attempted to do what it could, but effected little. It was bent now upon decisive measures against the king, who was more than suspected of having complotted with O'Neil in the scheme which led to so much bloodshed. The famous Remonstrance against the past delinquencies of the king and his agents, civil and ecclesiastical, was passed, and presented to his majesty on the 1st of December, 1641, at Hampton Court. At the same time a petition for the removal of the bishops from the House of Lords was placed in his hands. Charles received both with reluctance, and with the air of a man who had some secret project in hand. It was evident that a collision between the king and his parliament was about to be commenced. Such, in brief, was the course of public affairs up to the year 1642. It now devolves upon us to inquire into the relative influence of the various religious parties both in and out of parliament. According to Clarendon, nearly all the members of both houses were episcopalians, and in favour of the existing constitution in church and state. The popular leaders, in particular, are referred to by name, as of this class; and their reforming views are said to have gone no further at first than to a removal of abuses, and the redress of grievances. Such a statement is scarcely correct. Many were already presbyterians in principle; and while the Independents had at present no recognized existence as a political party, their numbers were increasing, and principles to a certain extent identical with theirs were taking possession of the public mind. As a contemporary writer has observed, with great discrimination, "the concord of this parliament consisted not in the unanimity of the persons, (for they were of several tempers as to matters of religion), but in the complication of the interest of those causes which they severally did most concern themselves in. One party made no great matter of the alterations in the church; but they said, that if the parliaments were once down, and our propriety gone, and arbitrary government set up, and law subjected to the prince's will, we were then all slaves, and this they made a thing intolerable, for the remedying of which, they said every true Englishman could think no price too dear; these the people called good commonwealth's men. The other sort were the more religious men, who were also sensible of all these things, but were much more sensible of the interests of religion.' ""* It * Sylvester's Baxter, 17. should be added, in order to throw yet further light upon the complexion of the House of Commons, and to account in some measure for the rapid advances which many if not most of its members made in opinions hostile to the established hierarchy, that the elections had proceeded in most instances, solely on parliamentary grounds, in opposition to privilege, by which so many previous parliaments had been rendered inefficient. Hence the " representation" of the religion of the people, which in the beginning was rather a matter of chance than otherwise, was afterwards improved by that pressure from without, which will always affect, sooner or later, the character of an elective assembly. From the commencement of this parliament, however, there were men of great parts whose views were more or less formed according to the principles of Independency, and who became in fact the nucleus of the Independent party. Lords Brooke and Say, in the upper house, and Hampden, Vane, Cromwell, and St. John, in the lower, were the few who were thus honourably distinguished. A few remarks will not be out of place here, respecting the character of these men. The most celebrated person in the House of Commons at this time was John Hampden, a gentleman of ancient family and large estate in Buckinghamshire,* whose public spirit was sustained by his lofty principles and by his unblemished character in private life. It has been somewhere observed, that the old Roman character in its purest form was represented anew to the world in his person. Such is the idea history compels us to form of him; only heightened * Hampden was born in London, in 1594, when his father was in parliament. |