CHAPTER XLVIII.

CHARLES I.-1625 to 1643.

How Charles the First was governed by ill advisers; how he made the people pay taxes without the consent of parliament; how the Earl of Strafford behaved very cruelly, and was beheaded; and how the King's evil government caused a civil

war.

WHEN Charles I. came to be king, all the people were in hopes that he would be a better king than his father, as they believed he was a better man.

He was young and pleasant-looking; he was fond of learning, and seemed inclined to show kindness to all clever men, whether they were poets or good writers in any way, or musicians, or painters, or architects.

Besides, the people hoped that he would manage his money better than James, and not waste it in clothes, and jewels, and drinking, and hunting, and giving it to favourites.

But, unhappily, Charles still allowed the Duke of Buckingham to advise him in everything; indeed, he was a greater favourite than before James's death, for he had managed to get the French princess Henrietta Maria for a wife for Charles, who was so fond of her, that he thought he never could thank Buckingham enough for bringing her to England.

But the parliament, particularly the Commons, did not like the marriage so much. The new queen was a Roman Catholic, and she brought a number of Roman Catholic ladies and priests to be her servants, and she soon showed that she was greedy and extravagant.

Charles, who, as I told you, had been very badly taught by his father, desired the parliament to give him money in a very haughty manner. ment said the people should pay some taxes, but that The parliathey could not afford a great deal at that time, for James had been so extravagant that they had not much left to give; Charles, by the advice of Buckingham, sent away the parliament, and tried to get money without its leave, and sent officers about the country to beg for money in the king's name. Most people were afraid to refuse, and so Charles and Buckingham got a good deal, to do as they pleased with.

Buckingham persuaded King Charles to make war against France, because one of the great men in France had affronted him. King James had begun a war with Spain.

The people were now more and more angry, for though they might like to fight for the glory of England, or for the good of the king, they could not bear to think of fighting for a proud, cruel, and selfish man like Buckingham.

I do not know what might have happened at that very time, perhaps a civil war, if a madman named Felton had not killed the Duke of Buckingham at Portsmouth, when he was on the way to France to renew the war.

The people were again in hopes that the king would do what was right, and consult the parliament before he attempted to make war, or take money from his subjects, or put any man in prison, now that his bad adviser, Buckingham, was dead. But they were much mistaken. The king wanted more money; but some gentlemen, one of whom was Mr. John Hampden, refused to give it in the king's name, and said it was unlawful for the king to take money without the

consent of parliament. Then the king ordered those gentlemen to be put in prison, without asking either the judges or the parliament if it was right.

This made the people very angry. They said the worst times of the old civil wars were come again, when the kings fancied they might rob their subjects, and put them in prison when they pleased. The gentlemen claimed their liberty, and though the judges were afraid of the king, some of them were obliged to say that Charles had broken the laws, and the promises made by the English kings in the Great Charter.

Charles was a very affectionate man, and he could not help loving and trusting others instead of making use of his own sense and trusting his people, as Queen Elizabeth had done. So he allowed the queen to advise him in most things, and Laud, Bishop of London, in others; particularly in matters of religion. So he began to oppress the Puritans in England. In poor Ireland, a harsh man, the Earl of Strafford, a great friend and favourite of King Charles's, governed in such a cruel manner that everybody complained.

He sent English clergymen to preach in those parts of Ireland where the poor people could only understand Irish, and punished the people for not listening: and when some of the bishops (particularly good Bishop Bedel) begged him to have mercy upon the Irish, he threatened to punish them most severely for speaking in their favour.

All this time the king and queen and their friends were going on taking money by unlawful means from the people, till the parliament became so angry that the gentlemen of the Commons insisted on Lord Strafford and Archbishop Laud being punished, saying,

that they were the bad advisers that misled the king. Indeed, they would not be satisfied without Charles's consenting that Strafford's head should be cut off.

Now, though Strafford well deserved some punishment, he had done nothing which by law deserved death; and therefore Charles ought to have refused his consent. The king had often quarrelled with the parliament, and acted contrary to its advice when he was in the wrong; but now that it would have been right to resist he gave way, and Strafford, who loved Charles, and whose very faults were owing to the king's own wishes and commands, was beheaded by his order.

This was a sad thing for Charles. His friends found that he could not defend them, and many went away from England. The king still wanted to take money, and govern in all ways, without the parliament; he even went so far as to send some of the Commons to prison. And the parliament became so angry at last that a dreadful civil war began.

The king was at the head of one army, and he sent to Germany for his nephew, Prince Rupert, a cruel and harsh man, to assist him. The queen went to France and Holland, to try to get foreign soldiers to fight in the king's army against the parliament. The king's people were called Cavaliers.

The parliament soon gathered a large army together to fight the king, and made Lord Essex general; and the navy also joined the parliament: and all the parliament people were called Round-heads.

Now we will end this chapter. And I beg you will think of what I said about James I., that he was a mischievous king. If he had not begun to behave ill to the people and parliament, and taught his son Charles that there was no occasion for kings to keep

the laws, these quarrels with the parliament need not have happened, and there would not have been a civil

war.

CHAPTER XLIX.

CHARLES I.-continued.

How, after many battles had been fought, King Charles went to Scotland; how the Scots sold him to the English parliament; how the army got the King into their power, and appointed judges to try him, who condemned him to death; how he had a sad interview with two of his children, and was soon afterwards beheaded.

A BOOK twice as big as our little History would not hold all the story of the civil wars. England, Scotland, and Ireland were all engaged in them; and many dreadful battles were fought, where Englishmen killed one another, and a great deal of blood was shed.

The first great battle was fought at Edgehill, where many of the king's officers were killed: then, at a less fight at Chalgrove, the parliament lost that great and good man Mr. Hampden. The battles of Newbury, of Marston Moor, and of Naseby, are all sadly famous for the number of brave and good Englishmen that were killed.

During this civil war, the parliament sent often to the king, in hopes of persuading him to make peace: and I believe that the parliament, and the king, and the real English lords and gentlemen on both sides, truly desired to have peace, and several times the king had promised the parliament to do what they lawfully might ask of him.