the Elector Frederic, his son-in-law; but its real purpose was to reduce, by a combination with the Protestant states of the north, the preponderance of the great Catholic powers, Austria and Spain. The war was a popular one; for the false notions that had been spread ab out so industriously during the last two reigns by interested persons, had by this time entered deep into the minds of the people, and were now a part of their religious creed: the triumph of the Catholic powers meant with them nothing less than the re-establishment of Catholicity as the State Church, and the bitter persecution of all its opponents. Four months after the King's accession he summoned his first Parliament. He needed money urgently, and he set before both Houses his wants in plain terms. His appeal evoked little sympathy. A sum of £140,000 was voted; the charge for the equipment of the navy alone amounted to £300,000; the necessary expenditure of the war would require seven times what was allowed. Even this small sum was granted with a bad grace; an account was demanded of the way in which former subsidies had been employed, and a list of grievances was presented that required to be redressed. The spirit of opposition was inflamed by the report spread abroad that the Duke of Buckingham, Charles' chief favourite, who then held the office of Lord Admiral, had lent some ships to the King of France to be employed against Rochelle, the last stronghold of the French Huguenots. The plague which had followed the Parliament from Westminster to Oxford, afforded the King a good pretext for a dissolution. Recourse was now had to loans; circular letters were sent, stating the sum required from each of those to whom they were addressed, "that which few men would deny a friend." With these contributions a fleet was equipped and an army of 10,000 men set on foot. It was hoped that if a landing could once be effected on the coast of Spain, the war would be maintained " by its own perquisites." The fleet set sail; the troops landed; every man became his own vintner;" the commander-in-chief was soon obliged to reship his bacchanalian troops, and Spain suffered no loss beyond that of a vast number of casks of wine. Sickness broke out, and the fleet returned to Plymouth with the loss of a thousand men.

Early in 1626, another Parliament was called in the midst of necessities, "that the king might know how he was to frame his course and councils." The Commons, in reply, "professed their respect for his Majesty, and their intention to assist him in such a way as to make him safe at home and feared abroad." Yet no supplies were voted. "The great evils were first to be inquired into, and the grievances redressed." Buckingham was impeached; the King showed his regard for his favourite by imprisoning the managers of the prosecution; and it was not until the Commons refused to proceed to further business that he consented to their release. In June the second Parliament was dissolved.

In his distress Charles turned his eyes towards Ireland; there at least he would not find a Parliament that would oppose his wishes. Forty new boroughs had been created by Chichester in the preceding reign, many of them being only paltry villages, to overwhelm the

Catholic votes, which up to that time, in spite of persecution, held the preponderance. Henry Carey, Lord Falkland, had been sent over as Deputy in 1622. At his inauguration, Usher, then Protestant bishop of Meath and a privy councillor, preached a fanatical harangue, taking as his text the words of St. Paul: "He beareth not the sword in vain."* The following year a proclamation was issued for the banishment of all the Popish clergy, regular and secular; they were ordered to depart from the kingdom within forty days, and no one was allowed to hold intercourse with them after that time.

Charles' accession made the Catholics hope that these hardships would cease in part if not wholly. He was known to be no fanatic. In religion he inclined more to the tolerant tenets of Episcopalianism than to the fierce doctrines of the Puritans. Besides, he had, in the very beginning of his reign, taken to wife the sister of the King of France; and one of the stipulations of the marriage was, that she and her household should be allowed the free exercise of the Catholic religion, even within the royal palaces. It was not unreasonable to hope that the influence of one so devoted to the interests of the Church as she was known to be, should obtain for those of her faith if not open toleration, at least connivance at its practice in secret. During the first two years of his reign the Irish Catholics enjoyed some little tranquillity; for this they were indebted to the King's instructions to the Deputy and council; and there is reason to believe that he would have granted them complete liberty of conscience if he had not been deterred by the outcry raised by the Protestant bishops.t

It was thought likely that the unfortunate expedition to Cadiz would provoke the Spanish government to retaliate by making a descent on Ireland. The King ordered the army to be increased to 5,000 foot and 500 horse. The raising of the troops was not difficult; but it was no easy matter, in the low state of the public finances, to provide for their support. In 1628, by the Deputy's invitation, the Catholic proprietors, who were still very numerous, both nobility and gentry, met in Dublin. Several Protestants of rank took part in the meeting. The assembly was conducted throughout with wisdom and moderation. A statement was drawn up in the nature of a bill of rights, putting forth the grievances that needed redress. The royal assent was to be asked to their demands; and a promise was made that, on their being granted, a voluntary assessment of £120,000 would be raised by the Catholics of Ireland for the use of the crown. Agents were chosen to proceed to London and lay before the English Privy Council the resolutions agreed to by the meeting. A report got abroad that the government was about to grant indulgences to the Catholic recusants. The Protestants took alarm. Usher, who was then Primate of Ireland, assembled the bishops to the number of twelve in his own house, and drew up the following "judgment of divers of the archbishops and bishops of Ireland con

* See "Essays on the English State Church in Ireland," by W. Maziere Brady, D.D., p. 202.

Ware, ad ann. 1626-Grainger Biog. Hist. ii. 147.

cerning toleration of religion;" which was signed not only by the bishops, but by Chichester, Boyle, and Parsons:

"The religion of the Papists is superstitious and idolatrous; their faith and doctrine erroneous and heretical; their Church, in respect of both, apostatical. To give them therefore a toleration, or to consent that they may freely exercise their religion and profess their faith and doctrine, is a grievous sin, and that in two respects. For, 1st, it is to make ourselves accessory not only to their superstition, idolatry, and heresies, and, in a word, to all the abominations of Popery, but also to the sedition of the seduced people, which perish in the deluge of the Catholic apostasy. 2nd. To grant them toleration in respect of any money to be given, is to set religion to sale, and with it the souls of the people, whom Christ our Saviour hath redeemed with His most precious blood."

It concluded with a prayer "beseeching the God of truth to make them who are in authority zealous, resolute, and courageous against all Popery, superstition, and idolatry." This judgment was soon after promulgated by Downham, Bishop of Derry, in Christ Church, Dublin, before the Lord Deputy and his Council. His hearers cried out: "Amen, Amen.”*

Charles' needs were too great to allow such arguments to weigh on his mind. He accepted the offer of £120,000, to be paid in three annual instalments of £40,000 each. In return he granted fifty-one graces. Some of these concerned Protestants as well as Catholics. By them recusants could practise henceforth in courts of law, and sue the livery of their lands out of the Court of Wards, on taking an oath of civil allegiance instead of that by which they acknowledged the king's supremacy in things spiritual; the claims of the crown should be confined to the last sixty years, and the inhabitants of Connaught allowed to make a new enrolment of their estates. A promise was made, that a Parliament should be held without delay to confirm these graces, and to establish every landholder in the undisputed possession of his lands. The delegates returned to Ireland, and were welcomed with joy by the people; they presented to the Deputy the order of the King. Secret instructions had been sent meantime, the tenor of which was quite opposed to the promises made to the agents. The Parliament was to be called, but Falkland should see that the writs of election were informal, and that in consequence of the informality the parliament was not held. The writs were duly

* Mant, "History of the Church of Ireland," i., 143.

† A detailed list of the " graces" will be found in Carte's "Life of Ormonde,"

i., 51. The Court of Wards was established by James I. in 1617. Its ostensible motive was the better collection of the revenue; the real one, to root out the Catholic religion. All heirs to lands held of the crown-and at James' accession there was scarcely an acre in Ireland that was not so held-were obliged to sue out the livery of their lands in the Court of Wards; and the court could not grant such livery to any one who had not previously taken the oath of supremacy, and abjured several articles of the Catholic creed. Either he must forswear his religion or forfeit his property. If the heir was a minor, the court could grant the wardship to whomsoever it pleased; the grantee was obliged by his patent "to educate his ward in the English religion and habits of Trinity College, Dublin."-See O'Flaherty's “IarConnaught," annot. by Hardiman. It is obvious that in a short time every landowner in Ireland should, by the operation of this law, become a sworn Protestant; at times it was defeated by long leases and secret trusts. See Lingard vii., 119.

issued; but as the legal requirements were not fulfilled, they were of no value. The error was proved to be intentional by the fact that a new issue in more legal form could have been made. This was not done. The confirmation of the graces by the Parliament was postponed under various pretexts. The people still relied on the King's honor; they did not know that it was his deliberate purpose to evade his promise.

Falkland seemed to the Puritans far too tolerant. To avoid the storm raised against him for the part he had taken in the matter of the "graces," he asked permission to withdraw to England for a time. In his absence, the government was entrusted to Lords Justices, Loftus, Viscount Ely, the Chancellor, and Boyle, Earl of Cork, the Lord High Treasurer. The reign of persecution began once more. A letter written at the time by one who was probably an eye-witness of what he relates, is preserved in the Franciscan archives, Dublin :

"Our oratories began again to be opened, and in the last term before Xmas there was great resort to ye friars in Cooke-street, for that we held ourselves out of danger of ye last proclamation. But uppon St. Steevan's Day last (1630) it befell yt ye pseudo-Archbishop of Dublin and ye Mayor, a great Puritan, went with soldiours to ye said friars' howse about noone at ye day and there defaced ye autle [altar] and oratory, and weare leading away two friars which they took. The devoute women which were in ye oratory, together with young men yt came to ye crie, did so play on ye Mayor and Archbishop and their men with stones and clubs yt they were forced to take howse, and some persons weare hurt. Some Catholic aldermen who were not at all in the streets, but only in their own howse, because they gott not out to rescue ye Mayor, he putt in prison. I know not what will be ye issue. Some of our Catholics be gone with speed to Ingland; I hope yt they will be hable to divart the King's indignation. The Jesuits weare not so forward as the Friars in opening their schools and oratories, and you know they judge it prudence to suffer others to try ye forde before them."*

The Jesuits' prudence did not save them, for their residence and oratory were ransacked the next day. The riot was duly reported to the King. In a few days an order was issued, commanding that the house should be demolished where the archbishop and mayor had received such an affront. Many religious houses, chiefly of the Franciscan Order, which by their retired situation had hitherto been saved from destruction, were now plundered and their inmates driven out. For four years the rule of the Lords Justices continued. Once they were rebuked by the King for over-zeal; but he soon repented of the short respite, and ordered the laws to be still more strictly enforced against recusants.

Charles, in the meantime, had summoned a third Parliament. Instead of obtaining the supplies he needed, he was called on to accept the Petition of Right; by which it was declared that no forced loans should be demanded, no taxes imposed without the consent of Par

*"Franciscan Monasteries," by the Rev. C. P. Meehan. Some writers say it was not the Franciscan but the Carmelite Church that was attacked. The mistake has arisen probably from the fact that both these Orders had churches in Cookestreet. The Bishop of Waterford, in a letter to the Propaganda, bearing date July 6th, 1630, says: "Franciscanorum domus Dublinii solo æquata et suppellex ablata." -See Dr. Moran's "Spicilegium Ossoriense," p. 165, and "Foxes and Firebrands," part 2.

liament. Other grievances, religious and political, were discussed, and a motion was made for their redress. This the Speaker refused to put from the chair. In a few days Parliament was once more dissolved; and a proclamation was issued, stating that the King intended in future to govern without parliaments. A few months before, Buckingham fell by the hand of the assassin, Felton. Laud and Wentworth were chosen to take his place and to guide the royal councils.

Thomas Wentworth, better known in history by his later title of Lord Strafford, was born in 1593. His ancestors had held the estate of Wentworth Woodhouse from the days of the Saxons, and in later times not a few had filled some of the highest offices in the State. In his youth he was carefully taught all the accomplishments suited to his rank. At Oxford, besides the usual course of study, he read with attention the best authors ancient and modern; and later he studied the great principles of law and the details of the management of an army. At the age of twenty-one, by his father's death, he entered on the possession of the family estates. In the early part of Charles' reign he did not enjoy the royal favour. In the first Parliament he was elected for York; he had twice already represented that county. During nearly all this time, he speaks of himself as being little more than "a bystander;" yet his leanings to the popular side were so well known, that it was thought desirable to prevent his reelection. This was done by appointing him Sheriff of York, an office that precluded its holder from serving in Parliament. He was one of those who in 1626 refused to advance the loan asked for by the King, and suffered imprisonment for their refusal. Again he was elected for Yorkshire; then he broke his silence, and spoke with boldness and eloquence "in defence of the ancient, lawful, and vital liberties of the people."* In the long and arduous struggle for the Petition of Right, he was found ever in the foremost place. The King showed on many occasions a rancorous hatred towards those who had opposed his despotic conduct. To Wentworth he made secret overtures. What these were, and how they were made, is not known. He yielded to the temptation; he abandoned his principles and his party, and hated them ever after

"with all the zeal
That young and fiery converts feel."

That hatred was repaid fully. "You are going to leave us," exclaimed Pym, one of his former political friends, "but we will never leave you while your head is on your shoulders." On the 14th of July, 1628, a patent was issued by which he was created Baron Wentworth; a few months later he was made a Viscount, a member of the Privy Council, and President of the Council of the North.

Isaac D'Israeli asserts, on Brodie's authority, that "the fierce patriotic speeches which have often been ascribed to Sir Thomas Wentworth, were in fact delivered by a Mr. Thomas Wentworth, member for Oxford. His own speeches were usually moderate."-See "Commentaries on the Life and Reign of Charles I." Macaulay says, no orator of that time equalled Wentworth in force and brilliancy of expression."-Essay on "Lord Nugent's Memorials of Hampden."