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success.

ance he accomplished his purpose with complete Ireland, under his administration, assumed a new character; tranquillity prevailed everywhere; and, watched by Wentworth's vigilant eye, the infant commerce and manufactures of the country began to increase and prosper. From one of his schemes, the most permanent benefits have accrued to Ireland; this was the establishment of the linen manufacture. At his own expense he imported and sowed a quantity of superior flax-seed; and the crop succeeding to his expectation, he erected several looms, procured workmen from France and Flanders, and at length was enabled to ship for Spain, at his own risk, the first investment of linen ever exported from Ireland. Elated with his success, he foretels, in one of his letters, that this would prove the greatest means of enrichment which Ireland had ever enjoyed; and his sagacity is amply attested by the industry and wealth which the linen manufacture continues to diffuse over those districts of the island in which it flourishes.

But the apparent political tranquillity of Ireland lasted no longer than the system of vigour and violence from which it originated. The increasing difficulties of Charles's position made him anxious to have a counsellor like Wentworth near his person;—and to prove his sense of his eminent and faithful services, he created him Earl of Strafford, invested him with the Order of the Garter, and conferred on him the title of Lord Lieutenant, which, since the time of Essex, (the favourite of Elizabeth), had been withheld from the Governors of Ireland. This was the highest point of Strafford's fortune, and from this period the tide began rapidly to ebb. He was appointed Lieutenant-General of the army which marched against the Scots; and, on account of the illness of the Earl of Northumberland, was obliged to assume the chief command, at a time when, from his various infirmities, he was scarcely able to sit on horseback. But before he could reach his troops, he was met by the news of the disgraceful rout at Newburn; and his first military exploit was to aban

don the northern counties to the mercy of the foe, and retreat to York with a disgraced and mutinous army. The Scots became his implacable enemies, and refused to hold any conferences at York, because it was within his jurisdiction. His support of all the arbitrary measures of the Crown had procured him almost equal hatred among the people of England; and his influence and conduct had rendered a powerful party of the courtiers eager to promote his ruin. His influence was not strong enough to avert the ruinous and disgraceful measures which the King adopted to relieve himself from the Scots army; and he was reduced to look on, in silent despair, while the humbled King purchased the conditions which Strafford hoped to have won in honourable conflict.

The Long Parliament was assembled November 3, 1640; and it was quickly perceived that the vigour and talents of Strafford would prove a most material obstacle to impede the plans of reformation and redress, which the majority of the new House of Commons were determined to carry into effect. Charles, who felt the urgent necessity of his co-operation in the momentous struggle which was impending, summoned him to attend in his place in Parliament, and thus brought him within the reach of his implacable enemies. The moment the commons were informed that he had taken his seat, articles of impeachment were moved against him; which Pym, one of the most popular of the republican leaders, presented at the bar of the House of Lords. The history of his subsequent trial and execution is one of the most disgraceful in our annals. He was, indeed, a formidable enemy, and, as such, the popular leaders were determined to get him out of the way; but, to compass his death by the forms of law, they did not scruple to tread down all the barriers which law was believed to have erected to secure the life and liberty of the subject. Of Strafford himself it may truly be said, "nothing in life became him like the leaving it." During the fifteen days of his trial in Westminster

"Le conducted himself in a manner which sur

prised and confounded his accusers, while it served to animate the enthusiastic devotion of his friends. And we have the testimony of an adversary (Whitelock), "that never any man acted such a part on such a theatre, with more wisdom, constancy, and eloquence; with greater reason, judgment, and temper; and with a better grace in all his words and actions, than did this great and excellent person." The managers of the impeachment, finding their object likely to be frustrated, changed their mode of attack, and brought in a bill of attainder, which they carried through the Lower House, with 59 dissentient voices. The Lords at first showed a right disposition to resist so wicked and dangerous a proceeding; but they were overawed by popular clamour; so that out of eighty who had been present at the trial, only forty-six now ventured to attend, and it was carried eventually with only eleven dissentients. All eyes were now fixed upon Charles; he had left no means untried to prevent the bill from passing, and now declared that no consideration should induce him to give his assent. The struggle in his mind must have been terrible; especially when Strafford himself wrote to entreat that he would not withhold his sanction to a measure which was considered so necessary to his safety and prosperity. Such magnanimity deserved a more noble return; but the unhappy Charles suffered his good resolution to be swept away by the tide of circumstances; and he gave, by commission, his assent to the death of his faithful minister.

"The day of Strafford's execution threw a brighter lustre over his name than his most memorable actions. As he passed along to Tower-hill, the populace eagerly thronged to the spectacle, and beheld his noble deportment with admiration. His figure was tall and stately, his features grave and dignified; the mildness which had taken place of the usual severity of his forehead, expressed repentance, soothed by hope and fortitude, tempered by resignation. In the multitude around him he saw nothing to damp his courage, or disturb his composure; the same men

who had so loudly demanded his death, now gazed in profound silence on the intrepid victim.”—(See Macdiarmid's Lives of British Statesmen, vol. ii. p. 276.)

"

In his address to the people from the scaffold he assured them, that he submitted to his sentence with perfect resignation; that freely and from his heart he forgave all the world. "I speak," said he, "in the presence of God, before whom I stand, there is not a displeasing thought that ariseth in me to any man.' -While he disrobed himself, he declared, “that he looked upon the approach of death without any apprehension, and that he now laid his head on the block with the same tranquillity as he had ever laid it on his pillow." He stretched out his hand as a signal to the executioner, and at one blow his head was severed from his body. Thus perished the Earl of Strafford, in the 49th year of his age. His ac

cusers, by the unjust means employed to effect his destruction, turned the eyes of mankind from his offences to their own: they doomed their victim to a fate which could not fail to excite pity, and gave him an opportunity of gaining applause where they hoped to excite detestation.

To the end of his unhappy life, Charles reproached himself with the weakness which had sacrificed his ablest and most faithful minister: "That base, unworthy concession concerning Strafford, (as he expresses himself in one of his letters to Clarendon), for which I have been most justly punished."

J. M. T.

LIFE OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD.

In the life of Lord Strafford, we found occasion to dwell, somewhat at length, on the causes and consequences of that collision of political opinions which marked the opening of the seventeeth century. Some indications of this struggle between the claims of prerogative and civil liberty may be traced early in the

reign of Elizabeth, and it was maintained, with varied success, till the Revolution.-The Bill of Rights must be considered as the final adjudication of all the leading points of this great question; and, in consequence, all our political dissensions since the period of the Revolution have worn an altered aspect. We still, indeed, continue to contend with each other; and we may be sure that the salutary jealousy which should be the characteristic of a free state, will always supply occasions for contest: but the strife is no longer about principles; these are understood and established ;all we quarrel for now is the right application of them.

There are three great periods in our constitutional history. During the first of these there was no civil liberty, properly so called: the principle of the feudal system was a recipocrity of protection and allegiance; but it recognised none of the rights of personal freedom. As this system decayed, the Crown sought to transfer to itself the powers which the Great Barons had previously exercised: but the bold spirit which had been derived from our Saxon ancestors, and which, even under the worst times, had never been wholly lost, rapidly revived; and the rights of the subject were successfully asserted against the combined influence of privilege and prerogative.

The circumstances of this mighty conflict form the second period of our history; which lasted from the latter years of Elizabeth till the accession of William and Mary in 1688. This is to be considered as the commencement of the third period, under which we live. The political duties which have devolved on us are not less important than those which our ancestors performed so nobly; inasmuch as we have to guard and maintain the principles which they established. By their firmness we were saved from the evils of tyranny; but it is only by our own that we can hope to escape the opposite, but not less fatal, dangers of licentiousness.

While the contest was thus maintained between the rival parties in the State, the Church was likewise a prey to similar dissensions. It was not to be expected

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