22 THE RESTORATION. - CHAP. III. CLARENDON AND SOUTHAMPTON'S ADMINISTRATION. THE CHARACTERS OF THE KING, THE DUKE OF YORK, AND THE CABAL. DESIGNS OF THE KING AND Duke. TREATIES WITH FRANCE.. MISTAKE OF MR. HUME. NING OF THE SECOND DUTCH WAR. BEGIN- OPPOSITION IN PARLIAMENT. TEST ACT. HIS CHARACTER. WAR BECOMES UNPOPULAR. RUIN OF THE CABAL. SHAFTESBURY JOINS OPPOSITION. ་ THE HE restoration of Charles II. was hailed by all classes of people with unbounded joy. A change of opinion so complete has called forth a charge of fickleness against the English character from one of the lightest and gayest writers of a nation often reproached for levity and inconstancy.* It may, however, be more honourably accounted for; the revolution in the state, like some disorders in the body, had worked its own cure. The opposition which Charles I. made to his people, when asking for their legal rights, produced a party who set no just bounds to their pretensions. The king's violence became the cause of a civil war, and his insincerity prevented any hope of peace. On the other hand, the army which the people had been obliged to raise in defence of justice and freedom, finally overturned both by aiding the expulsion of the parliament, the execution of the king, and the elevation of Cromwell. But an authority so irregular could not long maintain itself in England, and the Protector was no sooner dead than the people openly showed their longing for the restoration of the ancient constitution. The artifices of Monk, and their own tumultuous joy, unfortunately hindered the nation from listening to those who advised them to secure the rights for which so much blood had been shed. The calamities of civil war were mingled in their minds with constitutional privileges. In this temper the people willingly obeyed the voice of the royalists, and echoed the prejudices to which, twenty years before, *Hamilton, Mémoires de Grammont. they had refused a hearing. And though the king and his minister' did not entirely abstain from acts of vengeance, no sympathy could be excited in favour of those who were looked upon as the authors of the late troubles. Yet in the joy of new power, the professions of the sovereign were plausible and constitutional. "I shall not propose 6 to myself," he said, "any one rule in my actions and counsels, than this, What is a parliament like to think of this action or this counsel?' and it shall be a want of understanding in me, if it will not bear that test."* For some years the prudence of Clarendon, who neither tried to make his master independent of parliament nor refused promotion to those who had raised themselves during the commonwealth; and the integrity of Southampton, who presided over the treasury with exemplary vigilance, preserved the balance of the government. But the death of the latter, and the disgrace of the former minister, gave free scope to the favourites and the inclinations of the king. Charles II., in the station of a private gentleman, would have been universally liked. Few men had such captivating manners, and no man ever united wit and good-nature in society to a greater degree. He had a natural good taste which guided even his moral conduct, and prevented his becoming the oppressor of his queen, when he could not be constant to her; nor was his inclination for women gratified with so much contempt of virtue as of decency. His mistresses appear to have been all ready to err, even though their tempter had not worn a crown.† No unsuspecting innocence was betrayed; no conjugal felicity was destroyed by his amours. During the latter part of his life, he lived with women rather to indulge indolence than to gratify desire. His brother the Duke of York, and his son the Duke of Monmouth, had equal reason to be grateful for his indulgence. * King's Speech. "If love prevailed with him more than any other passion, he had this for excuse, besides that his complexion was of an amorous sort, the women seemed to be the aggressors; and I have since heard the king say, they would sometimes offer themselves to his embrace." Reresby, p. 165. Though the one was the cause of all his troubles, and the other helped to foment them, he was uniformly kind and affectionate. But the cares and duties of a throne were fitted to expose the defects of Charles in the most glaring light. It was evident that he was indolent, false, unprincipled, and selfish. The most important affairs could not make him active; the most solemn engagements, true; the most shameful proposals could not rouse his pride, nor the affection of a great people induce him to sacrifice the least and lowest of his pleasures. He wasted a capacity for which the mighty cares of government afforded ample scope in the sciences of chemistry and mechanics which he could not forward; and he lowered the character of his country abroad, that he might establish a despotism at home. It is certain that adversity had not improved the character of Charles. Surrounded by his father's old friends, who had suffered from a popular revolution, he learnt to esteem his own authority too highly, and to regard with suspicion and aversion the inclinations of his people. The want of money and of consideration abroad led him into a vagabond course of life, and obliged him to practise the arts of a courtier, when he ought to have maintained the dignity of a sovereign. Whilst those immediately about him persuaded him that he was king of England by Divine right, he could not go out of this narrow circle without encountering the rebuffs of Cardinal Mazarin or Don Lewis de Haro. His residence in Scotland had disgusted him with religious fanaticism. He is said to have reconciled himself to the church of Rome at Paris some years before the Restoration; but, however that may be, it is certain that the little religion he possessed was Roman Catholic. The character of the Duke of York was essentially different from that of his brother. Charles was quick, fickle, and indolent; James was dull, obstinate, and busy: the king was indifferent about religion, the duke was one of the greatest bigots that ever lived. The Duke of Buckingham described their characters very well in a few words by saying, "Charles could see things if he would, James would see things if he could."* Various relations have been given of the conversion of the Duke of York. He tells us himself, that he was converted by reading Hooker's Ecclesiastical Policy.† But, in fact, he could not fail to perceive that the Protestant religion was closely connected with freedom of opinion on other subjects, and that the Reformation was an example of resistance to ancient authority. Hence his preference of the Roman Catholic faith. Passive obedience was, in his opinion, the simple and sole duty of a subject to a sovereign. Such a political doctrine was the fit counterpart of a religious creed which acknowledged the infallibility of a living head. His opinions, formed from books, were confirmed by experience. He observed, when at Paris, that the English Catholics were generally royalists, whilst the Protestants were friends of Cromwell. It was impossible that a mind so formed could be satisfied with the state of England, and he never relaxed in his endeavours to introduce the religion of Rome, and the government of France. He often lamented that a great fault had been committed at the Restoration, in not making the crown for ever independent of parliaments. He regarded the Habeas Corpus act as a malicious trick of Shaftesbury to diminish the just power of the crown. And he entered into the treaty of 1669 with a zeal as strong as it was blind. Yet it must not be imagined that James was without virtues. He was kind to his friends, and naturally just and true in his commerce with the world. But his bigotry, joined with his unnatural position, blotted out his good inclinations. The countenance he gave to the judgment against Argyle; his assisting at the torture in Scotland; and his attending races in the neighbourhood, when Lady Lisle was executed, leave an indelible stain upon his memory. He seems, by these instances, to have merited the retort of Ayloffe, who, when James ad Burnet, vol. i. 8vo. p. 214. fol. 169. + Life of James, written by himself. E vised him to make disclosures, for it was in his power to pardon, replied, "I know it is in your power, but it is not in your nature, to pardón.", The court of Charles II. carried the dissolution of morals to the greatest pitch. And the stage, at that time, united the profligacy of French, with the coarseness of English manners. It seemed as if the domestic character of the nation was about to undergo an alarming change but the mass of the English gentry did not follow the example of their sovereign; and he who examined beneath the surface would have found the soil rich in honour and virtue. ...The following persons were the chief favourites at court: The Duke of Buckingham had been bred up with Charles when he was a boy, and he is accused by Burnet of having been the first to pervert his principles, when they were together at Paris. But the sovereign seems to have been fully a match for the subject. His love of wit continually led him into satirical remarks on the conduct of Charles, and Charles as often showed himself incapable of long resentment. Every one knows the admirable lines of Dryden and Pope, to which his character has given rise. ...He was the avowed lover of the Countess of Shrewsbury; and it is said that she held his horse, in the dress of a page, whilst he fought with and killed her husband. Such are the exploits which illustrate the gallantry and gaiety of this famous reign! 7 Sir Harry Bennet, afterwards Lord Arlington, was a man of no great capacity, but extremely well. fitted to his situation. He had great skill in foreign languages, joined with many accomplishments, and did not think any art beneath him which might serve to raise his fortunes. During a mission in Spain, he had corresponded with the king by means of a gentleman of the bed-chamber, without the knowledge of the Chancellor or the other ministers. After this, he became the decided enemy of Lord Clarendon, and did his utmost to stimulate the king against him. When he obtained power, he endeavoured to retain it by flattering the king's taste. He invited Louise de La Querouaille to his house at Euston, where, it is said, the King first |