1621. legislative power must still be regarded as equally divine CHAP. and inviolable: or, if any distinction be made in this XLVIII. respect, the preference is surely due to those national councils, by whose interposition the exorbitances of tyrannical power are restrained, and that sacred liberty is preserved, which heroic spirits, in all ages, have deemed more precious than life itself. Nor is it sufficient to say, that the mild and equitable administration of James affords little occasion, or no occasion of complaint. How moderate soever the exercise of his prerogative, how exact soever his observance of the laws and constitution, "If he founds his authority on arbitrary and dangerous principles, it is requisite to watch him with the same care, and to oppose him with the same vigour, as if he had indulged himself in all the excesses of cruelty and tyranny." Amidst these disputes, the wise and moderate in the nation endeavoured to preserve, as much as possible, an equitable neutrality between the opposite parties; and the more they reflected on the course of public affairs, the greater difficulty they found in fixing just sentiments with regard to them. On the one hand, they regarded the very rise of parties as a happy prognostic of the establishment of liberty; nor could they ever expect to enjoy, in a mixed government, so valuable a blessing without suffering that inconvenience, which, in such governments, has ever attended it. But when they considered, on the other hand, the necessary aims and pursuits of both parties, they were struck with apprehension of the consequences, and could discover no feasible plan of accommodation between them. From long practice, the crown was now possessed of so exorbitant a prerogative, that it was not sufficient for liberty to remain on the defensive, or endeavour to secure the little ground which was left her; it was become necessary to carry on an offensive war, and to circumscribe, within more narrow as well as more exact bounds, the authority of the sovereign. Upon such provocation, it could not but happen, that the prince, however just and moderate, would endeavour to repress his opponents; and, as he stood upon the very brink of arbitrary power, it was to be feared that he would, hastily and unknowingly, pass those limits which were not precisely marked by the con XLVIII. 1621. CHAP. stitution. The turbulent government of England, ever fluctuating between privilege and prerogative, would afford a variety of precedents, which might be pleaded on both sides. In such delicate questions, the people must be divided: the arms of the state were still in their hands: a civil war must ensue; a civil war where no party or both parties would justly bear the blame, and where the good and virtuous would scarcely know what vows to form were it not that liberty, so necessary to the perfection of human society, would be sufficient to bias their affections towards the side of its defenders. CHAPTER XLIX. NEGOTIATIONS WITH REGARD TO THE MARRIAGE AND THE PALATINATE.- -- XLIX. 1622. tions with riage and To wrest the Palatinate from the hands of the emperor CHAP. and the Duke of Bavaria must always have been regarded as a difficult task for the power of England, conducted by so unwarlike a prince as James: it was plainly impossible, while the breach subsisted between him and the Commons. The king's negotiations, therefore, had Negotiathey been managed with ever so great dexterity, must regard to now carry less weight with them; and it was easy to the mar elude all his applications. When Lord Digby, his am- the Palabassador to the emperor, had desired a cessation of hos- tinate. tilities, he was referred to the Duke of Bavaria, who commanded the Austrian armies. The Duke of Bavaria told him, that it was entirely superfluous to form any treaty for that purpose. Hostilities are already ceased, said he; and I doubt not but I shall be able to prevent their revival by keeping firm possession of the Palatinate, till a final agreement shall be concluded between the contending parties. Notwithstanding this insult, James endeavoured to resume with the emperor a treaty of accommodation; and he opened the negotiations at Brussels, under the mediation of Archduke Albert; and after his death, which happened about this time, under that of the infanta: when the conferences were entered upon, it was found that the powers of these princes to determine in the controversy were not sufficient or satisfactory. Schwartzenbourg, the imperial minister, was expected at London, and it was hoped that he would bring more ample authority: his commission referred entirely to the negotiation at Brussels. It was not dif ficult for the king to perceive, that his applications were XLIX. 1622. CHAP. neglected by the emperor: but as he had no choice of any other expedient, and it seemed the interest of his son-in-law to keep alive his pretensions, he was still content to follow Ferdinand through all his shifts and evasions. Nor was he entirely discouraged, even when the imperial diet at Ratisbon, by the influence, or rather authority, of the emperor, though contrary to the protestation of Saxony, and of all the Protestant princes and cities, had transferred the electoral dignity from the Palatine to the Duke of Bavaria. Meanwhile, the efforts made by Frederic for the recovery of his dominions were vigorous. Three armies were levied in Germany by his authority, under three commanders, Duke Christian of Brunswick, the Prince of Baden-Dourlach, and Count Mansfeldt. The two former generals were defeated by Count Tilly and the imperialists: the third, though much inferior in force to his enemies, still maintained the war; but with no equal supplies of money either from the Palatine or the King of England. It was chiefly by pillage and free quarters in the Palatinate that he subsisted his army. As the Austrians were regularly paid, they were kept in more exact discipline; and James justly became apprehensive, lest so unequal a contest, besides ravaging the Palatine's hereditary dominions, would end in the total alienation of the people's affections from their ancient sovereign, by whom they were plundered, and in an attachment to their new masters, by whom they were protected". He persuaded, therefore, his son-in-law to disarm, under colour of duty and submission to the emperor: and, accordingly, Mansfeldt was dismissed from the Palatine's service; and that famous general withdrew his army into the Low Countries, and there received a commission from the states of the United Provinces. To show how little account was made of James's negotiations abroad, there is a pleasantry mentioned by all historians, which, for that reason, shall have place here. In a farce, acted at Brussels, a courier was introduced carrying the doleful news that the Palatinate would be soon wrested from the house of Austria, so powerful were the succours which, from all quarters, were hasten b Parl. Hist. vol. v. p. 484 XLIX. 1622. ing to the relief of the despoiled elector: the King of CHAP. Denmark had agreed to contribute to his assistance a hundred thousand pickled herrings, the Dutch a hundred thousand butter-boxes, and the King of England a hundred thousand ambassadors. On other occasions, he was painted with a scabbard, but without a sword; or with a sword, which nobody could draw, though several were pulling at it. It was not from his negotiations with the emperor or the Duke of Bavaria that James expected any success in his project of restoring the Palatine: his eyes were entirely turned towards Spain; and if he could effect his son's marriage with the infanta, he doubted not but that, after so intimate a conjunction, this other point could easily be obtained. The negotiations of that court being commonly dilatory, it was not easy for a prince of so little penetration in business to distinguish whether the difficulties which occurred were real or affected; and he was surprised, after negotiating five years on so simple a demand, that he was not more advanced than at the beginning. A dispensation from Rome was requisite for the marriage of the infanta with a Protestant prince; and the King of Spain, having undertaken to procure that dispensation, had thereby acquired the means of retarding at pleasure, or of forwarding the marriage, and at the same time of concealing entirely his artifices from the court of England. In order to remove all obstacles, James despatched Digby, soon after created Earl of Bristol, as his ambassador to Philip IV., who had lately succeeded his father in the crown of Spain. He secretly employed Gage as his agent at Rome; and finding that the difference of religion was the principal, if not the sole difficulty, which retarded the marriage, he resolved to soften that objection as much as possible. He issued public orders for discharging all popish recusants who were imprisoned; and it was daily apprehended that he would forbid, for the future, the execution of the penal laws enacted against them. For this step, so opposite to the rigid spirit of his subjects, he took care to apologize; and he even endeavoured to ascribe it to his great zeal for the Kennet, p. 749. |