Her father, privy to this intrigue, for the sake of gaining the favour of the favourite had basely recommended a divorce from Essex on the most indelicate ground. The King himself had used all his influence to procure it. Worse than that, the lady, finding herself opposed by the advice of Sir Thomas Overbury, who was Somerset's chief adviser, had procured the imprisonment and subsequent murder of that gentleman, a murder in which it is pretty certain that Somerset had borne a share. In another way events had turned out unfavourably for Somerset. On the death of Northampton there had been a rush for office, and the King, to fill his coffers, had put vacant places up for sale, and thus George Villiers, a gentleman of Leicestershire, had been able to purchase the office of cupbearer. The overbearing character of Somerset had secured him many enemies. While his alliance with the Howards gave just cause of apprehension to the Puritan party; he had acted so entirely as the minister and adviser of the Crown that the counsellors felt themselves virtually put aside. They therefore fixed upon young Villiers-who at that time showed signs of an amiable and pliant disposition, and was as good-looking and more courtier-like than Somerset-to supplant him, and persuaded Abbot, Archbishop of Canterbury, who was Puritanic in his The second favourite, Villiers. 1615. tendencies, to use his influence with the Queen to induce her to recommend the new favourite. The King was speedily caught by his beauty, and he rose rapidly in favour. But something was wanted to complete the overthrow of Somerset, and this was found in the circumstances attending his marriage. Elwes, Lieutenant of the Tower, desirous of obtaining the favour of Winwood, the Secretary of State, divulged to him the suspicious circumstances attending Overbury's death. James, weary of his old friend, and longing for his new one, allowed the matter to be carried forward; and, with detestable double-dealing, suffered Somerset to be apprehended in his very presence, while he was still lavishing on him his usual repulsive tokens of affection. It is needless to follow the details of the nauseous story. There was sufficient proof that the Countess had employed a certain Mrs. Turner to supply poisons for the destruction of Overbury. The lesser agents were condemned and executed. An unsolved mystery hangs over the rest of the story. Both the Earl and Countess were found guilty. The Countess indeed confessed her crime, but the Earl not only refused to acknowledge his guilt, but threatened James with certain revelations if the charge were pressed. What those were was never known; 1615] DEGRADATION OF POLITICS 599 but that he held the King in his power was very plain, for James showed every sign of fear, and finally both the chief actors in the tragedy were pardoned. Somerset's enemies had, however, obtained their object, and from this time forward the destiny of England was in the hands of Villiers. Consequent de English politics. The reign of James had in fact entered into a second period at the death of Cecil. The government of statesmen had given place to that of favourites. The same phenomenon was gradation of to be observed both in France and Spain, and the consequence was a general want of determined outline in the foreign policy of the three countries. In England all high national policy, all idea of assuming vigorously and in arms the leadership of the Protestant party, entirely disappeared. Even Cecil had been averse to a war with Spain if it could be honourably avoided. But now James and his favourites desired peace at any price, and sought that peace by entering into very friendly relations with Spain. James was always strongly attracted by the thoroughness of the monarchical institutions of Spain, and hoped by close alliance with that country, and at the same time by keeping up his relations with the Protestant powers of Germany, to be able to play the part of peace-maker in Europe. Lerma, the Spanish prime minister, had somewhat similar views. He believed that Spain had need of rest, and that its position would be best secured by marriage treaties with the nations most likely to be hostile to it, namely, France and England. When then, after the death of Prince Henry, negotiations with France for the substitution of Charles in his brother's place as the husband of the French Princess Christine came to nothing, the Spanish Government suggested a marriage between Prince Charles and the Infanta Mary, daughter of Philip III. Gondomar, the Spanish ambassador, in intimate relation both with Rochester and Villiers, obtained by his ready wit and social character much influence with the King, and the Spanish match thus became a fixed idea in his mind, for which he was willing to make great concessions. It is impossible not to connect the peaceful policy of the King and his favourites with their position at home. James had never liked the necessity of summoning Parliaments. His wishes had been more than once thwarted by them, and the language used in 1609 by no means harmonized with his own view of his prerogative. An attempt to produce a more docile assembly in 1614 was singularly unsuccessful. Certain members of Parliament, who Parliament. thought they understood the temper of the Commons, The Addled 1614. undertook to manage that House for the King. They were spoken of at Court as the Undertakers. Both the fact and the title became known, and the attempt at indirect influence was not calculated to improve the temper of the Commons. They at once proceeded to their old grievances, especially discussing the legality of the impositions (as the additions to the customs were called) and of monopolies. In anger at the total failure of his scheme, James hurriedly dissolved the Parliament before it had completed a single piece of business. The humour of the time christened this futile Parliament "The Addled Parliament." With these experiences, neither the King nor his friends wished to be driven to the necessity of again appealing to the Commons. But such an appeal would have been inevitable to supply the money necessary for a war. For seven years, therefore, between 1614 and 1621, there was no Parliament summoned; and the King devoted all his skill in statecraft, of which he was inordinately proud, to the maintenance of peace in Europe. During the ministry of Cecil, encroachments on the right of selftaxation had been common enough, yet, on the whole, constitutional means of raising money had been chiefly employed. These now gave way to illegal means. The cautionary towns, which the Dutch had lodged in the hands of the English as security for the money Elizabeth had advanced, were resold at about a third of their value. Free gifts were demanded from the nobility. Benevolences were collected, some of which appear never to have been repaid. Money was raised by writs under the Privy Seal. Patents and monopolies were multiplied, and finally peerages below earldoms were publicly sold. The growing attachment between the King and Spain was not regarded favourably by the nation. It speedily produced effects which excited much angry feeling. In the first place, it was impossible for the King to carry out his foreign policy without granting considerable concessions to the Catholics; he was obliged, in order to gain credit with the Spaniards, to allow the sharpest of the persecuting laws to remain in abeyance. And again the popular voice accused him of meanly truckling to Spain when he allowed Raleigh to be put to death. Weary with his imprisonment, Raleigh had at length found means Raleigh's last voyage to Guiana. 1617. to gain his freedom by judicious bribery of the family of Villiers, and by mentioning to Winwood, the Secretary, his belief that he could, if allowed to command a fleet, open a mine on the Orinoco river first discovered by Captain Keymis in 1596. To secure this prize, James granted him liberty, 1618] DEATH OF RALEIGH 601 and put him in command of several ships; but, to please the Spaniards, gave him strict instructions not in any way to come to hostilities with them. He seems also to have placed the whole plan of the expedition in the hands of his intimate Gondomar, by whom it was at once forwarded to the Spanish Court and thence to South America, so that on Raleigh's arrival at the river full preparations had been made to receive him. The consequence was an inevitable collision. Raleigh had arrived with forces much weakened by disease, and himself in a high fever. The expedition he sent up to discover the mine was attacked by the Spaniards; it in turn assaulted and took the town of St. Thomas, where Raleigh's son was killed. The expedition proceeded further upwards under the command of Captain Keymis, but there were such signs of preparation and opposition everywhere that that commander thought it more prudent to retire. Among the spoils taken at St. Thomas were the despatches, which disclosed the King's treachery; and, excited by the failure of his plans, by the loss of his much-loved son, and by the gloomy prospects which these despatches opened before him, Raleigh censured Keymis so sharply that in despair he killed himself. Thoroughly disheartened, and aware of what was awaiting him, Raleigh returned home. He there found his Spanish enemies ready for him. He was at once apprehended, and, by a strange stretch of law, the old attainder of thirteen years before was revived against him; and though he justly argued that public service, with the right of life and death, had condoned his previous offence, the disappointment of James and the vengeance of Gondomar was too strong for him, he was condemned His execution. and executed. In prison, by his "History of the 1618. World," and by his chemical studies, he had given proof of powers with which the world had before scarcely credited him; and now the death of so eminent a man caused bitter anger among the people, who regarded him, and justly, as a victim of Spanish intrigue. the Thirty At length, in the year 1618, it seemed as if James's policy of mediation could no longer be pursued. Questions in Beginning of which he was deeply interested had arisen in Germany. Years' War. Protestantism had spread widely through the dominions 1618. of the house of Austria. Matthias, the reigning Emperor, had in his youth supported that religion. But the Catholic reaction, which, under the influence of the Jesuits, had been making its way in Europe, had laid hold especially of the higher ranks and of the younger men. Pre-eminent as its champions were the Duke of Bavaria, the head of the Catholic League, and Ferdinand of Gratz, a member of the younger branch of the Austrian house. Afraid of the democratic tendencies of the Reformers, which he knew by his own previous experience, Matthias, as he grew older, changed his policy, and when seeking for a successor, chose this Ferdinand of Gratz, in whose favour he induced the other Austrian Princes to renounce their claims. The kingdom of Bohemia was at once elective and hereditary. Ferdinand assumed by this double title the position of future king; although it was understood that he was bound not to interfere in the government, a change in the character of the administration became at once visible. Irritated by the destruction of some churches, which they believed they had had a right to build, the Bohemian Protestants rose under Count Thurm, stormed the Council Chamber at Prague, threw two obnoxious ministers out of the window, and, in conjunction with Silesia, Moravia, and Hungary, formed a vast insurrection, which was pressing victoriously onward when Matthias died. The insurgents sought assistance from the Protestant Princes. Ferdinand, the new King, called in the help of Spain, while his own dominions were still in danger. He succeeded in getting himself elected at Frankfort Emperor of Germany, and almost at the same time the crown of Bohemia was offered to the Elector Palatine; for the Protestants declared that the throne of that country was entirely elective, and refused therefore to give it to Ferdinand as the heir of Matthias. The Elector at once consulted his father-in-law; in fact, it depended upon James whether the throne should be accepted or not. But the desire of family aggrandizement on the one side, and the dread of touching the hereditary right of princes on the other, together with his generally wavering policy, induced him to give a perfectly equivocal answer. The general impression was that he meant to support the Elector, who therefore accepted the throne. In October 1619 he was crowned. The contest gradually assumed the proportions of a general reliSympathy in England for the gious war. It excited violent enthusiasm in England. Protestant side. The dislike which existed between the Lutherans and Calvinists, the jealousy of the rising power of the Elector Palatine felt by Saxony, which had hitherto been the chief Protestant State of Germany, and the neutrality of France, on which the Reforming Princes of Germany had formerly relied (but which had now fallen under Spanish influence during the regency of Mary de Medici), rendered the Protestant party, though numerically powerful, politically weak. The undecided conduct of James, who should have been their head, completed the weakness of the party; while, on the |