Henry Tudor then marched to London and seized the government. He became responsible for the surviving members of the royal family of England, legitimate or otherwise. What did he do with them? There were Edward and Richard, the illegitimate sons of Edward IV., there was Edward the legitimate son of the Duke of Clarence, and now the rightful King of England, and there was John, the illegitimate son of Richard III. They all fell into his power, and he alone became answerable for their lives. There is too much reason to suspect that they all met with foul play at his hands. Henry Tudor, on usurping the crown of England, necessarily found himself in a very difficult position. His mother's claim, as heiress to an illegitimate son of the third son of Edward III., was worthless in itself, for even if the descent had been legitimate, she must come after all the descendants of the second son of Edward III. Moreover the claim, such as it was, had not yet descended to Henry Tudor and never did, for his mother survived him. He wisely refrained from stating such a claim as this, although he alleged a vague hereditary right of some sort, which he did not try to explain. There remained the right of conquest with the aid of French mercenaries, and he ventured to put it forward. But he soon saw that he would have to find some other prop to support his usurpation. {249} [Sidenote: Character of Henry VII] Henry must certainly have been a man of great ability, with an acute but narrow mind, marvellous powers of dissimulation and of self-deception, with considerable tact and skill in guiding and influencing those around him. He was essentially un-English. He was a near relation of Louis XI., and he made that mean tyrant his model. He hated English freedom, and that intimate contact with the people which made the Plantagenets popular. He loved mystery. He surrounded himself with an armed guard which constantly went about with him, a thing never done before by former kings.[3] He originated a tribunal with despotic powers, consisting of a committee of his Council, the infamous Star Chamber. He established 'a close and secret, a tyrannical and often a most cruel government.'[4] He extorted money by means of those illegal 'benevolences' which had been abolished by the patriotic Parliament of Richard III. He was penurious, greedy, and mean. He was the first English King who increased his revenue by forfeitures enforced through legal chicanery. He began the practice of setting agents to ferret out any claim which the Crown could make, and a subservient judge would affirm. For he loved the forms of law, which apparently soothed his conscience. He was very superstitious. When his own interests were not concerned he was not devoid of natural affection and he recoiled from crime. Yet he became capable of any foul deed if he deemed it necessary for his own security. But he meditated a crime for months and years, and stood trembling on the