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1619 BUCKINGHAM SUCCEEDS NOTTINGHAM.

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the momentary purpose of displacing Nottingham was accomplished; for when the five years came to an end, it was found that all the promises of the commissioners had been fulfilled.

Negotiation with

After these exposures it was impossible for anyone who bore the name of Howard to remain longer at the Admiralty. Already at the beginning of the year it had been proposed to Buckingham that he should take the Nottingham. place of the old man whose administration had been so disastrous. At that time he hung back and pleaded his youth and inexperience.1 But after the report of the Commissioners it was evident that a change was necessary, and he gave way before the flattering solicitations of those wh told him that his influence with the King would be the best guarantee for the good administration of the navy. At first it was arranged that he was merely to have the reversion cf the post. But it was soon found that this would hardly meet the necessities of the case. The reforms which the Commissioners had suggested called for immediate action, and the old Admiral naturally resented a proposal that the commission by which his official conduct had been condemned should be reappointed as a permanent body, with the scarcely concealed object of taking the administration of the dockyards out of his hands.2 A middle course was accordingly hit upon. Buckingham was to be co-admiral with Nottingham, leaving to the old sailor the dignity of the office, whilst performing himself its functions in person or by deputy. This arrangement, however, was never carried into effect. Nottingham had at last the good sense to resign a post for which he was altogether unqualified. A pension of 1,000l. a year was assigned him by the King, and Buckingham, who added a sum

Dom. c. 2; ci. 2, 3. The number of vessels is taken from the last-quoted document, which seems to give the final determination of the Commis

sioners.

Harwood to Carleton, Jan. 8, 1618, S. P. Dom. xcv. 8. The King's Speech in opening the Parliament of 1621.

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of 3,000l. as an additional compensation to his predecessor, became Lord High Admiral of England.1

The immediate result of Buckingham's instalment in office was the reappointment of the Navy Commission as a permanent board. 2 Buckingham was as unlikely as

Buckingham Lord High Admiral.

Nottingham had been to trouble himself with details about dockyard expenditure. But whilst Nottingham would neither do the work himself, nor allow anyone else to do it for him, Buckingham had not the slightest objection to letting other people toil as hard as they pleased, provided that he might himself enjoy the credit of their labours.

Buckingham was every day acquiring a firmer hold upon the mind of James. A year had not passed since the intro.

1619. Growing influence of Buckingham.

duction of Monson to Court before he saw all his rivals at his feet. With the single exception of Yelverton, not a Howard, or a dependent of the Howards, remained in office. Buckingham was no longer the mere favourite of the King. He was the allpowerful minister, reigning unchecked in solitary grandeur.

Administra

Yet, however much the change is to be attributed to Court intrigue, it must not be forgotten that it was something more. It was a blow struck at the claim to serve the State tive reforms. on the ground of family connexion. It was an attempt to secure efficiency of administration by personal selection. And though the evil which would accompany a change made in such a way was likely to outweigh the good which it brought, there is no doubt that from this time the King was better and more economically served than he had ever been before. At Michaelmas, 1617, it was thought a great thing that there was likely to be a balance between the ordinary revenue and the ordinary expenditure. At Michaelmas, 1618, the new Commissioners of the Treasury looked forward to a surplus of 45,000l., with which to meet unforeseen

1 Commission to Buckingham, Jan, 28, 1619, Patent Rolls, 16 Jac. I., Part 17. Rushworth, i. 306, 379. Chamberlain to Carleton, Feb. 6, 1619, S. P. Dom. cv. 83.

2 Commission to Cranfield and others, Feb. 12, 1619, Patent Rolls, 19 Jac. I., Part 3.

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expenses. Meanwhile, the Household, the Treasury, the Wardrobe, and the Admiralty had been subjected to sweeping and beneficial reforms. Everywhere retrenchment had been carried out under the influence of and with the co-operation of Buck- . ingham. It is no wonder that the King learned to place implicit confidence in his youthful favourite, and to fancy that he had at last discovered that of which he had been in search during the whole of his life-the art of being well served, without taking any trouble about the matter himself.

When, therefore, those who were jealous of Buckingham's sudden rise remonstrated against the almost royal power which nad been placed in his hands, they only wasted their words. It had been expected that, upon his promotion to the Admiralty he would at least have resigned the Mastership of the Horse, and some of those who had calculated their chances of succeeding to the vacancy hinted pretty intelligibly to the King what their opinion was. James contented himself with composing some Latin couplets to the effect that, as in the classical mythology Neptune, who presided over the sea, was also celebrated for his horses, it was unreasonable to object to the continued supervision of the new Admiral over the royal stables.1

Compton

On one point alone James consented to make some concession to the opinion of his courtiers. Buckingham himself, Lady arrogant as he was, and ready to take offence at the raised to the slightest disrespect shown to himself, was still dispeerage. tinguished by the kindly and forgiving disposition which, at his first appearance at court, had won all hearts. But his greedy and unprincipled mother was altogether unbearable. It was perhaps at this time that the story sprung up that Gondomar had written home to say that he had more hope Buckinghamus, Io! maris est præfectus, et idem

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Qui dominatur equis, nunc dominatur aquis.
Atque inter Superos liquidas qui temperat undas
Neptunus, celeres et moderatur equos.
Ne jam displiceat cuiquam geminata potestas
Exemplum Superis cum placuisse vident."

Salvetti's News-Letter, Nov.

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than ever of the conversion of England, since he found that there were more prayers and oblations offered to the mother than to the son.1 In the preceding autumn she had been created Countess of Buckingham, on which occasion she had caused considerable amusement by her refusal to share her honours with the husband whom she despised. It is probable that her new dignity made her more offensive than ever, as James requested her to keep away from Court, and told her that her meddling with state affairs could only be injurious to the prospects of her son,2

Star Chamber proceedings against Suffolk.

A few days before Nottingham's removal from office,3 James at last made up his mind to take proceedings in the Star Chamber against the late Lord Treasurer. He had always been friendly to Suffolk, and he would gladly have spared him the pain of the exposure; but it was necessary, as he told those who pleaded in his behalf, to prove to the world that he had not taken the staff away without reason. 1. An information was accordingly filed against him, in which the Countess and Sir John Bingley were included. The trial dragged its slow length along, and it was not till October, 1619, that the case was ready for a hearing.

The case

According to the charge brought against him, the Treasurer had paid away money without demanding proper accounts from those who received it; he had been careless or against him; corrupt in allowing the King to be cheated in a bargain relating to the Yorkshire alum-works; he had kept for some time in his own hands a sum which ought to have been paid immediately into the Exchequer ; and he had taken bribes for doing that which should have been done as a mere matter of duty.5 The evidence before us is hardly sufficient to enable

Wilson in Kennet, ii. 728.

20, 30,

2 Salvetti's News-Letter, Nov. 1618. Chamberlain to Carleton, Feb. 6, 1619, S. P. Dom. cv. 83.

3 Chamberlain to Carleton, Jan. 16, 1619, S. P. Dom. cv. 41.

E. H. [i.e. Elizabeth Howard, Lady Howard of Walden] to the King, Cabala, 234.

5 The fullest account of the trial is in Cæsar's notes, Add. MSS. 12,497, fol. 69-74, 77-92. Compare the Answer of the Earl of Suffolk, and the State of the Proceedings, S. P. Dom. cxi. 17, 18.

1619

and against Lady Suffolk.

SUFFOLK IN THE STAR CHAMBER.

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us to say how far these charges were brought home to him. He may have been wilfully corrupt; more probably he was only lax in his interpretation of official rules ; but whatever may have been the extent of Suffolk's own guilt, there can be no doubt as to his wife's criminality. The counsel employed by her must have been hard put to it before they allowed themselves to startle the ears of the judges with the trash which they imported into the defence. They actually urged on her behalf, that she could not have been guilty of extortion, as she had only taken bribes in her capacity of wife of the Earl of Suffolk, and not in her capacity of wife of the Lord Treasurer. After this incomprehensible argument, the lawyer to whom she had entrusted her cause proceeded to quote from the civil law a text to the effect that judges might, without impropriety, receive xenia, or free gifts. Bacon, taking up the word in the sense of new year's gifts, which it had gradually acquired, said, with a smile, that new year's gifts could not be given all the year round. Unfortunate as the lawyers had been in their general argument, they were still more unlucky in their attempts to rebut particular charges. One of the strongest pieces of evidence against the defendants was a direct statement made by Lord Ridgway, that, during the time that he had been Vice-Treasurer of Ireland, he had never been able to obtain the money needed for the public service inless his demand was accompanied by a bribe to Suffolk. Suffolk denied having ever received anything from Ridgway, except a gold cup which had been sent him as a new year's gift; and the probability is that the money had found its way into the pockets of the Countess, as her counsel could find nothing better to say on her behalf than that Lord Ridgway was a noble gentleman, who might say or swear what he pleased. Bacon, who looked with special horror upon any attempt to intercept the supplies needed in Ireland, and who was of opinion, as he expressed it, that 'he that did draw or milk treasure from Ireland, did not milk money, but blood,' 1 thought that the farce had gone on long enough, and stopped

Bacon to Buckingham, Oct. 27, 1619, Letters and Life, vii. 53. VOL. III.

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