CHARLES II. (163o-1685), king of Great Britain and Ire land, 2nd son of Charles I. and Henrietta Maria, was born on May 29, 1630. About 1638 the duke of Newcastle was appointed as his governor, but his education was interrupted by the Civil War. In 1645 Charles I. sent him into the west of England, where his council included, among others, Sir Edward Hyde. In March 1646 the Royalist defeats drove him to the Scilly Isles and later to Jersey, and in July he joined his mother in Paris. He remained there under her control for two years, and continued his studies, Hobbes being his tutor for mathematics.
In 1648 Charles cruised with some English ships off the mouth of the Thames, but effected nothing and retired to Holland. In Jan. 1649 he sent a blank sheet of paper, bearing his signature, to parliament, for the insertion of any terms which would save his father's life. After Charles I.'s execution on Jan. 3o, 1649, he was proclaimed king in Scotland and parts of Ireland and in the Channel Islands. He went to Jersey in September, but was obliged to retire to Breda (Feb. 1650), and from that place he came to terms with the Scots, accepting the Covenant and aban doning Montrose. He landed in Scotland on June 23, 165o, after pledging himself to Presbyterianism in both Scotland and England. An attempt to escape from the Covenanters, known as "the Start," failed, and on Jan. 1, 1651, Charles was crowned as king of Scots at Scone. Cromwell's advance forced him to march into England and on Sept. 3 Cromwell defeated him at Worcester. Charles showed great courage in the battle, and after an amazing series of adventures, including his concealment in the "Royal Oak" at Boscobel, sailed from Brighton for France on Oct. 15.
His advisers were henceforward the legitimists, Hyde, Ormond and Nicholas. Plots for risings in England and Scotland and for Cromwell's assassination failed. In 1654 Cromwell's negotiations with France drove Charles to Germany, but after Cromwell's alliance with France he made a treaty with Spain (April 1656) and resided at Bruges or Brussels. His chief source of income was a Spanish pension ; nevertheless he was very poor. Crom well's death did not immediately alter his position and in he went to Fuenterrabia, where the Peace of the Pyrenees was being negotiated between France and Spain, to ask for military aid. This journey and a Royalist rising in England were alike fruitless.
Events in England brought about the Restoration, which the Royalists alone could not have accomplished. By the end of a return to the old Constitution was the only escape from the alternatives of military government or anarchy. Monck (Albe marle) advanced with an armed force from Scotland; by recall ing the secluded members of the Long Parliament, power was transferred from the Independents to the Presbyterians. A "Free Parliament" was summoned to meet in April 166o while Monck opened negotiations with Charles, who, following his advice, issued the Declaration of Breda (see BREDA) April 4. Largely the work of Hyde, it promised a general amnesty and liberty of con science, and guaranteed the transfers of land, leaving the final settlement in each case to parliament ; it also promised full arrears of pay to all ranks in the army. The Convention Parlia ment, in which the secular peers again sat, accepted the Declara tion and Charles was proclaimed king on May 8. On May 26 he landed at Dover, where he was met by Monck, and on May 29, amid universal rejoicing, arrived at Whitehall.
The agreement of Charles and Monck in leaving the settlement to parliament meant that the Restoration was a restoration of parliamentary government, not of personal monarchy. Charles was not a conqueror and had no armed force of his own, while during the last 20 years almost all classes in England had ac quired a permanent interest in politics. The administration could not be carried on without the help of men who had already been employed by the revolutionary Governments and the new coun cil included faithful Royalists and ex-rebels. The willing co operation of the Convention and the unbounded loyalty of its successor in its earlier years encouraged Charles to entrust many matters to parliament. The Restoration dissolved the legislative union with Scotland and Ireland, but led to the re-establishment of their separate parliaments. In Scotland it was complete, and brought back Episcopacy and repression ; in Ireland the Crom wellian settlement was firmly established and was upheld by English opinion.
Hyde, created earl of Clarendon, was still Charles's chief ad viser, and directed the work of reconstruction in England. All the acts of the revolutionary Governments since 1642 were held to be invalid; judicial proceedings since that date were confirmed by a special act. The Navigation Act of 1651 was re-enacted; the abolition of feudal incidents, completed in 1656, was maintained by a new act. The Indemnity bill led to disputes between Charles and parliament, Charles desiring lenity. Thirteen regicides and young Sir Henry Vane were executed; 25 regicides, Lambert and Hesilrigge were imprisoned for life; otherwise the amnesty was complete. Crown and Church lands, and other lands sequestered by the revolutionary Governments, reverted to their former own ers, but Royalists who had sold part of their lands to meet the fines inflicted on them received no compensation. By means of special taxes the army was paid off by Feb. 1661; Charles, who had only a few Life and Foot Guards, retained Monck's regiment of infantry, known henceforward as the Coldstream Guards, and a cavalry regiment, the Blues. By 1685, mainly by the return of regiments from Dunkirk and Tangier, this force was increased by five regiments of foot and one of dragoons. The Government's income was fixed at 11,200,000, but the sources allocated did not produce that amount, and the Government was involved from the start in pecuniary difficulties for which it was not responsible.
The restoration of the Church was slower. Charles was pledged to toleration, and plans for comprehension were put forward. The Convention was dissolved in Dec. 166o without settling any thing, and the Savoy conference, between Anglicans and Presby terians, proved sterile. Charles was crowned on April 23, 1661, and a new parliament met on May 8; as it sat until 1679 it is called the Long Parliament of the Restoration, and sometimes the Cavalier or the Pensionary Parliament. It was composed at the start almost entirely of Anglicans and thorough-going Royal ists, and Charles and Clarendon could not restrain it on religious questions. The bishops returned to the Upper House on Nov. 20, 1661. On May 19, 1662, the Act of Uniformity was passed, en joining the use of the Book of Common Prayer, which had been specially revised, and included new services of Jan. 3o and May 29 (the dates of the execution of Charles I. and the Restoration) ; as a result about 1,200 of the clergy, who refused to conform, left their livings on St. Bartholomew's Day (Aug. 12) ; another Boo had already been ejected. The Puritans, who had hitherto tried to gain control of the national Church while remaining within it, took up a position definitely outside it; they came to be known as Nonconformists or Dissenters. Charles tried to re lieve them and the Roman Catholics by a declaration issued on Dec. 26, 1662, but it was opposed by Clarendon and by parlia ment ; and a series of acts was passed, including the Conventicle and Five Mile Acts, forbidding the Nonconformists their special forms of worship; it is unjustly called the Clarendon Code. The Corporation Act (1661) drove the Nonconformists from power in the boroughs; the Press Act (1662), establishing a censorship, and the repeal of the Triennial Act (1664) completed the recon struction of the Constitution.
Charles's foreign policy was largely a continuation of Crom well's, although based on material rather than on religious con siderations. Peace was made with Spain, but Jamaica and Dun kirk were retained, and Charles, when he married the Portuguese Catherine of Braganza in 1662, pledged himself to give Portugal military support in its struggle with Spain. The marriage, which brought Bombay and Tangier to England as parts of Catherine's dowry, drew England closer to France ; the two countries were further connected by the marriage of Charles's sister, Henrietta Anne, to the duke of Orleans and by the sale of Dunkirk to France. Dunkirk was a costly possession and had lost most of its military or naval value, especially after the acquisition of Tangier. In 1664 English commercial expansion and minor political differ ences led to war with the Dutch. The struggle was indecisive, but England was weakened by the Great Plague in 1665, and the Fire of London in 1666. Financial exhaustion led to negotiations, and in 1667 the Dutch, by burning the English ships in the Medway, enforced the conclusion of the Peace of Breda. Both sides kept their conquests, England obtaining New York and New Jersey. Parliament demanded a sacrifice and attacked Clarendon. Charles was annoyed by his opposition to toleration and tired of his lec tures on his private misconduct ; to the delight of the courtiers and the younger politicians he allowed him to be exiled.
Free from tutelage, Charles determined to follow his own policy. He disliked parliamentary control and believed that he could establish a strong monarchy upon the alliance of the Catholics and the dissenters ; his desire for toleration and his per sonal inclination towards Catholicism, increased by his knowl edge of the attitude of his brother James, duke of York, alike recommended this policy. He also wanted to revenge himself on the Dutch for his humiliation at Chatham. Henceforward he never gave complete confidence to any minister. He now employed Clifford and Arlington—both Catholics—but allowed Buckingham some show of power. These three, with Ashley and Lauderdale, formed the notorious Cabal, so-called because the first letters of their names formed that word. It was not a minis try in the modern sense, there being no common policy or joint responsibility. Charles hoped to attain his ends by the support of Louis XIV., who, engaged in promoting his queen's claims to the Spanish succession, was prepared to buy the alliance or the neutrality of England.
The Triple Alliance, formed in 1668 between England, Hol land and Sweden, appeared for a time to threaten Louis's projects. It was extremely popular in England, but Charles ex cused his share in it to Louis, whom it estranged from the Dutch. In 1669 Charles declared to the French ambassador his desire to be reconciled to Rome, and through the duchess of Orleans nego tiated with Louis the secret Treaty of Dover, signed on May 22, 1670. Charles was to declare himself a Catholic ; in view of possi ble disturbances Louis was to pay him £i so,000 and to provide 6,000 men; thereafter France and England were to join in a war against the Dutch. (See DOVER, SECRET TREATY OF.) Only Clif ford and Arlington among the ministers signed this treaty ; in Dec. 167o the whole Cabal signed a feigned treaty, which omitted the conversion clauses. Charles was easily led to postpone them ; what importance he attached to them cannot be determined. In 1671 Louis sent to England, to become Charles's mistress, Louise de Querouaille, later duchess of Portsmouth.
The war against the Dutch began in 1672; at the same time Charles issued the Declaration of Indulgence, suspending the penal laws, and postponed all payments of assignations on the revenue ; this was the "Stop of the Exchequer," affecting the London bankers. The war, although it established British com mercial and naval supremacy, was unpopular. In 1673 parliament forced Charles to cancel the Declaration of Indulgence and to pass the Test Act, which drove Catholics, including Clifford and James, from office. In 1674 Charles was obliged to make peace with the Dutch.
Danby (Sir Thomas Osborne, later duke of Leeds) succeeded the Cabal. His policy, based on the alliance of Church and Crown, was calculated to detach from the opposition the loyalists driven to it by hatred of the Cabal; by patronage and corruption he increased their number and formed a strong "Court Party" in parliament. Ashley, now earl of Shaftesbury, led the opposition "Country Party" to which the bye-elections furnished recruits. It was generally predominant, but French subsidies enabled Charles to resist it. Danby was obliged to concur in this, but tried to direct foreign policy along more popular lines, and in Nov. 1677 brought about the marriage of James's daughter, Mary, with William of Orange (afterwards William III. and Mary II.) . Charles turned against Louis who, not without bribery, persuaded the Country Party to refuse supplies for the army; he then made the Peace of Nijmwegen with the Dutch.
Hatred of the Cabal and distrust of Charles had prepared the way for Titus Oates. who, in Aug. 1678 denounced an intended rising of the Catholics. This, the "Popish Plot," was almost entirely fictitious, as Charles readily discovered, but received apparent confirmation from Coleman's letters and Godfrey's death. Shaftesbury promoted the ensuing general panic. Charles let the agitation take its course, intervening only when Oates accused the queen; between 1678 and 168o some 35 victims were executed, although Charles knew most of them to be innocent of the charges brought against them. He now realized the impor tance of the unhesitating support of the Church. He dissolved parliament in Jan. 1679 to save Danby from impeachment; for Louis XIV. had revenged himself on Danby by divulging one of the letters written by Charles's order relating to the subsidy. The Press Act lapsed immediately, resulting in a flood of pamphlets and newspapers. James was sent abroad ; an experimental reform of the Council failed ; the new parliament had to be dissolved within a few months. The exclusion of James from the succession to the throne was now proposed; his place was to be taken by Monmouth, Charles's eldest illegitimate son. A new parliament met in Oct. 168o; the Exclusion bill passed the Commons but was defeated in the Lords by the genius of Halifax. The Com mons refused to consider the alternative plan, which Charles was prepared to accept, of limiting the powers of a Catholic successor.
JIn March 1681 a new parliament met at Oxford, where the Lon don mob could not dominate it, but as the Exclusion bill was in troduced immediately, it was dissolved after sitting for one week only. Henceforward Charles governed without parliaments.
It was at this time that the terms "Whig" and "Tory" emerged as party names. Charles attacked the leading Whigs but the Lon don grand jury threw out the charge against Shaftesbury. A writ of quo warranto brought against the City of London compelled it to surrender its charter, whereupon a general attack was made on the municipal charters throughout the kingdom. The new charters gave the Tories control over the appointment of munici pal officers and the return of the borough members. James re turned from exile. Some of the defeated Whigs formed the Rye House Plot in 1683; its discovery led to the execution of Lord William Russell and Algernon Sidney. The Tory reaction had now reached its climax, but shortage of income compelled Charles, in spite of subsidies from Louis XIV., to abandon Tangier (1683) and to allow the navy to decay; meanwhile he could only watch the increase of French power, including the seizure of Strasbourg. He may have been considering a change of policy when he was taken seriously ill on Feb. 2, 1685. He made a profession of the Catholic faith, received the sacrament and died on Feb. 6.
In appearance Charles was tall and dark ; besides numerous portraits there is a wax effigy, taken from the corpse, in Westmin ster Abbey. He was active, walked rapidly and was an excellent horseman ; he loved all outdoor sports, but was happiest at sea. He was a keen patron of the turf and rode himself. He had an excel lent constitution, was careful about his diet and rarely drank to ex cess. His manners were excellent ; he was affable and easy, but too good-natured to be able to refuse requests. His wit was more suit able for a private gentleman than for a king, but was free from malice. His fits of anger were rare and brief. His memory was excellent. His gaiety, good nature and freedom from pretence made him generally popular. His notorious lasciviousness con tained no "seraphic" element ; he accepted the mistresses chosen for him. The sums he spent on them did not embarrass his finances, but made it difficult for him to ask parliament for money for other purposes. He had no legitimate children ; the most important of his many illegitimate children were : By Lucy Walter, James Scott, duke of Monmouth and Buccleuch (1649-1685) ; by Lady Castlemaine (later duchess of Cleveland), Charles, Henry and George Fitzroy, dukes of Southampton, Grafton and Northum berland, and the countesses of Sussex and Lichfield; by the duch ess of Portsmouth, Charles Lennox, duke of Richmond ; by Nell Gwyn, Charles Beauclerk, duke of St. Albans; by Catherine Peg, Charles FitzCharles, earl of Plymouth; by Lady Shannon, the countess of Yarmouth; by Mary Davis, the countess of Derwent water. Nell Gwyn, an actress, was the most popular of the mistresses and Charles appreciated her wit.
Charles once said that "he was no atheist, but he could not think God would make a man miserable only for taking a little pleasure out of the way." He inclined towards Roman Catholi cism, partly on political grounds, but Halifax, perhaps reflecting Charles's own view, thought that creed most compatible with his lax morality. The date of his change of belief is uncertain, but in 166o he was apparently determined to marry a Catholic. He was not reconciled to Rome until his death-bed, and attended Anglican services regularly during his life. He was a good judge of sermons and did not object to remonstrances so long as he was not expected to reform and they were in good taste. His desire for toleration was based on indifference and good na ture and the memory of his promises, not on principle. Charles was interested in science, had his own laboratory, and gave the Royal Society its charter. He encouraged applied science, espe cially when it concerned navigation; his knowledge of naval architecture was praised by Pepys, but was considered by most contemporaries to be greater than his rank permitted. He pat ronized the theatre and enjoyed the lighter forms of literature.
The reign was politically sterile because Charles's achievements were undone and his foreign policy reversed by the Revolution of 1688; but the transfer of power from the Crown to the House of Commons went on steadily during the existence of the Long Parliament of the Restoration. It was a time of administrative progress, notably in the navy and in the Treasury system, and between 166o and 1688 the administration of the old colonial empire reached its highest point of efficiency. Charles himself contributed by his interest in naval, commercial and colonial ex pansion, but sacrificed these objects too easily to his personal and dynastic policy. Attempts to vindicate the latter have failed; much of his conduct admits no justification. He was too lazy and fond of pleasure to apply himself steadily to business, but ener getic on occasion and always intelligent. Halifax notes his powers of dissimulation. He was unwilling to face prolonged opposition, being determined "not to go on his travels again." He was selfish and callous but not vindictive. During the reign there was great material and intellectual progress and some improvement in manners. Writers who denounce the morals of the age rely too much on Pepys and Grammont. The tendency has been to judge the country at large by Charles's characteristics, and to dwell on his vices without considering his gifts. Closer study is modifying many of the older verdicts.