Opening the text

Constitutional History of England, Henry VII to George II. Volume 2 of 3Hallam, Henry

History

Constitutional History of England, Henry VII to George II. Volume 2 of 3

Name: Constitutional History of England, Henry VII to George II. Volume 2 of 3
Author: Hallam, Henry

Hallam, Henry

Constitutional history -- Great Britain

The king was now in a course of success, which made him rather hearken
to the sanguine courtiers of Oxford, where, according to the
invariable character of an exiled faction, every advantage or reverse
brought on a disproportionate exultation or despondency, than to those
better counsellors who knew the precariousness of his good fortune. He
published a declaration, wherein he denied the two houses at
Westminster the name of a parliament; which he could no more take from
them, after the bill he had passed, than they could deprive him of his
royal title, and by refusing which he shut up all avenues to an equal
peace.[254] This was soon followed by so extraordinary a political
error as manifests the king's want of judgment, and the utter
improbability that any event of the war could have restored to England
the blessings of liberty and repose.

_Secession of some peers to the king's quarters._--Three peers of the
moderate party, the Earls of Holland, Bedford, and Clare, dissatisfied
with the preponderance of a violent faction in the Commons, left their
places at Westminster, and came into the king's quarters. It might be
presumed from general policy as well as from his constant declarations
of a desire to restore peace, that they would have been received with
such studied courtesy as might serve to reconcile to their own mind a
step which, when taken with the best intentions, is always equivocal
and humiliating. There was great reason to believe that the Earl of
Northumberland, not only the first peer then in England as to family
and fortune, but a man highly esteemed for prudence, was only waiting
to observe the reception of those who went first to Oxford, before he
followed their steps. There were even well-founded hopes of the Earl
of Essex, who, though incapable of betraying his trust as commander of
the parliament's army, was both from personal and public motives
disinclined to the war-party in the Commons. There was much to expect
from all those who had secretly wished well to the king's cause, and
from those whom it is madness to reject or insult, the followers of
fortune, the worshippers of power, without whom neither fortune nor
power can long subsist. Yet such was the state of Charles's
council-board at Oxford that some were for arresting these proselyte
earls; and it was carried with difficulty, after they had been
detained some time at Wallingford, that they might come to the court.
But they met there with so many and such general slights that, though
they fought in the king's army at Newbury, they found their position
intolerably ignominious; and after about three months, returned to the
parliament with many expressions of repentance, and strong testimonies
to the evil counsels of Oxford.[255]

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

Constitutional History of England, Henry VII to George II. Volume 2 of 3Hallam, Henry

History

Constitutional History of England, Henry VII to George II. Volume 2 of 3

Hallam, Henry

Constitutional history -- Great Britain

The king was now in a course of success, which made him rather hearken
to the sanguine courtiers of Oxford, where, according to the
invariable character of an exiled faction, every advantage or reverse
brought on a disproportionate exultation or despondency, than to those
better counsellors who knew the precariousness of his good fortune. He
published a declaration, wherein he denied the two houses at
Westminster the name of a parliament; which he could no more take from
them, after the bill he had passed, than they could deprive him of his
royal title, and by refusing which he shut up all avenues to an equal
peace.[254] This was soon followed by so extraordinary a political
error as manifests the king's want of judgment, and the utter
improbability that any event of the war could have restored to England
the blessings of liberty and repose.

_Secession of some peers to the king's quarters._--Three peers of the
moderate party, the Earls of Holland, Bedford, and Clare, dissatisfied
with the preponderance of a violent faction in the Commons, left their
places at Westminster, and came into the king's quarters. It might be
presumed from general policy as well as from his constant declarations
of a desire to restore peace, that they would have been received with
such studied courtesy as might serve to reconcile to their own mind a
step which, when taken with the best intentions, is always equivocal
and humiliating. There was great reason to believe that the Earl of
Northumberland, not only the first peer then in England as to family
and fortune, but a man highly esteemed for prudence, was only waiting
to observe the reception of those who went first to Oxford, before he
followed their steps. There were even well-founded hopes of the Earl
of Essex, who, though incapable of betraying his trust as commander of
the parliament's army, was both from personal and public motives
disinclined to the war-party in the Commons. There was much to expect
from all those who had secretly wished well to the king's cause, and
from those whom it is madness to reject or insult, the followers of
fortune, the worshippers of power, without whom neither fortune nor
power can long subsist. Yet such was the state of Charles's
council-board at Oxford that some were for arresting these proselyte
earls; and it was carried with difficulty, after they had been
detained some time at Wallingford, that they might come to the court.
But they met there with so many and such general slights that, though
they fought in the king's army at Newbury, they found their position
intolerably ignominious; and after about three months, returned to the
parliament with many expressions of repentance, and strong testimonies
to the evil counsels of Oxford.[255]

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Constitutional History of England, Henry VII to George II. Volume 2 of 3

Constitutional History of England, Henry VII to George II. Volume 2 of 3

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