Osmund Airy

“ The chancellor, Finch, opened it with a speech, in which he said that the king ‘supported by his favour the creatures of his power.’ ‘My lords,’ said Shaftesbury, ‘I think we are all agreed that in this kingdom there are none but creatures of the divine power; the power of the king does not extend further than the laws determine’ (Ranke, iv. 77) . In the debate as to how to deal with Danby the opposition lords voted for the lesser punishment of banishment, and Shaftesbury, with Essex and the chancellor, drew up the argument for the conference with the commons. ”

“ In compliance with Lauderdale's urgent request, Charles now ordered Kincardine to retire to Scotland. In 1675, according to Mackenzie, who, however, is the only evidence for this, he was expected to succeed Lauderdale as secretary, and came up to London; but through the intrigues of the duchess, who induced Lauderdale to believe that he was coming only to support the threatened impeachment by the House of Commons, and on account of his intimacy with Gilbert Burnet, then in disfavour, he was once more obliged to return to Scotland, where he exerted himself on behalf of the covenanters. ”

“ The celebrated cabal was a toleration cabinet, but its members were at complete variance on any question into which the advantage of catholicism entered. Thus, when the infamous treaty of Dover was concocted in 1669 and 1670, it was necessary to keep from Buckingham and Ashley at least the condition by which Charles bound himself, for a money gift from Louis, to introduce catholicism into England. At the same time their support, and that of Lauderdale, was necessary to compass the other part of the treaty, the declaration of war against Holland. ”

“ I shall consider you as the assassin; ... and wherever I meet you I shall pistol you, though you stood behind the king's chair. And I tell it you in his majesty's presence, that you may be sure I shall keep my word.’
In February Ossory was again appointed to attend the Prince of Orange back to the Hague. Thence he returned by Flanders and Paris, intending to serve as a volunteer in the French force destined for Alsace. The expedition having, however, fallen through, Ossory once more came to Holland and thence to England. ”

“ It was clear to Wentworth that he must either crush so independent a man or make a friend of him; wisely enough he determined to take the latter course, and shortly reported most highly of him to the king, finishing the eulogium with 'He is young, but take it from me, a very staid head.' Ormonde and Wentworth lived on the best terms until the latter's death. Ormonde actively supported the deputy in the parliament of 1640; and when Wentworth left the country in April to join Charles, he committed to Ormonde the entire care of levying and raising the new army. ”

“ As the weakness of the king became more apparent the demands of the rebels increased. On the subject of the penal laws they insisted upon entire freedom being granted, and they refused Ormonde's demand for the restoration of the churches to the protestant clergy; while they further insisted upon the maintenance of their provisional government until every article had been confirmed by act of parliament. These demands Charles utterly refused, and Ormonde then drew up a list of the 'concessions' which he thought proper for the king's consideration. ”

“ Evelyn says that ‘he is a sober, wise, judicious, and pondering person, not illiterate beyond the rate of most noblemen in this age, very well versed in English historie and affaires, industrious, frugal, methodical, and every way accomplished’ (18 April 1680) . Essex was never a wealthy man; his estate had been sequestrated under the Commonwealth, and was compounded for at 4,706l. 7s. 11d. (Collins, Peerage) . While lord-lieutenant of Ireland he more than once mentions the pay of his office as being of importance to his private interests (Essex Papers) . ”

“ In the great debate which arose on the occasion of Danby's prosecution, he spoke against the right of the bishops to vote in any part of a trial for treason. On the question of the proposed dissolution of the pensionary parliament he joined Halifax in arguing that since no agreement seemed possible with the king upon the questions of the exclusion and Danby's pardon, it would be well to try whether a new parliament might not be disposed to let those matters drop. ”

“ When Charles was hesitating whether to try to escape to Scotland or to go to London, Lauderdale urged him not to do the first unless prepared to give full satisfaction on the point of religion, nor the latter, since London was in the power of the army; but to go to Berwick, whence he could make his own terms (Burnet, Hamiltons, p. 324) . On 9 Nov., just before the king's flight to the Isle of Wight, he warned him that without fresh concessions on the point of presbyterianism the Scots would not help. ”

“ Buckingham and Ashley were protestant, Lauderdale was merely the king's personal adherent, Arlington was, or was supposed to be, a catholic [see Bennet, Henry, Earl of Arlington] , but, through his marriage, with Dutch sympathies. Clifford, in turn, was zealous for religious freedom joined with royal despotism. His contempt of constitutional trammels is shown by his advice to Charles, rather to be in slavery to one man, meaning Louis, than to five hundred. ”

“ The Halifax cabal, joined by Henry Sidney and the Duchess of Portsmouth, now urged the Prince of Orange to come to England, in order to take the position which Shaftesbury desired for Monmouth. Sunderland endeavoured also to bring Shaftesbury himself into the plan; but this was frustrated by the enmity between him and Halifax. In July the king once more unexpectedly dissolved parliament, an act again noticed by Shaftesbury with expressions of the bitterest resentment. ”

“ On 4 May a resolution was passed in the commons to bring in a bill to exclude James from the throne. Shaftesbury always upheld simple exclusion. Essex and Halifax, on the other hand, favoured the scheme of limitations, which Shaftesbury declared would create a democracy rather than a monarchy. The second reading of the bill was carried on the 21st; but a sudden prorogation on 26 May, at the instance of the Halifax cabal, and in violation of the promise given by Charles, put an end to the bill. ”

“ The leaders, with scarcely an exception, led lives of mystery and intrigue; in Shaftesbury's case the springs of his action can even now be often only guessed at. With the exception of Locke he had no intimate friends; North says that if he were a friend to any human being, besides himself, it was to Charles II (p. 119) . That he was a man of keen ambition is very certain, though Ralph's phrases (i. 711) are extravagant. ”

“ He was at that time a member of the privy council. While in Paris he was consulted by the queen mother regarding the intentions of the Irish papists to put Ireland into the hands of the French when opportunity should arise, and he gave a most unflattering opinion of her political judgment (Burnet, i. 250) . In 1669, when Charles was endeavouring by personal solicitation to gain the votes of the members of the House of Lords, he, with Lord Hollis, had gained the reputation of being ‘stiff and sullen men’ (ib. i. 272) , and Charles always treated him with respect. ”

“ In the intrigues which were subsequently begun with France, and which led up to the famous treaty of Dover in June 1670, Clifford was closely engaged, being named as one of the commissioners to conclude the affair with Colbert, the French ambassador, in which capacity he placed his signature to the treaty when finally arranged. And, in pursuance of his hatred against the Dutch, he urgently advised Charles to fulfil the condition compelling him to go to war with the United Provinces before he attempted the avowal of his Catholicism. ”

“ The king now required all the Irish troops that could be spared for England, and in November, having first extracted from his officers an oath of loyalty to the king and the church, which only two of them, Monck being one, declined to take, Ormonde managed to send over some 5,000 men under Lord Byron, who did good service in Cheshire until routed by Fairfax, at Nantwich, in January 1644. At the same time, in obedience to special instructions, he exerted himself to keep the Scotch army from joining their fellows in Scotland. ”

“ The bill of indictment at the Old Bailey was framed on the statute of 13 Car. II, which made the intention to levy war high treason, and the designing and compassing the king's death high treason, without an overt act. At the close of the chief justice's charge to the grand jury the attorney-general asked that the witnesses might be examined in the presence of the judges, in order that they might thus be overawed, and this was granted, while a request from the jury for a sight of the warrant for Shaftesbury's commitment was refused. ”

“ He went in person to claim the help of Noy, the king's attorney, who had drawn up the settlement which was now attacked, and, in his own words, performed his part ‘with that pertness that he told me he would defend my cause though he lost his place.’ He afterwards reckoned his losses at 20,000l.; but his rental is stated at over 7,000l. a year, and he was always a wealthy man (Shaftesbury Papers, Public Record Office) . He had also plantations in Barbadoes, and a quarter share in a ship, the Rose, engaged in the Guinea trade. ”

“ In April, Monroe, who commanded in Ulster, received a commission from the English parliament to command in chief all the forces in Ulster, both Scotch and English. He at once seized Belfast, and in breach of the cessation marched against the Irish. Ormonde knew that Monroe was acting in the parliament's interest. At the same time the council of Kilkenny urged him to declare the Scots rebels, and the council offered him the command of all their forces. ”

“ To great knowledge of affairs and of character he joined fertility of resource, a strong will, coolness and courage, extreme selfishness, readiness to strike at the right moment, keen discernment in choosing his tools, and utter unscrupulousness. ”

“ In his almost irresponsible government of Ireland during troublous times Ormonde had no doubt acted now and then in a way which offered advantages to men eager for his overthrow. He had, for instance, billeted soldiers on civilians and executed martial law (Pepys, 4 Nov. 1667) . Ormonde was urgently pressed to return to England, whence he had intelligence that Orrery was secretly plotting against him. He therefore left Dublin on 24 April, arriving in London amid general respect on 6 May. ”

“ The next day they followed his advice, Essex and Salisbury alone remaining. In March came news of a catholic plot in Ireland. Shaftesbury at once demanded from the council the appointment of a secret committee. His informants, Irishmen of the lowest character, declared that aid had been asked for from Louis, and that Ormonde and Archbishop Plunket were in the plot. The information was undoubtedly false, and Shaftesbury could not have been its dupe. The court laughed at it; but London, where Shaftesbury's influence was very powerful, sustained him in the agitation. ”

“ When parliament met on 20 Oct. the commons were much excited about James's second marriage. To baulk their attack, James was anxious that an immediate prorogation should take place, and Shaftesbury is stated to have purposely retarded this (Burnet, ii. 31) . Burnet adds that he gave his advice to Charles to send James away. From a letter of Conway to Essex of 18 Nov. (Essex Papers, Brit. Mus.) we learn that ‘the king fears and hates the Duke of York, yet is wholly governed by him.’ On Sunday 9 Nov. ”

“ As a statesman he will always remain memorable, because, starting from the conception of tolerance, he opposed the establishment of an Anglican and royalist organisation with decisive success. He seems always to have espoused the doctrines that had the greatest future, and he may be regarded as the principal founder of that great party which opposed the prerogative and uniformity on behalf of political freedom and religious tolerance (Ranke, iv. 166, 167) . ”

“ When the new parliament met, on 20 Jan. 1658, the former House of Commons being by the terms of the petition and advice still in existence, the members previously excluded, Cooper among them, took their seats. They immediately began a vigorous opposition; they denied the legality of the petition and advice, and they especially refused to admit the claims of Cromwell's House of Lords. In this opposition Cooper took a leading part, speaking frequently and well. He urged the commons first of all to debate the title which the other house should bear. ”

“ Flippant and cruel as Charles had become, his remark, ‘My lord Essex might have tried my mercy; I owe a life to his family,’ is, if genuine, a valuable additional piece of evidence that he at least was utterly without complicity in the crime imputed to him. Essex was buried at Watford in Hertfordshire. From Evelyn we learn that he shared in the three fashionable tastes of the day. ‘No man has been more industrious than this noble lord in planting about his seate [Cashiobury] , adorned with walks, ponds, and other rural excellencies ”