able; therefore let it pass. And now, my lords, for myself; I have long been taught that the afflictions of this life are overpaid by that eternal weight of glory which waits the innocent; and so, my lords, even so with the utmost tranquillity, I submit myself to your judgement, whether that judgement be life or death; not my will, but thine, O God, be done!" His eloquence and innocence induced those judges to pity who were the most zealous to condemn him. The king himself went to the house of lords, and spoke for some time in his defence; but the spirit of vengeance, that had been chained for eleven years, was now roused, and nothing but his blood could give the people satisfaction. He was found guilty by both houses of parliament; and nothing remained but for the king to give his consent to the bill of attainder. But, in the present commotions, the consent of the king was a thing that would very easily be dispensed with; and imminent dangers might attend his refusal. Yet still Charles, who loved Strafford tenderly, hesitated and seemed reluctant, trying every expedient to put off so dreadful a duty as that of signing the warrant for his execution. While he continued in this agitation of mind, not knowing how to act, his doubts were at last silenced by an act of heroic bravery in the condemned lord. He received a letter from that unfortunate nobleman, desiring that his life might be made the sacrifice of a mutual reconciliation between the king and his people; adding, that he was prepared to die, and to a willing mind there could be no injury. This instance of noble generosity was ill repaid by his master, who complied with his request. He consented to the signing the fatal bill by commission; Strafford was beheaded on Tower-hill, behaving with all that composed dignity of resolution that was expected from his character. The people, taught by his death to trample

upon the rights of humanity, soon after resolved to shed blood that was still more precious.

But the commons did not stop their impeachments here. Laud also, after a deliberation which did not continue half an hour, was considered as sufficiently culpable to incur the same accusation, and was committed to custody. Finch, the lord-keeper, was also impeached; but he had the precaution to make his escape, and retire into Holland, as did sir Francis Windebank, the secretary, into France.

The crown being thus deprived of the services of its ministers, the commons next proceeded to attack the few privileges it still possessed. During the late military operations, several powers had been exerted by the lieutenants and deputy-lieutenants of counties, who were all under the influence of the crown. These were, therefore, voted Delinquents; a term now first used to signify transgressors whose crimes were not as yet ascertained by law. The sheriffs also, who had obeyed the king's mandate in raising ship-money, were voted to be delinquents. All the farmers and officers of the customs, who had been employed during so many years in levying tonnage and poundage, were subjected to the same imputation, and only purchased their safety by paying a hundred and fifty thousand pounds. Every discretionary or arbitrary sentence of the Star-chamber and High-commission courts underwent a severe scrutiny; and all those who had any hand in such sentences were voted to be liable to the penalties of the law. The judges who had declared against Hampden, in the trial of ship-money, were accused before the peers, and obliged to find security for their appearance. All those monopolies which had been lately granted by the crown were now annihilated by the order of the commons; and they carried their detestation of that grievance so far as

to expel from their own house all such members as had been monopolists or projectors.

Hitherto we have seen the commons in some measure the patrons of liberty and of the people; boldly opposing the stretches of illegal power, or repressing those claims which, though founded on custom, were destructive of freedom. Thus far their aims, their struggles, were just and honourable: but the general passions of the nation were now excited; and, having been once put into motion, they soon passed the line, and knew not where to stop. Had they been contented with resting here, after abridging all those privileges of monarchy which were capable of injuring the subject, and leaving it all those prerogatives that could benefit, they would have been considered as the great benefactors of mankind, and would have left the constitution nearly on the same footing on which we enjoy it at present. But they either were willing to revenge their former sufferings, or thought that some terrible examples were necessary to deter others from attempting to enslave their country. The horrors of a civil war were not sufficiently attended to; and they precipitately involved the nation in calamities which they themselves were the first to repent.

The whole nation was thrown into a general ferment. The harangues of the members, now first published and dispersed, kept alive the horrors which were felt for the late administration. The pulpits, delivered over to the puritanical preachers, whom the commons arbitrarily placed in all considerable churches, resounded with faction and fanaticism. The press, freed from all fear or restraint, swarmed with productions, dangerous by their sedition and calumny more than by their eloquence or style.

In this universal uproar against the crown, Prynne, Burton, and Bastwick, who had some years before suf

fered so severely for their licentious abuses, and had been committed to remote prisons, were set at liberty by order of the commons, and were seen making their triumphant entry into the capital. Bastwick had been confined in Scilly, Prynne in Jersey, and Burton in Guernsey; and, upon landing at their respective places, they were received by the acclamations of the people, and attended by crowds to London. Boughs were carried in this tumultuous procession; the roads were strewed with flowers, their sufferings were aggravated, and their persecutors reviled. All persons who had been punished for seditious libels during the foregoing administration, now recovered their liberty, and had damages given them upon those who had decreed their punishment.

Grievances, no doubt, and heavy ones, had been endured during the intermission of parliament; but the very complaints against them now became one of the greatest grievances. So many were offered within doors, and petitioned against without, that the house was divided into above forty committees, charged each of them with the examination of its respective complaints. The torrent rising to so dreadful and unexpected a height, despair seized all those who, from interest or habit, were attached to monarchy; while the king himself saw, with amazement, the whole fabric of government overturned. "You have taken," said he to the parliament," the whole machine of government to pieces; a practice frequent with skilful artists, when they desire to clear the wheels from any rust which may have grown upon them. The engine may be restored to its former use and motions, provided it be fitted up entire, so as not a pin be wanting." But the commons, in their present temper, were much better adapted to destroy than to fit up; and

VOL. II.

having taken the machine asunder, they soon found an expeditious set of workmen ready to step in and take the whole business off their hands.

But, in this universal rage for abolishing the former constitution, the parliament fell with great justice on two courts, which had been erected under arbitrary kings, and had seldom been employed but in cases of necessity. These were the High-commission court, and the court of Star-chamber. A bill unanimously passed the houses to abolish both, and, in them, to annihilate the principal and most dangerous articles of the king's prerogative. The former, which was instituted for defending the establishments of the church, had great power in all ecclesiastical matters; and the judges in that court were entirely arbitrary in whatever punishments or fines they thought proper to inflict. The Star-chamber had given force to the king's proclamations, and punished such as ventured to transgress them; but, that being now taken away, his proclamations were of no effect, and might be opposed with impunity. Such were the transactions of this first session of the Long Parliament; and though in some cases they acted with anger, and in others with precipitation, yet their merits so much overbalanced their mistakes, that they deserve the highest gratitude from posterity.

After this the parliament seemingly adjourned; but a committee of both houses, a thing altogether unprecedented, was appointed to sit during the recess, with very ample powers, and very little less than those of the parliament in the plenitude of its authority. Pym was appointed chairman of the lower house; in this, farther attempts were made for assuming the sovereign executive powers, and publishing the ordinances of this com