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Charles II and his Parliaments*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 February 2009

John Miller
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Extract

My text is taken from Macaulay, who wrote of the Cavalier Parliament of 1661–78:

‘The great English revolution of the seventeenth century, that is to say the transfer of the supreme control of the executive administration from the crown to the House of Commons, was, through the whole long existence of this Parliament, proceeding noiselessly, but rapidly and steadily. Charles, kept poor by his follies and vices, wanted money. The Commons alone could legally grant him money. They could not be prevented from putting their own price on their grants … that they should be allowed to interfere with every one of the king's prerogatives, to wring from him his consent to laws which he disliked, to break up cabinets, to dictate the course of foreign policy and even to direct the administration of war’

Type
Research Article
Information
Transactions of the Royal Historical Society , Volume 32 , December 1982 , pp. 1 - 23
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Historical Society 1982

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References

1 Macaulay, T. B., History of England, ed. Firth, C. H. (6 vols., London, 1913), I, 174–5Google Scholar.

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34 C.J., VIII, 453, 478, 493, 499–501. For a similar investigation in 1661, see Ibid., pp. 273–4, 299.

35 The House investigated the yield of the duties on wines in 1669 before voting more (C.J., IX, 115, 117).

36 e.g., C.J., VIII, 314, 318, 321.

37 Grey, , Debates, I, 3Google Scholar.

38 B.L., Egerton MS 2539, fo. 141; Marvell, , Poems and Letters. II, 87– 93Google Scholar. The commission was specifically ordered to investigate Carteret (C.J., IX, 87).

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43 C.J., IX, 73, 117.

44 It was still functioning in March 1671 (C.J., IX, 219).

45 Grey, , Debates, II, 201Google Scholar; V, 23; C.J., IX, 159–60, 167, 382–3; Marvell, , Poems and Letters, II, 111Google Scholar.

46 Grey, , Debates, I, 273, 315, 394Google Scholar; IV, 227.

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48 Ibid., III 85–6, 319; VI, 73, 75, 78; C.J., IX, 407–9, 609–10

49 Grey, , Debates, III, 307Google Scholar.

50 Ibid., VI, 67–8.

51 Ibid. III, 85–87; VI, 102–3.

52 C.J., VIII, 478.

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54 Ibid., I, 188; III, 448–59; IV, 180–3; Marvell, , Poems and Letters, II, 184–5Google Scholar.

55 Marvell, , Poems and Letters, II, 2Google Scholar.

56 S.R, V, 621, 635; Diary of John Milward, p. 210; C.J., IX, 73.

57 C.J., IX, 210.

58 Croissy to Louis XIV, 15 (recte 14) Dec. 1673 (n.s.) and Barrillon to Louis XIV, 2 Dec. 1680 (n.s.) P.R.O., Baschet, 129, 144; C.J., IX, 287; Grey, , Debates, V, 3, 102; VII, 265–7Google Scholar.

59 S.R, V, 834–6, 860–2, 871–3, 881–2, 930.

60 C.J., IX, 563, 610; Grey, , Debates, VI, 10Google Scholar.

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62 Roberts, C., The Growth of Responsible Government in Stuart England (Cambridge, 1966), esp. chs. V–VIGoogle Scholar.

63 Clarendon was impeached after his dismissal, because his enemies wished to prevent his returning to office.

64 Charles was eager to have Clarendon condemned (Bodleian Library, Carte MS 35, fo. 873; Ruvigny to Louis XIV, 4 Nov. 1667 (n.s.), P.R.O., Baschet, 117).

65 Grey, , Debates, I, 21Google Scholar; see also p. 19.

65 Ibid., I, 14.

66 Ibid., 1, 53.

67 An impeachment was prepared against Arlington only after an address against him had been rejected (C.J., IX, 296).

69 Grey, , Debates, II, 245–6, 307, 382Google Scholar.

70 Ibid., II, 315; III, 24, 28–9, 107–8; V, 363–6.

71 Grey, , Debates, V, 243Google Scholar. One reason for this reluctance to name evil advisers was that opposition politicians sought to show a continuity of policy since the breaking of the Triple Alliance whereas, of the ‘Cabal’, only Lauderdale remained in office and Shaftesbury and Buckingham were vehemently opposed to the court (Ibid., III, 307, 310; V, 243, (351); Miller, J., Popery and Politics in England, 1660–88 (Cambridge, 1973), pp. 148–51)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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75 Diary of John Milward, pp. 191 2; Grey, , Debates, I, 85Google Scholar.

76 Dering, , Parliamentary Diary, pp. 76–7Google Scholar.

77 C.J., IX, 287, 298; Grey, , Debates, II, 348Google Scholar; see also, ibid., pp. 338–40, 343–9, 35–5.

78 Ibid. IV, 127 9, 190–204.

79 Ibid., IV, 374 86.

80 Ibid. V, 18 27, 30, 32–5, 234.

81 Ibid., V, 152–3.

82 Ibid. V, 67, 69 71, 73–5, 82–5, 207 8, 302.

83 Grey, , Debates, V, 277–81, 290–5, 305–14, 327–32Google Scholar.

84 Ibid., V, 312, (337–8).

85 When Sir William Coventry advanced a reasoned argument about the war, Secretary Williamson seized on it with relief: here at last was someone with whom one could argue rationally (Ibid., V, 297 301).

86 Ibid. VI, 44 7, 59.

87 Ibid., V, 77; VII, 266 (quoted); VIII, 187; H.M.C., Beaufort, p. 109Google Scholar.

88 See Chandaman, C. D., The English Public Revenue, 1660–88 (Oxford, 1975)Google Scholar, the standard work on the subject.

89 Diaiy of John Milward, pp. 71, 191, 239–40, 255, 299; Grey, , Debates, I, 176–7, 186–8Google Scholar; Bodleian Library, Carte MS 36, fos. 155, 167.

90 Grey, , Debates, II, 110Google Scholar; C.J., IX, 276, 278; see also C.J., VIII, 104.

91 Grey, , Debates, III, 451Google Scholar; IV, 106–12, 184–6.

92 Ibid., II, 200–1, 204, 209–11; III, 343.

93 Grey, , Debates, II, 202, 204Google Scholar.

94 Ibid. II, 178, 205 6, 228, 280–1; III, 264; IV, 113, 122, 226.

95 C.J., VIII, 659–61; IX, 412; Grey, , Debates, III, 450–9; IV, 182–7, 341–2; VI, 50–3Google Scholar. Some ‘tacks’ were approved by the House and reached the statute book (Chandaman, , English Public Revenue, pp. 17– 19Google Scholar).

96 Grey, , Debates, II, 235Google Scholar; III, 295, 341–6; Dering, , Diaries and Papers, pp. 60, 68Google Scholar.

97 Grey, , Debates, III, 347Google Scholar.

98 Even Sacheverell said that, in Edward III's time, the Commons represented the people's poverty to the king ‘then left it to the king, as he would do now’ (Grey, , Debates, III, 344)Google Scholar.

99 Ibid., 11, 208–9.

100 Ibid., V, 242, 297; VIII, 189, 297; Exact Collection, pp. 69–70. Fora direct criticism of Charles, see H.M.C., Beaufort, p. 109Google Scholar.

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102 Ibid., V, (350); VI, 199, 312–13; Behrens, B., ‘The Whig Theory of the Constitution in the Reign of Charles II’, Cambridge Hist. Jnl, vii (1941), 59–60Google Scholar.

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104 Barrillon to Louis XIV, 4 and 11 Nov. 1680, 13 Jan. 1681 (n.s.), P.R.O., Baschet, 147, 148; Dalrymple, , Memoirs, II, Appendix, pp. 280–1Google Scholar; H.M.C., Finch, II, 99Google Scholar; H.M.C., Ormond, new ser., V, 541–2, 561–3Google Scholar.

105 Exact Collection, pp. 99–100; Grey, , Debates, VIII, 100, 102Google Scholar.

106 C.J., IX, 667, 685.

107 Sidney, H., Diary of the Times of Charles II, ed. Blencowe, R. (2 vols., London, 1843), I, 253Google Scholar; Luttrell, N., Brief Historical Relation of State Affairs (6 vols., Oxford, 1857), I, 37Google Scholar; Cal. S. P. Dom., 1679–8, p. 437; Ibid., 1680–1, pp. 175, 182, etc.; Glassey, L. K. J., Politics and the Appointment of Justices of the Peace, 1675–1720 (Oxford, 1979), pp. 39– 57Google Scholar.

108 C.J., IX, 617–18. The House had resolved that a committee of the whole should consider how the militia could be improved, but it never did so (ibid, pp. 587, 595, 598)

109 Ibid., IX, 598, 615–16. There was only the most cursory inspection of the accounts of the money borrowed for the disbandment (Ibid., pp. 608–10).

110 Ibid., IX, 642–3, 656, 658–62; Grey, , Debates, VIII, 34Google Scholar.

111 C.J., IX, 643, 670, 692, 695; Grey, , Debates, VIII, 21, 294Google Scholar.

112 Exact Collection, p. 226.

113 C.J., IX, 692, 697, 702; H.M.C. Beaufort, p. 109Google Scholar; Exact Collection, p. 242.

114 Grey, , Debates, VIII, 13, 16, 261, 265, 270–1, 282Google Scholar; H.M.C. Beaufort, p. 111Google Scholar.

115 C.J., IX, 665–7, 684–5.

116 Ibid., IX, 679, 699.

117 There were several bills in favour of Dissenters, to which the Lords were more sympathetic.

118 Ibid., IX, 680, 685. The Lords drew up such a bill as part of a package of limitations bu it was never completed (H.M.C. House of Lords, 1678–88, pp. 210–11Google Scholar).

119 Grey, , Debates, VIII, 166, 268Google Scholar; Exact Collection, pp. 178–9, 192.

120 Grey, , Debates, VIII, 168–71Google Scholar.

121 Burnet, , History, II, 159Google Scholar.

122 H.M.C. Finch, II, 97Google Scholar; Exact Collection, p. 202.

123 C.J., IX, 702–3; Grey, , Debates, VIII, 262, 322Google Scholar.

124 Grey, , Debates, VIII, 279Google Scholar.

125 H.M.C. Finch, II, 52Google Scholar; Exact Collection, pp. 157, 176, 192.

126 Grey, , Debates, VIII, 265Google Scholar. See also ibid., pp. 275, 279, 330–1; H.M.C. Beaufort, p. 111Google Scholar; Exact Collection, pp. 260–1.

127 Ibid., pp. 261–2.

128 Ibid., p. 149; the version in Grey, (Debates, VIII, 60)Google Scholar concentrates on the judges.

129 Note the Commons' explicit refusal in 1689 to take on executive responsibilities (Roberts, , Responsible Government, pp. 255–6)Google Scholar.

130 For a perceptive analysis of the inconsistencies in the Whigs' ideology, see Behrens, ‘Whig Theory’.

131 Grey, , Debates, VIII, 330Google Scholar; Proceedings of the House of Commons touching the Impeachment of Edward, late Earl of Clarendon (London, 1700), p. 33Google Scholar. The same MP later referred to bills as contracts between king and people Grey, , Debates, IV, 228Google Scholar. By contrast, there were many references to contract theory in the debates of 1689.

132 Ibid., VII, 447; see also Exact Collection, p. 52.

133 Ibid., p. 103.

134 Grey, , Debates, VIII, 154Google Scholar.

135 Ibid., VII, 458–9, 452–3.

136 Exact Collection, p. 97.

137 Ibid., pp. 54, 93, 97, 259 60; H.M.C., Beaufort, p. 112Google Scholar; Grey, , Debates, VII, 453Google Scholar; VIII, 278; see also Elton, G. R., The Tudor Constitution (Cambridge, 1960), pp. 232–3Google Scholar.

138 Exact Collection, p. 47; see also C.J., IX, 685; Grey, , Debates, VIII, 163, 166–7Google Scholar.

139 Hyde claimed they were doing so (Grey, , Debates, VIII, 265, 271)Google Scholar.

140 Marvell, , Poems and Letters, II, 1–2, 13Google Scholar; Grey, , Debates, I, 337–9Google Scholar; 11, 9; HI, 303; VII, 4–5.

141 Ibid., V, (352).

142 Ibid., VIII, 310, 316–7, 325–7.

143 Ibid., II, 404; III, 2, 322.

144 Ibid., VII, 465.

145 While there was much talk of the need for frequent parliaments, no bill was brought in to curtail the kings power to summon and dismiss them at will (see C.J., IX, 682).