A History of England for the Young

Front matter

Queen Victoria. Y Frenhines Victoria TYRRELL'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND FOR FAMILY USE. FROM THE TIME OP THE ANCIENT BRITONS TO THE PRESENT DAY. WITH COLOURED PICTURES. VOL. II. THE LONDON PRINTING AND PUBLISHING COMPANY, LIMITED, LONDON AND NEW YOKE. LIST OF ENGRAVINGS. VOL. II. Queen Victoria— (Frontispiece). King James I To face page 1 Arrest of Guido Fawkes 7 King Charles I. 24 Covenanters Attacked by the King's Troops .... 48 Blessing the Scottish Soldiers before Bannockburn . . 48 Destruction of the Manuscripts at Oxford . . . , 70 Trial of Charles I. 86 Execution of Charles I. 88 Cromwell Dissolving the Long Parliament .... 96 King Charles II. 115 Great Fire of London, 1666 121 Trial of Lord William Russell 141 King JameS II i47 Landing of William of Orange 158 Flight of James II. •"■*' Judge Jeffreys Beaten by the Mob -• 160 King William III 162 Queen Anne *"*•* Siege of Gibraltar 1°9 Duke of Marlborough at the Battle of Ramilies . . .191 List of Engravings.

Kino George I. To face page 205 King George II 214 The Pretender Raising his Standard in Scotland . . . 223 King George III . .236 Lord George Gordon Addressing the Mob 261 Battle of the Nile 277 King George IV 298 King William IV 310 Siege of Moultan, Upper India 353 Capture of Rangoon 333 11. King James I. Brenin James I TYRRELL'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND FOR FAMILY USE.

Chapter I. The Reign Of James The First

— A.D. 1603 — 1606 The royal family of Tudor perished with Queen Elizabeth, and her successor was the first member of the House of Stuart that governed England. James was thirty-seven years of age when he became King of England. He had been married, fourteen years before, to the Princess Anne, a daughter of the King of Denmark, on which account the lady was called Anne of Denmark. Therefore James, on his accession, was of a mature age, and a husband and a father. He was a considerable scholar, and had written several books, especially one upon witchcraft * but he was a very unkingly person in his appearance and manners. He had light, meaningless, goggle eyes ; his tongue was too large for his mouth • and this gave him, not only an impediment in his speech, but a disagreeable habit of slobbering over his dress, which was generally slovenly, and sometimes even dirty.

He had also a weakness in his legs, which made him waddle in his walk * he talked with a broad Scottish accent ; and was altogether very ungraceful and undignified. On receiving news of the death of Elizabeth, James started from Edinburgh on the 5th of April, and travelled, in a very leisurely manner, to London, where he arrived on the 7th of May. At Newark-upon-Trent, a thief, who had contrived to mingle with his attendants, was taken in the act of picking a pocket. James ordered him to be hanged at once, without any trial, saying a rope was the best cure for such offences. As no one dared to expostulate, the command was obeyed * but the people looked very serious at this unpromising beginning of a reign. VOL. II. B History of England. [a.D. 1603. 2 The new king wished to win the affection of the nation ; and to obtain it he knighted nearly every gentleman that entered his presence.

Eliza beth had be :n very slow in conferring honours ; but titles cost James nothing, and he gave them away with a profusion that excited ridicule. Before he had been six weeks in England he had created 237 new knights. Sir Robert Cecil became his minister, and was made Lord Cecil ; afterwards he was called Viscount Cranborne ; and at last Earl of Salisbury. Elizabeth had been buried without much pomp, in West minster Abbey, before James arrived at London * and the new sovereign was crowned, in the same venerable building, on the 25th of July, 1603. There was much feasting, and many shows and pageants ; but it must have been rather a melancholy ceremony : for, notwithstanding the time of year, the sky was black with clouds, it rained incessantly, and the plague raged in London. Immediately after James's coronation, he was waited on by ambassadors from the European states, most of whom were anxious to obtain the friendship of England : to all, the king's answer was, " Peace at home and abroad ! above all things, peace."

While James was so desirous for peace abroad, a wild, mysterious con spiracy was got up against him at home. This affair has never been clearly understood ; but it seems there were two plots : the object of those engaged in the first being, to seize the king, and keep him in confinement until he promised to change his ministers, grant a toleration of the Catholics, and a pardon for the conspirators. Those engaged in the second plot had the still more serious intention of attempting to depose James, and place the Lady Arabella Stuart on the throne in his stead. This Lady Arabella had a distant claim to the crown, being descended from Henry VII. ; and some desperate men who had forfeited the lavour of James, wished to exalt her to the royalty of England. Two Catholic priests, named Watson and Clarke, and George Brooke, a gentleman, were put to death as traitors for being concerned in the first * and the accomplished Sir Walter Raleigh, together with the Lords Cobham, Grey, and other persons, were arrested and tried for the second conspiracy.

When Raleigh was placed on his trial, he defended himself with wonderful learning and eloquence. Sir Edward Coke, the famous lawyer, who was then attorney-general, was the prosecutor on behalf of the king, and he abused the prisoner in a very gross and savage manner. He called him an atheist, a spider of hell, and a vile and most execra ble traitor. Raleigh interrupted him by saying, " You speak indis creetly, barbarously, and uncivilly." — " I want words," continued Coke in a flaming passion * " I want words to express thy viperous treasons." — " That is true," replied the witty prisoner * " for you have spoken the same thing half-a-dozen times over already." In the end, Raleigh was found guilty, and sentenced to death as a traitor. But the time of that great, but unprincipled, wit and scholar had not yet come.

James granted him a reprieve, and sent him back to the Tower, where he remained a prisoner for thirteen years. Lords Cobham and Grey, and a gentleman A.D. 1604.] Conference of Bishops and Puritans. 3 named Sir Griffin Markham, who had shared in Raleigh's treasons, were taken to the block, and pardoned after they had laid their heads upon it. But this dilatory mercy was little better than death • for the king seized their property, and committed them to close confinement. Grey died in the Tower ; Cobham escaped, and perished from want in a miserable garret in the Minories. The cause of these conspiracies was, that James declared he would not tolerate any religion except that of the established church of England, or the Episcopalian, as it was called ; that is, a church governed by bishops, in imitation of the one founded by the apostles.

The Catholics had been kept down, in the previous reign, by a cruel persecution ; but the Puritans had been gaining in power and in numbers. Before James had been a year on the throne, they petitioned him to reform the ceremonies and abuses of the church, and to grant them a conference with the bishops. The king, who loved discussion and making speeches, granted their request ; and a meeting was held at Hampton Court, between the bishops and the Puritans, he himself presiding as moderator. The object of this conference was to decide which form of religion was the best — that of the Anglican church, or Puritanism. Such a meeting seemed very fair and just * but James had made up his mind which party to decide for before he heard the arguments ; for he had long entertained a bitter dislike to the Puritans.

It was very natural that he should ; for the Puritans of Scotland had constantly thwarted and vexed him in his own country ; and they had cruelly persecuted his unfortunate mother. He knew, also, that they cherished the principles of liberty, and were even suspected of thinking that the nation could get on very well without a king at all. This was sufficient* and James made up his mind to decide in favour of the bishops. The conference began on the 14th of January, 1604 : on one side were about twenty bishops * but James would only permit four Puritan divines on the other. The latter demanded, amongst other things, that the Book of Common Prayer should be revised; that the sign of the cross in baptism should be abolished, together with the ceremony of confirmation ; the use of the ring in marriage ; the reading of the Apocrypha ; and the bowing at the name of Jesus.

The bishops rested the dispute principally upon the Prayer Book, which they earnestly contended for* and then James himself wound up a long speech in their favour by saying — " No bishop, no king." Afterwards he said — " If you aim at a Scottish presbytery, it agrees as well with monarchy as God with the devil. Then Jack and Tom, and Will and Dick shall meet, and, at their pleasure, censure me and my council, and all our proceedings." He then dismissed the Puritan divines in an insulting manner, and decided in favour of the bishops. The latter flattered the king in a very gross fashion ; one of them declaring, upon his knees, that undoubtedly his majesty spoke by the special assistance of the Almighty Spirit. James, however, made a few trifling alterations in the Prayer Book ; and then he issued a proclamation, commanding a strict conformity to [a.d. 1604.

History of England. 4 the established Protestant church. In consequence of this, 300 preachers, attached to the Puritan principles, were driven from their livings, and thrown upon the world to labour or to starve. The Catholics, also, were hunted about like wild beasts ■ and, in a little time, the prisons were full of persons, whose only crime was, that they practised a different form of re ligion to that sanctioned by the king, and which was now followed by the majority of the people. While men were thus pining in dungeons for professing what they believed to be the truth, James spent almost the whole of his time in hunting, of which amusement he was immoderately fond. On the 19th of March the king met his first parliament. He had given an indirect command that neither Catholics nor Puritans should be elected members of it * but there were many of the latter in the new House of Commons.

Before proceeding to business, a dispute arose between the members and the king about the legal election of one of their number. James, assuming that he was an absolute king, sent a com mand to the Commons, which they declined to obey, and, in the end, he was compelled to give up the point. Having voted the king a small supply of money, the Commons set zealously to work to reform the abuses of government. Monopolies were not yet put down * and the parliament wisely saw that these abuses were ruining the commerce of the country. They turned their attention, also, to the abolition of wardship and purveyance. Wardship was the right of the king to become guardian to all rich young people who had lost their parents, and to receive the rents of their estates until they came of age, without giving any account of the money.

Purveyance was the right which the English kings had long exercised, of taking anybody's corn, cattle, or horses, and paying what price for them they pleased — which was never a price that satisfied the lawful owner. It was proposed to buy these privileges of the king * but so many difficulties were found in the way of doing a just action, that, for the present, it was abandoned. The parliament, however, showed such a disposition towards improvements, and the assertion of its own liberties, that when they had sat scarcely four months, James prorogued or put off their meeting until the February of the next year. Before they parted they begged the king to put into rigid practice all the severe laws against the Catholics. That the Protestant form of the Christian religion is more pure, more simple, and more in unison with the teachings of its Divine Founder than the Catholic one, was conscientiously believed by most people.

But that is no reason why those who preferred the Catholic form should have been hated, persecuted, and driven about like so many wild beasts. Elizabeth treated them with severity because she thought they were not loyal subjects * but a little lenity and consideration would, no doubt, have won them at least to a respectful submission to their sovereign. When James ascended the throne, they expected more lavour than they had lately en joyed ; and it is even asserted that he had secretly promised to tolerate their mode of worship. They were extremely irritated on finding that A.D. 1604.] The Gunpowder Plot. 5 they were deceived, and many were rendered desperate by the heavy fines inflicted upon them — fines so enormous as to reduce them and their families to beggary. One of the sufferers was a Catholic gentleman, named Robert Catesby : he was of an ancient family, wealthy, accomplished, and exceedingly brave.

Added to this, he was a religious fanatic, who thought, as many others of that day did, that to destroy all heretics was to do service to the Almighty, and win his eternal favour. This man, after brooding for a length of time upon the wrongs of his church, conceived the horrible idea of destroying the King, Lords, and Commons at one blow. His design was, to dig a mine beneath the parliament-house, and, having filled it with gunpowder and other combustibles, to set fire to them when the king in person re-opened the parliament. By this atrocious scheme, he intended that the king, the nobles, bishops, and all the members of parliament should be involved in one hideous and instantaneous de struction. Revolting as this plan of wholesale murder was, Catesby had the courage to mention it to several other persons.

Amongst them was Thomas Percy, a relation of the Earl of Northumberland ; John Wright, Percy's brother-in-law * Thomas Winter, a gentleman of Worcestershire * and Guido (commonly called Guy) Fawkes, a dare-devil Englishman and zealous Catholic, who had lately been an officer in the Spanish service. These men swore a solemn oath to be true to each other * never to reveal the project they had undertaken ; and never to give it up until it was ac complished. After this, they attended mass, and took the sacrament, which was administered to them by Gerard, a Jesuit, who, there is no doubt, was well acquainted with their intention. Percy held some office about the king's person, which obliged him to live near the court ; he therefore hired a house, the back of which leaned against the wall of that in which the parliament met.

One dark night in December, 1604, the conspirators entered, and, having laid in a stock of provisions, descended to the cellar, and began digging through the wall which led to the vaults of the parliament-house. The wall was three yards thick, and the labour of boring through it was immense • but they were urged on to exertion by the cruel execution of six Jesuits, or semi nary priests, who were put to death at that time for remaining in England in opposition to an act of parliament, which had prohibited them from staying in the country. Such atrocious severity gave fresh strength to the conspirators * but still they got on very slowly with their work. Suddenly the king determined to put off the meeting of parliament from the 7th of February till the 3rd of October, in consequence of which the traitors separated until after Christmas.

Before they met again at Westminster, their number was increased to ten. The new desperadoes were— Robert Kay, a poor gentleman ; Christopher Wright, a brother of Thomas Wright, who was already in the plot; Robert Winter, the brother of Thomas • John Grant, a melancholy, discontented gentleman of Warwickshire ; and Thomas Bates, Catesby's servant, who [a.d. 1605. 6 History of England. was admitted because it was found that he suspected what was going on. In the February of 1605, they again met at Westminster, and resumed their labour of boring through the wall. They worked watchfully, and in fear; their guilty souls being awe-struck at the slightest sound. Har dened as they were against remorse, thirsting for blood, and toiling stealthily at midnight in the cause of murder, yet they felt something, at times, of superstitious dread as they stopped occasionally, and peered into the gloom of the cellar, almost fearing to behold some strange and watchful face gazing from the darkness.

Once they fancied they heard the solemn tolling of a bell, deep in the earth * and it smote upon then ears like a supernatural death-knell for the crowd of lords and senators whom they intended soon to hasten, bruised and blackened, to their graves. So distinct and real did this strange sound seem to be, that they thought it was the work of the arch-enemy of man, and sprinkled holy water upon the earth to drive it away. One morning a strange rumbling noise was heard almost over their heads, which proved to be no delusion. They feared they were dis covered, and Fawkes undertook to go and see what it was. He soon returned with a cheerful face, and the news that it was only a man, named Bright, removing his stock of coals from a cellear beneath the parliament-house to some other place. The cellar was to let * and, as the conspirators had not yet bored through the wall, they at once resolved to take it.

Percy hired the cellar ; and thirty-six barrels of gunpowder were rowed over, at night, from a house he had engaged on the opposite bank of the river, and hid in the vault. Large stones and bars of iron were thrown in between the barrels, to make the explosion more destruc tive, and the whole was then covered over with faggots of wood. Everything being ready, the conspirators once more separated, confident of success when the day set apart for the massacre should arrive. In the meantime, three other Catholic gentlemen were admitted to the plot. These were, Sir Everard Digby, Ambrose Rokewood, and Francis Tresham. The latter was a wealthy man, but of a weak, uncertain nature ; and Catesby was afterwards very sorry that the secret had been confided to him. The day was near at hand * and the king, the queen, and their eldest son (Prince Henry) were all expected to be present at the opening of parliament.

As to Prince Charles, he was to be seized, or made away with ; and the young Princess Elizabeth was to be pro claimed queen, because, being the youngest of the royal family, she could the more easily be converted to the restored Catholic religion. From the first the conspirators had been trying to invent some scheme to keep the Catholic nobles and members away from the parliament-house on that dark day of slaughter. Several of them had friends or relatives whom they were anxious to save ; but Catesby told them that most of the Catholics would be absent in disgust, because they could not prevent the passing of new laws against their religion. " But " he added, "with all that, rather than the project should not take effect if they were as dear unto me as mine own son, they also must be blown Arrest of Guido Fawkes.

Cymeriad Guido Fawkes yn gareharor A.D. 1605.] The Plot Discovered. 7 up." Francis Tresham was particularly anxious to warn Lord Monteagle, who had married his sister. Catesby, Fawkes, and the others refused ; for they feared that, if any warning were given, their plot would be discovered, and themselves lost. Tresham went gloomily away ; and, ten days before the meeting of parliament, Lord Monteagle received the following letter, delivered by a stranger, who instantly departed : — " My lord, out of the love I bear to some of your friends, I have a care of your preservation * therefore I would advise you, as you tender your life, to devise some excuse to shift off your attendance at this parliament * for God and man have concurred to punish the wickedness of this time. And think not slightly of this advertisement ; but retire yourself into your country, where you may expect the event in safety.

For though there be no appearance of any stir, yet, I say, they shall receive a terrible blow this parliament, and yet they shall not see who hurts them. This counsel is not to be contemned, because it may do you good, and can do you no harm * for the danger is passed as soon as you have burned the letter. And I hope God will give you the grace to make good use of it ; unto whose holy protection I commend you." At first, Lord Monteagle was inclined to think this letter a foolish hoax ; but, on second thoughts, he took it to Sir Robert Cecil, Secretary of State. That statesman laid it before the king * and either one or the other of them came to the conclusion that it seemed to threaten some danger from gunpowder. It was accordingly thought proper to search the vaults beneath the houses of parliament.

But this search was not made until the day before parliament opened, so that the plot might ripen, and the conspirators be arrested. On the afternoon of the 4th of November, Suffolk (the Lord Chamber lain) and Lord Monteagle went on a visit of discovery to the parliamenc house. On descending to the vaults and cellars beneath it, they threw open the one in which the powder was concealed. There they noticed the great piles of wood, and beheld Fawkes (who had undertaken to watch) standing in a dark corner. Lord Suffolk put on an easy, careless manner, and asked him who he was. Fawkes answered, that he was Mr. Percy's servant, and engaged in looking after his master's coals. "Ah !" observed the chamberlain, " your master has laid in a good stock of fuel." The two noblemen then left the vault; but they had seen enough to arouse suspicion : they felt sure, from the soldier-like manner and keen glance of the conspirator, that he was not what he described himself; and they resolved to obtain assistance, and pay another visit to the place before the next day.

When they were gone, Fawkes hurried to his comrades, and, putting them on their guard, had the desperate courage again to return to that now dangerous spot. It was past midnight when Sir Thomas Knevet (a magistrate of West minster) and a party 01 soldiers descended to the vaults, and there they seized Fawkes, who had just finished his preparations, and was about to leave for the last time. Fortunately they contrived to seize him suddenly ; for if he had only had sufficient time to light a match, he would have [A.D. 1605. 8 History of England. fired the train, and blown them and himself to atoms together. Having bound him hand and foot, they searched his pockets, and found some touchwood, tinder, and slow matches. A dark lantern, with a light burning in it, was also found behind the door. Turning over the logs of wood, they saw the barrels of gunpowder ; and the nature of this fierce and savage plot was disclosed.

Bound as he was, Fawkes was at once carried to Whitehall, and ques tioned before the king and his council. Still bold and defiant, he de clared that his name was John Johnson, and that he was a servant of Mr. Percy ; though he admitted that his purpose was to have destroyed the king and his parliament. James inquired how he could have the heart to destroy his children, and so many innocent persons as must have suffered. " Dangerous diseases require desperate remedies," replied the undaunted conspirator. When told to reveal the names of his accomplices, he re fused to mention any one, and he was then taken to the Tower. As soon as the danger from which the king and parliament had so narrowly escaped was known in London, horror and rage were pictured upon every face, and a cry arose for vengeance upon the traitors.

Percy, Rokewood, and the other conspirators who were in London, mounted their horses, and rode with furious speed to the house of Sir Everard Digby, at Dunchurch, in Warwickshire, where a party of Catholic gentle men had assembled, in expectation of some great event which was to take place in favour of their party, though only a few of them knew ex actly what it was. When it was understood that the plot had failed, most of these gentlemen stole quietly away, and left the conspirators to their fate. Sir Everard, Catesby, Percy, Rokewood, and a few others were left alone ; and these desperate men, still hoping that they might at least raise an insurrection in favour of the Catholics, again mounted their horses, and rode through Warwickshire and Worcestershire, calling upon all of their religion to rise and join.

The appeal was in vain ; men looked on in fear and amazement ; but no one joined the little band of would-be assassins. Thus disappointed, they took refuge in a house at Holbeach, on the borders of Staffordshire. By this time the alarm was spread throughout the country, and the house was soon surrounded by the sheriff and an armed force. Here some damp gunpowder, which had been set to dry, blew up, and injured Catesby and several others so much, that they were no longer capable of defending themselves. Then they began to think (as well they might) that their plot was so savage, that the hand of God was against them ; and Rokewood and others knelt before a picture of the Virgin, and prayed for forgiveness. As the conspirators still refused to surrender, the sheriff and his men made an attack upon the house.

Catesby and Thomas Winter stood back to back, resolved to fight to the last, and, in that position, both of them were killed with one shot. Percy and the two Wrights also perished, and the rest were made prisoners. Francis Tresham, who is supposed to have sent the letter to Lord Monteagle, never left London • but he was arrested, and sent to the Tower a few days afterwards. A.D. 1606.] Execution of the Conspirators. 9 In the meantime, Guido Fawkes had been placed upon the rack, and tortured in such a shocking manner to make him confess, that when at last he did so, he was unable to sign his name to the document. To the credit of this desperate man, it must be said that he would reveal nothing until his comrades discovered themselves by their flight, and then he told scarcely anything more than the king and his council knew already.

Fawkes and his fellow-traitors were condemned to be hanged and quartered — a sentence which was executed upon them in all its re pulsive details. Tresham, who was suspected of other treachery besides having written the letter which led to the discovery, died suddenly in the Tower ; but not before he had accused Father Garnet, and some other Jesuits, of being acquainted with the particulars of the conspiracy. These wretched men were first racked to make them confess, and afterwards put to death as traitors. A few Catholic nobles were arrested on a charge of knowing of the existence of the plot, and heavily fined or im prisoned, although nothing was really proved against them. — Thus ended one of the wildest, most savage, and remarkable conspiracies ever recorded in the startling pages of history.

Chapter II. Continuation Of The Reign Of James The First

— A.D. 1606 — 1618. The parliament which was to have been blown into the air on the famous 5th of November, met on the 21st of January in the following year (1606). The members longed to revenge upon the Catholics the wicked intentions of a few men belonging to that party. To the credit of King James, it must be said, that he tried to appease this angry spirit. In a speech to the parliament, he remarked, that though religion had induced the conspirators to attempt so dark a crime, they were not to suppose all Roman Catholics equally guilty, or disposed to commit such enormous barbarities. Many holy men had been seduced to concur with that church in her religious doctrines, who had never approved her seditious principles ; that nothing could be more hateful than to condemn alike the guilty and the guiltless ; and that while he would always punish the one he would uphold and protect the other.

But these generous sentiments were not shared by the parliament ; and several severe and most oppressive laws were passed against the Catholics. Indeed, these laws were so bitterly vindictive and irritating, that it seemed as if the parliament actually wished to drive the Roman Catholics into a rebellion, so that an excuse might be found for altogether extirpating A^nid all this excitement, the Commons did not forget the liberties of VOL. [ad. 1607. History of England. 10 the Protestant part of the nation ; and they would not vote the king a grant of money until he took a long list of grievances into consideration. James had a strong objection to listen to anything of the kind ; and, about this time, a report was spread that he had been assassinated while hunting in Berkshire. Some people said that he had been shot ; others, that he had been stabbed with a poisoned knife ; and a third party, that he had been smothered in his bed.