The first intercourse between James and his English parliament discovered at once the character of the new monarchi and the spirit of the people over whom he had come to reign. Vain, weak, accessible to flattery, arbi trary in principles, though not ferocious in disposition, James had unhappily found in his English ministers, Wc11,•Suffolk, and Northampton, as devoted parasites as in ANThitgift and the bishops. He addressed the parlia Ment'in term s which shewed that he believed himself an ithseilti7.)dog, whose proclamations were to be identified with laws. But it was only his courtiers and bishops who either believed, or affected to believe, him an abso lute moVrch, and the Solomon of the age. The House •of CliqiNions already contained a large proportion of free anti titelligent spirits. The principles of independence, which had been upheld in that house, in some instances, against the power of the great Elizabeth, were not likely to be veiled before the mock dignity of James. His first parliament:therefore, reminded him of their privileges ; they resisted khe encroachment of his chancellor issuing new without an order of parliament after the knight of a county had been duly elected ; and they made some laudable attempts, which their succes sors brought to a conclusion, to emancipate the trade and manufactures of tlie kingdom from monopolies, as well as the landed interest from some relics of feudal oppression.t James's accession to the English throne was quie tly followed by the conclusiomof peace with Spain. A pa cific disposition is one of the good parts of James's cha racter, which has been too little allowed. But while the nation was enjoying the first return of peace, a more dreadful blow was meditated against the government in all its branches, and against the religion of the country, than any that is recorded in our history. This was the Gunpowder Plot ; tor the detailed particulars of which, we must refer the readers to some subsequent pages of our The fears of gunpowder, which were natu rally present to James's mind by the recollection of his father's death, happily him the meaning of threats contained in a letter -W one of the conspirators, which had eluded the sagacity of his wisest counsellors. The common danger which-the king and parliament bad. escaped, seems for a while to have cemented them in, good humour ; and we find a supply, estimated at 400,000i., a most impbutant sum in those days, voted by the commons to relieve the king, when his want of eco nomy and expensive est ishment had reduced him to difficulties, in giving a sp did reception to his brother in-law, the King of Deninarik .
In a most important discussion, which occupied the attention of James's first parliament, it i§"somewhat sur prising to find the king eager in forwirding a measure which reflects credit on his sagacity, and opposed on the part of his parliament by the most groundless fears, or still more contemptible national prejudices—this was the union of the two kingdoms. Sir Francis Bacon, the king's solicitor, moved it,antl orted it with the usual powers of his great mind.' II intaiued, that for this desirable measure, no unifoniii was ?fit essarr in the laws or religion of the two people ; but that the English monaly would become truly formidable, with Ireland subdue , Scotland united, and the navy supported. The comiNns were inflexible. But from the judges a decla ration was obtained, which, though inferior in force to a law, was of some importance. The ttost nati, that is, all
Britons born since the death of Elizabeth, were declared 1104,te naturalized in either kingdom.
,Jamik's pecuniary difficulties, incurred partly by his tir pen ce s in maintaining his government. in Ireland, but still more by his unnecessary profusion, brought him to solicit his first parliament for another supply. They, in turn, demanded redress of national grievances, and among these the suppression of the High Commission, an ecclesiastical court, which had begun to act with se verity against the puritans. The dispute terminated in the dissolution of the parliament, after James had told them "not to meddle with the main points of govern ment, that was his craft ; nor to pretend to instruct a king, who had been thirty years at the trade in Scotland, besides an apprenticeship of seven years in England." In 1613, James found it necessary for the sake of reliev ing his wants, to convoke another parliament. His af fections had already been fixed upon a worthless favour ite, Robert Carrc, whom he had raised through several gradations of dignity to be Earl of Somerset. The sums which he spent on this minion, and the countenance which he sheaved to him after the horrible tragedy of Sir Thomas Overbury's murder,f degraded the monarch in the eyes of his people, and aggravated the distresses of his Exchequer. His second parliament was still more refractory than the first. At their first meeting, the king proposed a supply to and then to pro ..
ceed to redress of grievances ; but the commons revers ed the business, and began with redress of grievances. The king in wrath dismissed them, and imprisoned some of the members, who had chiefly distinguished themselves in resisting the supply—a proceeding which, as Lord Coke remarks, was the greatest violence ever done by an English monarch to the constitution.
James revisited his native kingdom in 1616, received the homage of her a dead language, and made speech full of puns to the members of her universities. BeTore.fileacce6sipn to Cie throne of England, he had indirectly, Ily, attempted the restoration of the the.thiuich of Scotland. But although the Scottish been permitted to retain their temporal dignitiVand a proportion of their revenue, spoils of the ancient church were engrossed by the no bles, and those titular bishops.could not resist the autho rity of the national presbytery. To this church James was a determined, though for some time an hypocritical: enemy. He began his attack upon it by the General Assembly, and banished those clergyritTli who had the spirit to remonstrate. By the royal ence, a decree of the Scottish parliament was obtained, which restored thirteen bishopricks ; and, by an illegal meeting held among the subservient part of the Scottish clergy, the bishops were appointed perpetual modera tors within their own presbyteries. To complete the degradation of the people, a High Commission was put in the hands of the prelates, by which they enjoyed in quisitorial powers of citing and punishing at discretion, laymen as well as clergy, for religious opinions. The vengeance of the Scots due to James for thus trampling on their religious rights, fell not upon him but his successor. It seems as if the public hatred, excited by these proceedings, had been smothered during the king's visit by the more loyal feeling of joy at the sight of their ancient monarch.