Proceeding, therefore, to levy money independent of his parliament, Charles openly granted a commission to com0ound with the Catholics for dispensing with the penal laws. 'From the nobility and the city he required a.loan of 100,000/.: the former gave it slowly ; the lat ter milled it; The maritime towns were ordered to furnish, shipping`. For some time the supplies were exacted. Arial moderation ; but, on the news of Tilly having the King of Denmark, a general ioari:hiorrNho sithjects became necessary, for the more stren.twus eXcytitons in tire 'var.
It the followers of the court, and their preT.IchitS4410-ffi'dlpit, enjoined submission to this loan, ol passive obedience. A spirit of re sistanco'r'ciW.:aluoin the 'people; many refused their loans; aULF.tdirnic;lif:Grq, active in rousing their neighbours to insise C6111411°1) rights. By a warrant of the w6re.:tflrOwn into prison, although such as tee're commonly released. Five Darnel, Sir John Corbet, Sir palter Earl, Sir John Ilevingham, and Sir Edmond HIFIbclen,' had the spirit, at their own expense and ha zard, to defend the public liberties, and to demand re !easement, not as a favour from the king, but as their right by law. The question was brought to a solemn trial before the Court of King's Bench. By the debates oifi this momentous subject, it appeared incontrovertible tb the nation, that-their ancestors had been so jealous of personal liberty, as to secure it against arbitrary power by six several statutes, and by an article of the great char ter itself. The Kings of England, it is true, had often sipoded those laws ; but Charles was astonished to find, tnt a power so often exercised by his predecessors, was found, upon trial, to lie directly opposite to the clearest laws, and supported by few undoubted precedents in courts of judicature. Sir Randolph Crew, chief•justice, had been displaced, as unfit for the purposes of the 'court. Sir Nicholas Hyde, esteemed more obsequious, had obtained that high office. Yet the judges, by his direction, went no farther than to remand the gentlemen to prison, and refuse the bail which was offered. Heathe, the attorney-general, insisted, that the court should en ter a general judgment, that no bail could be given upon a commitment by the king or council. But the judges wisely declined complying. To exasperate the nation still farther, the soldiers of the army returned from Cadiz were billetted upon private houses, instead of being quartered at the inns or public houses; and the refusers of loans had the greatest share of those disor derly guests. Men of low condition, who shoved a re
fractory disposition, were pressed into the army or navy; and some of higher rank were sent aboard on pretence of public duty. Martial law was proclaimed, to appease that part of the discontent which arose from the licen tiousness of the soldiery : a remedy still more offensive than the evil.
If there was a chance of safety for.Charles, it lay in abandoning the Spanish war ; but, instead of this, while embroiled with his own subjects, and with the half of Europe for his enemies, lie wantonly added France to the number : a temerity really bordering on madness. This, too, was a war of Buckingham's creating ; and the motives to it would appear incredible, if the 1, iolence and profligacy of his character were not known. At the time when Charles married, by proxy, the Princess Hen rictta,. Buckingham had appeared at Paris, to grace the scene of splendid festivity : a scene the best fitted for his superficial accomplishments ; and had attracted ad miration from the Queen of France herself. In the spirit of ambitious gallant! y, he was preparing to return upon a new embassy, after he had brought Iienri:Jta to Eng land ; when Richelieu, the minister, himself a disap pointed lover of the queen, occasioned a message from France, to decline the honour of his visit. Ina romantic passion, Buckingham swore that he would see the queen in spite of all the power of France, and determined to embroil the two kingdoms in war. After several una vailing provocations to make the French declare war,. lie persuaded the king openly to espouse the cause of the Hugonots, whose leader, the Duke de Soubise, was then in London. The foolish favourite himself set sail with 100 ships and 7000 men to assist the Hugonots of Ro chelle, who, uninformed of his designs, shut their gates against him. Instead of attacking the fertile and de fenceless isle of Oleron, he bent his course to Rhe, which was well fortified. After allowing the garrison of St Martin to be well victualled, by his negligence, he first attempted to starve it ; and, despairing of that °apt, sacrificed his men in storming the place without h g made a breach. The small fort of La Pree, which he had overlooked in his advance, poured out a force on his retreat, which converted it into a route ; and, having em barked with a third part of the force which he had taken out, he returned to England covered with dis grace.