majesty to return and take possession of the government. Charles embarked at Scheveling on board a fleet commanded by the Duke of York. At Dover he was met by Monk, whom he cordially embraced. The king entered London on the 29th of May, which was also his birthday. The fond imaginations of men interpreted as a happy omen the concurrence of two such joyful periods.

Medal of Charles II. and Catherine, probably relating to the queen's dowry. Obv.: CAROLUS. ET. CATHARINA. REX. ET. REGINA. Busts of king and queen to right. Rev.: DIFFVSVS. IN. ORBE. BRITANNVS. 1670. A globe.

CHAPTER XXIV.

CHARLES II. FROM THE RESTORATION TO THE PEACE OF NIMEGUEN. A.D. 1660-1678.

§ 1. Character of Charles II. The Ministry. Act of Indemnity. Trial of the Regicides. Disbanding of the Army. § 2. Chancellor Clarendon. Prelacy restored. Affairs of Scotland. § 3. Conference at the Savoy. Act of Uniformity. § 4. Charles marries Catherine of Portugal. Trial and Execution of Vane. § 5. Presbyterian Clergy ejected. Dunkirk sold. Declaration of Indulgence. § 6. Triennial Act repealed. War with Holland. Naval Victory. Plague of London. Five-mile Act. § 7. Great Sea-fight. Fire of London. Disgrace at Chatham. Peace of Breda. § 8. Fall of Clarendon. § 9. The Cabal. The triple Alliance. Secret Treaty of Dover. § 10. Blood's Crimes. The Duke of York declares himself a Papist. § 11. The Bankers' Funds in the Exchequer seized. War with Holland. Battle of Southwold Bay. Successes of Louis XIV. Massacre of the De Witts. Prince of Orange Stadtholder. § 12. The Test Act. Peace with Holland. § 13. Earl of Danby Prime Minister. His Policy. Parliamentary Struggles. § 14. The Continental War. Marriage of the Prince of Orange and Princess Mary. Peace of Nimeguen.

§ 1. CHARLES II., when he ascended the throne of his ancestors, was thirty years of age. He possessed a vigorous constitution, a fine shape, a manly figure, a graceful air; and, though his features were harsh, yet was his countenance in the main lively and engaging. To a ready wit and quick comprehension he united a just understanding and a general observation both of men and things. The easiest manners, the most unaffected politeness, the most engaging gayety accompanied his conversation and address. Accustomed during his exile to live among his courtiers rather like a companion than a monarch, he retained,

even while on the throne, that open affability which was capable of reconciling the most determined Republicans to his royal dignity.

Into his council were admitted the most eminent men of the nation, without regard to former distinctions: the Presbyterians, equally with the Royalists, shared this honor. The Earl of Manchester was appointed lord chamberlain, and Lord Say privy seal: Calamy and Baxter, Presbyterian clergymen, were even made chaplains to the king. Admiral Montague, created Earl of Sandwich,* was entitled, from his recent services, to great favor, and he obtained it. Monk, created Duke of Albemarle,† had performed such signal services that, according to a vulgar and malignant observation, he ought rather to have expected hatred and ingratitude; yet was he ever treated by the king with great marks of distinction. But the king's principal ministers and favorites were chosen among his ancient friends and supporters. Sir Edward Hyde, created Earl of Clarendon, was chancellor and prime minister; the Marquis, created Duke, of Ormond, was steward of the household; the Earl of Southampton, high treasurer; Sir Edward Nicholas, secretary of state. Agreeable to the present prosperity of public affairs was the universal joy and festivity diffused throughout the nation. The melancholy austerity of the Puritans fell into discredit, together with their principles. The Royalists, who had ever affected a contrary disposition, found in their recent success new motives for mirth and gayety; and it now belonged to them to give repute and fashion to their manners.

One of the king's first acts was to grant a general pardon and indemnity; but he issued a proclamation declaring that such of the late king's judges as did not yield themselves prisoners within fourteen days should receive no pardon. Nineteen surrendered themselves; some were taken in their flight; others escaped beyond sea. Those who had an immediate hand in the late king's death were excepted in the act of indemnity; even Cromwell, Ireton, Bradshaw, and others now dead, were attainted, and their estates forfeited. Vane and Lambert, though none of the regicides, were also excepted. All who had sat in any illegal high court of justice were disabled from bearing offices.

The Parliament voted that the settled revenue of the crown, for all charges, should be £1,200,000 a year, a sum greater than any English monarch had ever before enjoyed. They abolished the feudal tenure of knights' service and its incidents, as marriage, re

*He was the ancestor of the present Earl of Sandwich.

This title became extinct upon the death of the second duke in 1668. The present Earl of Albemarle is a descendant of Keppel, created Earl of Albemarle in 1696.

A.D. 1660.

AFFAIRS OF SCOTLAND.

479

lief, and wardship (see p. 131, 132), and also purveyance, and in lieu thereof settled upon the king an hereditary excise duty.* Indeed, it would have been impossible to restore these onerous burdens after their disuse during the time of the Commonwealth. Tonnage and poundage were granted to the king during life.

During the recess of Parliament the object which chiefly interested the public was the trial and condemnation of the regicides. They were arraigned before 34 commissioners appointed for the purpose. Six of the late king's judges, Harrison, Scot, Carew, Clement, Jones, and Scroope, were executed. Axtel, who had guarded the high court of justice; Hacker, who commanded on the day of the king's execution; Cook, the solicitor for the people of England; and Hugh Peters, the fanatical preacher—all these were tried and condemned, and suffered with the king's judges. On the anniversary of Charles I.'s execution, the bodies of Cromwell, Ireton, and Bradshaw were disinterred, hanged on the gallows at Tyburn, then decapitated, and the heads fixed on Westminster Hall.

After a recess of nearly two months the Parliament met; and having dispatched the necessary business, the king, in a speech full of the most gracious expressions, thought proper to dissolve them (Dec. 29, 1660). By the advice of Clarendon the army was disbanded. No more troops were retained than a few guards and garrisons, about 1000 horse and 4000 foot. This was the first appearance, under the monarchy, of a regular standing army in this island.

§ 2. Clarendon was now nearly allied to the royal family, his daughter, Ann Hyde, having been married to the Duke of York soon after the restoration. By his advice prelacy was restored. Nine bishops still remained alive, and these were immediately restored to their sees; all the ejected clergy recovered their livings; the Liturgy was again admitted into the churches; but, at the same time, a declaration, containing a promise of some reforms, was issued, in order to give contentment to the Presbyterians, and preserve an air of moderation and neutrality.

Affairs in Scotland hastened with still quicker steps than those in England toward a settlement and a compliance with the king. The lords of articles were restored, with some other branches of prerogative; and royal authority, fortified with more plausible claims and pretenses, was in its full extent re-established in that kingdom. The prelacy likewise, by the abrogating of every statute enacted in favor of Presbytery, was thereby tacitly restored.

*The principal excise duties were upon liquors and beer. Tea was also an excisable article, but did not yield much to the revenue in the reign of Charles II.

Charles, though he had no such attachment to prelacy as had influenced his father and grandfather, had suffered such indignities from the Scottish Presbyterians that he ever after bore them a hearty aversion. He said to Lauderdale that Presbyterianism, he thought, was not a religion for a gentleman, and he could not consent to its farther continuance in Scotland. Sharp, who had been commissioned by the Presbyterians in Scotland to manage their interest with the king, was persuaded to abandon that party, and, as a reward for his compliance, was created Archbishop of St. Andrew's. Charles had not promised to Scotland any such indemnity as he had insured to England by the declaration of Breda; and as some examples, after such a bloody and triumphant rebellion, seemed necessary, the Marquis of Argyle, and one Guthry, a preacher, were pitched on as the victims. Two acts of indemnity (one passed by the late king in 1641, another by the present in 1651) formed, it was thought, invincible obstacles to the punishment of Argyle, and nothing remained but to try him for his compliance with the usurpation, a crime common to him with the whole nation. Some letters of his to Monk were produced, which could not, by any equitable construction, imply the crime of treason. The Parliament, however, scrupled not to pass sentence upon him, and he died with great constancy and courage.

§ 3. Meanwhile, in England prelacy and Presbytery struggled for the superiority, and the hopes and fears of both parties kept them in agitation. A conference was held in the Savoy (April 15-July 25, 1661) between 12 bishops and 12 leaders among the Presbyterian ministers, with an intention, at least on pretense, of bringing about an accommodation between the parties; but they separated more inflamed than ever, and more confirmed in their several prejudices. The temper of the new Parliament, which assembled in May, 1661, hastened the decision of the question. Not more than 56 members of the Presbyterian party had obtained seats in the lower House, and these were not able either to oppose or retard the measures of the majority. The Covenant, together with the act for erecting the high court of justice, that for subscribing the engagement, and that for declaring England a commonwealth, was ordered to be burnt by the hands of the hangman. The bishops were restored to their seats in Parliament. A few months afterward the Parliament formally renounced the power of the sword, and acknowledged that neither one house, nor both houses, independent of the king, were possessed of any military authority. The preamble to this statute went so far as to renounce all right even of defensive arms against the king. The CORPORATION ACT passed in this session compelled all corporate