登陆注册
4705400000145

第145章

If Charles had succeeded in his scheme of governing without parliaments, the consequence of the Peers would have been grievously diminished. If he had been able to raise taxes by his own authority, the estates of the Peers would have been as much at his mercy as those of the merchants or the farmers. If he had obtained the power of imprisoning his subjects at his pleasure, a Peer ran far greater risk of incurring the royal displeasure, and of being accommodated with apartments in the Tower, than any city trader or country squire. Accordingly Charles found that the Great Council of Peers which he convoked at York would do nothing for him. In the most useful reforms which were made during the first session of the Long Parliament, the Peers concurred heartily with the Lower House; and a large minority of the English nobles stood by the popular side through the first years of the war. At Edgehill, Newbury, Marston, and Naseby, the armies of the Parliament were commanded by members of the aristocracy. It was not forgotten that a Peer had imitated the example of Hampden in refusing the payment of the ship-money, or that a Peer had been among the six members of the legislature whom Charles illegally impeached.

Thus the old constitution of England was without difficulty re-established; and of all the parts of the old constitution the monarchical part was, at the time, dearest to the body of the people. It had been injudiciously depressed, and it was in consequence unduly exalted. From the day when Charles. the First became a prisoner had commenced a reaction in favour of his person and of his office. From the day when the axe fell on his neck before the windows of his palace, that reaction became rapid and violent. At the Restoration it had attained such a point that it could go no further. The people were ready to place at the mercy of their Sovereign all their most ancient and precious rights. The most servile doctrines were publicly avowed. The most moderate and constitutional opposition was condemned. Resistance was spoken of with more horror than any crime which a human being can commit. The Commons were more eager than the King himself to avenge the wrongs of the royal house; more desirous than the bishops themselves to restore the church; more ready to give money than the ministers to ask for it.

They abrogated the excellent law passed in the first session of the Long Parliament, with the general consent of all honest men, to insure the frequent meeting of the great council of the nation. They might probably have been induced to go further, and to restore the High Commission and the Star-Chamber. All the contemporary accounts represent the nation as in a state of hysterical excitement, of drunken joy. In the immense multitude which crowded the beach at Dover, and bordered the road along which the King travelled to London, there was not one who was not weeping. Bonfires blazed. Bells jingled. The streets were thronged at night by boon-companions, who forced all the passers-by to swallow on bended knees brimming glasses to the health of his Most Sacred Majesty, and the damnation of Red-nosed Noll.

That tenderness to the fallen which has, through many generation% been a marked feature of the national character, was for a time hardly discernible. All London crowded to shout and laugh round the gibbet where hung the rotten remains of a prince who had made England the dread of the world, who had been the chief founder of her maritime greatness, and of her colonial empire, who had conquered Scotland and Ireland, who had humbled Holland and Spain, the terror of whose name had been as a guard round every English traveller in remote countries, and round every Protestant congregation in the heart of Catholic empires. When some of those brave and honest though misguided men who had sate in judgment on their King were dragged on hurdles to a death of prolonged torture, their last prayers were interrupted by the hisses and execrations of thousands.

Such was England in 1660. In 1678 the whole face of things had changed. At the former of those epochs eighteen years of commotion had made the majority of the people ready to buy repose at any price. At the latter epoch eighteen years of misgovernment had made the same majority desirous to obtain security for their liberties at any risk. The fury of their returning loyalty had spent itself in its first outbreak. In a very few months they had hanged and half-hanged, quartered and embowelled enough to satisfy them. The Roundhead party seemed to be not merely overcome, but too much broken and scattered ever to rally again.

同类推荐
  • 黄石公素书二

    黄石公素书二

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 古今图书集成释教部汇考

    古今图书集成释教部汇考

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • FERRAGUS

    FERRAGUS

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 明伦汇编皇极典君道部

    明伦汇编皇极典君道部

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 龙树菩萨劝诫王颂

    龙树菩萨劝诫王颂

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 清虚道德天尊传奇

    清虚道德天尊传奇

    封神大劫扑朔迷离,西游故事谍影重重,蜀山之后神仙隐迹,看偶然间一现代大叔穿越洪荒,成为阐教清虚道德真君,步步为营,与各路大神斗智斗勇,揭示三界秘辛,书写传奇。
  • 游走在诸天万界的普通人

    游走在诸天万界的普通人

    我如游龙行诸天。诸天任我脚踏行。66666666
  • 江月松风集

    江月松风集

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 刺客信条:文艺复兴

    刺客信条:文艺复兴

    被意大利的权贵背叛以后,这位年轻人展开了一场传奇般的复仇。为根绝腐败,恢复家族的荣誉,他将学习刺杀的艺术。在此期间,埃齐奥将借助莱昂纳多·达·芬奇和尼科洛·马基雅维利等伟人的智慧——他将会得知,生存取决于那些必不可少的技巧。对他的盟友而言,他将成为一股变革的力量——为自由和正义而战的力量。在他的敌人眼里,他将成为巨大的威胁,并致力为那些欺压意大利人民的暴君带去灭亡。一段关于力量、复仇和阴谋的传奇故事就此展开。
  • 千金魔女腹黑少

    千金魔女腹黑少

    为了保护家人,她偷偷的去学习散打。为了给她解围,被杀死并且焚尸。为了她……而后她为了他等了八年,如今他在哪里呢?
  • 漠北雄风

    漠北雄风

    (【环塔·沙域】优胜奖作品)为追寻父母踪迹,七战环塔,为完成梦中夙愿,执手前行。天山论剑,八大门派齐聚首,几经辗转,二十四处追行踪。以高超的车技摆脱冥冥之中的束缚,用天地的绳索扼住命运之神的咽喉,与天斗,与地斗,其乐无穷!
  • 网络文学透视与备忘

    网络文学透视与备忘

    本书立足于网络创作现实,对网络文学的表现形式、审美特征,及其与时代的关系进行了全面系统的分析、研究,对少数民族网络写作、网络类型小说的文本价值,网络文学与传统文学的区别和差异等也有细致、独到的论述。
  • 奥特曼之时空传奇

    奥特曼之时空传奇

    光明与黑暗,正义与邪恶,善良与本性的交锋,战斗究竟是为了什么,又是什么驱使着自己不断的去战斗,为了自己、家人、爱人、战友、朋友,无论如何都要守护好自己身边的所有人,这便是我成为奥特曼并不断战斗下去的原因!
  • 冰枪雪姬

    冰枪雪姬

    吾为何?吾从何来?吾往何去?三洞宗元,造化万物,冥冥萤火,正吾神通。书友群:679014500。兴趣写作,摸鱼更新,切勿催更,适合养生。对了,二零二零年是个神奇的年份。
  • 掌控了情绪就掌控了人生

    掌控了情绪就掌控了人生

    情绪看似简单,却能够左右我们的人际;情绪看似平常,却能够掌控我们的人生。《掌控了情绪就掌控了人生》告诉你如何掌控自己的情绪,拥有强大的内心;如何在这个物欲横流的世界沉淀自己的品格,在立身处世时做到从容淡定、不卑不亢;如何面对人生的挫折与压力,采取强有力的行动,走向成功、获得幸福。