Images de page
PDF
ePub

lest he and his Protestant subjects should be com pelled to change their religion. James agreed with his people, because he did not want his daughter and her children to be driven out of their home. He sent ambassadors to a great many kings and princes to beg them to stop fighting, but they paid no attention to him. He therefore summoned another Parliament, and asked for money thet he might be able to pay an army to defend the Palatinate, if he went to war. As, however, he had made up his mind to send some more ambassadors before going to war, the Parliament only gave him a little money, and waited to see what he would do if the ambassadors did not succeed in persuading the Catholics to leave the Palatinate alone.

6. The Monopolies and Lord Chancellor Bacon.— The House of Commons complained bitterly of many things at home. James had granted a great many monopolies as Elizabeth had done. He had done it partly to reward his friends, but much more to encourage the introduction into England of new manufactures. Those, however, who had got these monopolies behaved very harshly and violently to men who tried, without the king's leave, to make the things which they thought that no one but themselves ought to make. The House of Commons complained, and James was obliged to put an end to these monopolies. The House of Commons then found fault with other matters. Great officials, in those days, were not paid as they are now with a regular salary, but received presents from people who wanted their help. It was very difficult to prevent people

who brought presents to the officials to reward them for doing their duty, from bringing presents to persuade them to do what they ought not to do. At this time Lord Bacon was Lord Chancellor. He was a very wise man, and a great philosopher, but when people brought him presents he was foolish enough to take them without asking himself whether they wanted to bribe him or not. In many cases these people hoped that he would decide in their favour in some matter which he had to settle as a

judge. He used to take their money, though afterwards he decided against them if they were in the wrong. Some of these people were very angry, and complained to the House of Commons. The House of Commons impeached the Lord Chancellor, that is to say, accused him before the House of Lords. Bacon was condemned to lose his office, and was punished in other ways besides.

7. The Loss of the Palatinate. At last James found out that his ambassadors could not save the Palatinate merely by talking. He therefore asked Parliament to give him more money in order that he might be able to pay an army to defend

that country. The Commons were quite ready to give him money, if he would promise to declare war against Spain. They knew that the Spaniards had sent the first army to attack the Palatinate, and they thought that if Spain were attacked and beaten at sea, as it had been in the days of Sir Francis Drake, the king of Spain would not be able to get any more gold or silver from his mines in America, and would therefore not be able

Р

to help to pay the armies of the German Catholics. They therefore wanted a war with Spain, and they were much displeased that James was again asking the king of Spain, who was now Philip IV., to give his sister, the Infanta, to the Prince of Wales. Englishmen did not at all wish to have a Roman Catholic queen in England when Charles came to be king. James, on the other hand, wanted to remain at peace with Spain and only to make war on the German Catholics. He became very angry with the House of Commons, and dissolved this Parliament. As Parliament had not given him any money, he was unable to pay an army, and before the year 1622 was over the Palatinate was conquered by the Spaniards and their friends.

8. Prince Charles's Visit to Madrid. By this time Buckingham was even on better terms with Charles than he had been with his father, and he now persuaded Charles to visit Madrid to make love to the Infanta. In those days Princes scarcely ever visited foreign countries, because they were afraid of being seized and kept in prison to make them give up something or another which belonged to them. Buckingham persuaded Charles that the king of Spain would take a visit from him as so great a compliment that he would give him back the Palatinate to show how pleased he was. The two young men put on false beards to conceal themselves, called themselves Tom Smith and Dick Smith, and set out for Spain. When they reached Madrid the king pretended to be very pleased to see them. In reality he was very sorry that they had

come. His sister had told him that she would not marry Charles, because the English Prince was a Protestant. At the Spanish Court the king and the royal family lived in a very formal way. Charles was not allowed to see the Infanta privately. One day he heard that she was in a garden, and jumped over a wall to talk to her. To his surprise she house. Philip tried

shrieked and ran into the to make Charles break off the marriage by asking him to grant liberty to the English Catholics to worship without being punished for it. Charles promised anything he was asked to promise, without thinking whether he would ever be able to keep his word. At last Philip told Charles that he must go back to England and do what he had engaged to do, and that then, if he really did it, the Infanta should be sent after him to be his wife. The Infanta, not very willingly, agreed to this. She got an English grammar and dictionary, and began studying the language which she would have to use here. Charles however thought that he was being treated with contempt. He came back to England, and refused to marry the Infanta unless her brother would give back the Palatinate. The king of Spain said that he could not do this, and the marriage was no more thought of. The Infanta put her English grammar and dictionary away. A few years afterwards she married a German Catholic Prince, the son of the Emperor, and was probably a great deal happier than if she had come to live as Charles's wife, amongst the English Protestants.

9. End of James's Reign.-James called another

Parliament which voted him money, and which would have been very well pleased if he had at once gone to war with Spain. He told the members that he was ready to fight to recover the Palatinate, but he must first send some more ambassadors to find out what allies he was likely to have. Before the Parliament came to an end, it learned that James wanted to marry his son to Henrietta Maria, the sister of Louis XIII., king of France. Englishmen would have been much better pleased to hear that Charles was going to marry a Protestant lady. To give some little satisfaction, both James and Charles promised that they would not engage to the king of France to give freedom of worship to the English Catholics. After the session of Parliament had come to an end, James found that the king of France would not give up his sister unless both James and Charles would engage to let the Catholics worship freely. Rather than be disappointed in this marriage as they had been disappointed in Spain, they both engaged to do this, and so broke their promise to the Parliament. They were therefore afraid to summon Parliament again till the marriage was actually over, when it would be too late for any one to grumbie. This was the more disastrous because they had already made some preparations for war, and had arranged that 12,000 English soldiers should go under Count Mansfeld, a German officer, to conquer the Palatinate. As Parliament was not sitting to vote money, the poor men were sent off without pay and without food in the middle of winter. When they arrived in Holland they were put in large boats to be taken

« PrécédentContinuer »