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CHAP. BUT what chiefly tended to gain Elizabeth the hearts. XLI. of her fubjects, was, her frugality, which, though car

ried fometimes to an extreme, led her not to amass trea1579. fures, but only to prevent impofitions upon her people, who were at that time very little accustomed to bear the burthens of government. By means of her rigid œconomy, the paid all the debts which fhe found on the crown, with their full intereft; though fome of thefe debts had been contracted even during the reign of her father T. Some loans, which the had exacted at the commencement of her reign, were repaid by her; a practice in that age fomewhat unufual : And the established her credit on fuch a footing, that no fovereign in Europe could more readily command any fum, which the public exigencies might at any time require. During this peaceable and uniform government, England furnishes few materials for hiftory; and except the fmall part which Elizabeth' took in foreign tranfactions, there fcarcely paffed any occurrence, which requires a particular detail.

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THE most memorable event in this period was a fesfion of parliament, held on the 8th of February, 1576; where debates were ftarted, which may appear fomewhat curious and fingular. Peter Wentworth, a puritan, who had fignalized himfelf in former parliaments, by his free and undaunted fpirit, opened this feffion with a premedi tated harangue, which drew on him the indignation of the house, and gave great offence to the queen and the minifters. As it feems to contain a rude sketch of those principles of liberty, which happily gained afterwards the afcendant in England, it may not be improper to give, in a few words, the fubitance of it. He premifed, that the very name of liberty is sweet; but the thing itself is precious beyond the most inestimable treasure; And that it behoved them to be careful, left, contenting themselves with the sweetness of the name, they forego the fubftance, and abandon what of all earthly poffeffions was of the highest value to the kingdom. He then proceeded to obferve, that freedom of ipeech in that houfe, a privilege fo ufeful both to fovereign and fubject, had been formerly infringed in many effential articles, and was, at present, exposed

T D'Ewes, p. 245. Camden, p. 446.
* Ibid. p. 245.

246,

U D'Ewes, P.

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exposed to the most imminent danger: That it was ufual, CHAP when any subject of importance was handled, especially XLI. if it regarded religion, to furmize, that thefe topics were difagreeable to the queen, and that the farther proceeding in them would draw down her indignation upon their temerity That Solomon had juftly affirmed the king's difpleasure to be a meffenger of death; and it was no wonder if men, even tho' urged by motives of confcience and duty, thould be inclined to ftop fhort, when they found themselves exposed to fo fevere a penalty: That by the employing of this argument, the house was incapaci tated from ferving their country, and even from ferving the queen herself; whofe ears, befieged by pernicious flatterers, were thereby rendered inacceffible to the moft falutary truths: That it was a mockery to call an affembly a parliament, and yet deny it that privilege, which was fo effential to its being, and without which it must degenerate into an abject fchool of fervitude and diffimulation: That as the parliament was the great guardian of the laws, they ought to have liberty to difcharge their truft, and to maintain that authority, whence even kings themselves derive their being: That a king was conftituted fuch by law, and though he was not dependant on man, yet was he fubordinate to God and the law, and was obliged to make their prefcriptions, not his own will, the rule of his conduct: That even his commiffion, as God's vicegerent, enforced, inftead of loofening, this obligation; fince he was thereby invefted with authority to execute on earth the will of God, which is nothing but law and juftice: That though these furmizes, of difpleafing the queen by their proceedings, had impeached, in a very effential point, all freedom of fpeech, a privilege granted them by a fpecial law; yet was there a more express and more dangerous invafion made on their liberties, by frequent meffages from the throne: That it had become a practice, when the house were entering on any question, either ecclefiaftical or civil, to bring an order from the queen, inhibiting them abfolutely from treating of fuch matters, and barring them all farther difcuffion of thefe momentous articles: That the prelates, emboldened by her royal protection, had affumed a decifive power in all queftions of religion, and required that every one fhould implicitly fubmit his

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CHAP. faith to their arbitrary determinations: That the love, XLI. which he bore his fovereign, forbade him to be filent under fuch abuses, or to facrifice, on this important oc1579. cafion, his duty to fervile flattery and complaifance: And that, as no earthly creature was exempt from fault, fo neither was the queen herself; but in impofing this fervitude on her faithful commons, had committed a great, and even dangerous, fault against herself and the whole realm Y.

It is easy to observe, from this fpeech, that, in thefe dawnings of liberty, the parliamentary ftyle was still crude and unformed; that the proper decorum of attacking ministers and counsellors, without interefting the honour of the crown, or mentioning the person of the fovereign, was not as yet entirely established. The commons expreffed great displeasure at this unufual licence: They fequeftered Wentworth from the house, and committed him prisoner to the ferjeant at arms. They even ordered him to be examined by a committee, confifting of all those members who were alfo members of the privycouncil; and a report to be made next day to the house. This committee met in the ftar-chamber, and wearing the aspect of that arbitrary court, fummoned Wentworth to appear before them, and anfwer for his behaviour. But tho' the commons had discovered fo little delicacy or precaution, in thus confounding their own authority with that of the ftar-chamber; Wentworth understood better the principles of liberty, and refused to give these counfellors any account of his conduct in parliament, till he was fatisfied, that they acted, not as members of the privy-council but as a committee of the house He juftified himself by pleading the rigour and hardship of the queen's meffages; and notwithstanding that the committee thewed him, by inftances in other reigns, that the practice of fending fuch meffages was not unprecedented, he would not agree to exprefs any forrow or repentance. The iffue of the affair was, that, after a month's confinement, the queen fent to the commons, informing them, that, from her special grace and favour, fhe had reftored him to his liberty and to his place in the house. By this feeming lenity, the indirectly retained

Y D'Ewes, p. 236, 237, &C.
P. 244.

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retained the power, which the had affumed, of imprifon- C H A P. ing the members, and obliging them to anfwer before her for their conduct in parliament. And fir Walter Mildmay endeavoured to make the house fenfible of her 1579. majesty's goodness, in fo gently remitting the indignation, which the might juftly conceive at the temerity of their member: But he informed them, that they had not the liberty of fpeaking what and of whom they pleased; and that indifcreet freedoms, used in that house, had, both in the prefent and foregoing ages, met with a proper punishment. He warned them, therefore, not to abufe farther the queen's clemency; left she be constrained, contrary to her inclination, to turn an unsuccessful lenity into a neceffary severity B

THE behaviour of the two houfes was, in every other respect, equally tame and fubmiffive. Inftead of a bill, which was at first introduced C, for the reformation of the church, they were contented to present a petition to her majefty for that purpose: And when fh told them, that he would give orders to her bishops, to amend all abuses, and if they were negligent, the would herself, by her fupreme power and authority over the church, give fuch redrefs as would entirely fatisfy the nation; the parliament willingly acquiefced in this fovereign and peremptory decifion

THOUGH the commons fhewed fo little fpirit in oppofing the authority of the crown, they maintained, this feffion, their dignity against an encroachment of the peers, and would not agree to a conference, which, they thought, was defired of them in an irregular manner. They acknowledged, however, with all humbleness, (fuch was their expreffion) the fuperiority of the lords: They only refused to give that house any reason for their proceedings; and afferted, that, where they altered a bill fent them by the peers, it belonged to them to defire a conference, not to the upper house to require it E.

THE Commons granted an aid of one fubfidy and two fifteenths. Mildmay, in order to fatisfy the house concerning

D Ibid. p. 257.

CIbid. p. 252.

B D'Ewes, p. 259. E Ibid. p. 263.

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CHA P. cerning the reasonableness of this grant, entered into a detail of the queen's paft expences in fupporting the government, and of the encreafing charges of the crown, from the daily encrease in the price of all commodities. He did not, however, forget to admonish them, that they were to regard this detail as the pure effect of the queen's condefcenfion, fince fhe was not bound to give them any account how the employed her treasure F.

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FD'Ewes, p. 246.

CHAP.

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