Difficult task before them was no longer to oppose their own resolution to the inertness of the King. They were called upon to decide between two opposite schemes of political and military action. Instead of looking forward to a war limited in extent and lucrative, as they fondly hoped, in its results, they were called upon to provide for a vast Continental alliance, cemented by a marriage which, taken at its best, would go far to encourage the hopes of that Church which they most detested, and relying for its support upon an expenditure of English blood and treasure so great that they could hardly con> template the prospect with equanimity. As Coke explained 7 to them, six subsidies and twelve fifteenths would bring in 780,000l., and the six subsidies which might be expected from the clergy would raise the grant to 900,000l., an amount which, however small it may sound in the reign of Victoria, was utterly unprecedented in the reign of James. Even the officials in the House did not venture to support the demand in full. Rudyerd, who had again opened the debate, had contented himself with asking that the subsidies should be in principle voted; part of them being held back to be levied at some future time. Later in the debate, however, Edmondes, Privy Councillor as he was, professed himself to be staggered by the greatness of the demand, and recommended three subsidies as sufficient. Weston too, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, acknowledged that the sound of six subsidies was 'very fearful'; whilst Vane and Conway only ventured to urge the consideration of Rudyerd's original proposal, according to which the full levy would be. contingent on the renewed approbation of the House. In the end three subsidies and three fifteenths, or about 300,000l., were voted. The money was to be paid to treasurers appointed by Parliament at such periods that the whole of it would be in the Exchequer within one year after James had declared the negotiations with Spain to be at an end.1 March 20. The comparison sometimes made between the incidence of a subsidy and that of our present income-tax, is altogether misleading. As far as land was concerned, a subsidy was a tax upon rental, which would often be little more than nominal, the chief profit being made by the fines levied as the leases fell in, which would not be touched by the subsidy. The 1624 A GRANT UPON CONDITIONS. 201 The address from both Houses with which this resolution was accompanied plainly declared the objects for which it was Objects of intended. They were stated to be 'the support of the the grant. war which is likely to ensue, and more particularly for those four points proposed by your Majesty; namely, the defence of this realm, the securing of Ireland, the assistance of your neighbours the States of the United Provinces and others of your Majesty's friends and allies, and the setting forth of your Royal Navy.'1 March 22. Before this address was presented it was privately shown to James. To one passage, in which it was said that the war was to be waged 'for the conservation of the true religion Its wording of Almighty God,' he took objection, as making it altered. difficult for him to find allies beyond the limits of Protestantism. The objection was admitted as valid, and the phrase was cancelled. March 23. James declares the treaties dis solved. The address thus amended, unlike the last one, was graciously received. The King said that he was willing to take the advice of Parliament in the annulling and breaking of those two treaties, both of the match and of the Palatinate.' In all his negotiations he had only aimed at the recovery of the Palatinate. "I am old,” he added, “but my only son is young, and I will promise, for myself and him both, that no means shall be unused for the recovery of it; and this I dare say, as old as I am, if it might do good to the business, I would go in my own person, and think my travail and labour well bestowed though I should end my days there." Not a penny of the money, now offered by the Houses, he declared, should be spent but upon this work, and that too by their own treasurers. In the address, the subsidies had been spoken of as 'first fruits,' and there had been a further assurance of more to come when he was actually engaged in war. He took the Houses at their word. "In the next session," he said, "you will consider how this hath been husbanded, and gradual decrease of subsidies in value was generally attributed at the time to the collusion of the collectors. Is it possible that there was also a practice of increasing the fines at the expense of rental? Lords' Journals, iii. 275. according to that, think what is next to be done; and it will spur you the more to enable me for the rest whereof I spake to you before." For advice about the conduct of the future war, however, he must be dependent not upon Parliament, but upon military men who would form a Council of War. His plans 'must not be ordered by a multitude,' for so his 'designs might be discovered beforehand' Without the consent of their treasurers he would not touch a penny of the money now offered. "But whether," he said, “I shall send twenty thousand or ten thousand, whether by sea or land, east or west, by diversion oṛ otherwise, by invasion upon the Bavarian or the Emperor, you must leave that to the King." What did it mean? What, then, was the meaning of the engagement thus taken ? On the one hand Parliament, with the exception of the vague clause about assisting 'other your Majesty's friends and allies,' distinctly intimated that the money was to be employed solely on the four points originally proposed. Even if that clause were to receive the widest possible interpretation, it could never be seriously contended that out of 300,000l. there would be enough left, when the expenditure authorised in the address had been met, to provide for any extensive military outlay. James, in talking of sending twenty thousand men or ten thousand men, was clearly not referring to anything connected with the present vote, but to the use to be made of the further subsidies which he expected in the autumn. He had already promised to call Parliament together for purposes of domestic legislation. He now promised to give an account at the same time of the expenditure already agreed on, and to ask the sanction of the Houses to the further prosecution of the war. He would thus have time to ascertain the feeling of the various European courts in which he hoped to find allies. But he honestly told Parliament that when he proceeded to make war in earnest, he should be guided by military, not by political, far less by religious considerations. What he wanted, in short, was to get back the Palatinate, not to punish Spain for her past conduct, or to join in a Protestant crusade. Evidently, therefore, neither party was in any way bound to anything beyond the expenditure of the 300,000l. already 1624 party bound for the future. PUBLIC ENTHUSIASM. 203 offered. When the next session began it would be open to the King to say, if he thought fit, that he had found the enterprise more arduous than he had expected; and it would Neither be equally open to the Commons to say that they declined to support any particular policy which the Crown had resolved to adopt. The blind confidence which Charles afterwards demanded was neither offered nor assumed on either side, even in the event of the autumn session taking place. Still less could it be fairly expected, if the meeting of the Houses were delayed, that the Commons would sanction without inquiry any further expenditure on which the Crown might have entered upon its own responsibility. Public rejoicings. For the present, however, there was little thought of future complications. On the afternoon after the King's declaration, the streets were filled with happy faces. As soon as darkness fell, bonfires were blazing on every side. At last the long weary burden of years had been thrown off. Whatever else might happen, it would not be a Spanish princess who would be nearest and dearest to the future King of England, and mother to the future Frince of Wales. Neither Gondomar nor his master would again find an excuse for meddling with the administration of English law, or for thrusting aside statutes which, whatever we may now think of them, were at that time regarded as the bulwarks of religion and liberty. Whilst the bonfires were blazing in the streets, some of the servants of the Spanish embassy in the Strand were foolish The Spaniards insulted. March 24. enough to crowd to the windows to see what was going on. As might have been expected, they were received with jeers by the crowd below, and stones and firebrands were flung towards them. The next day, on Buckingham's motion, the Lords resolved that an attempt should be made to discover the offenders. In March 25. the Commons other feelings prevailed. Two members of the House reported that they had been in the Strand on the evening in question and had not witnessed anything improper. On this negative evidence the Commons thought themselves justified in treating the whole story as a pure invention.' Lords' Journals, iii. 280. Commons' Journals, i. 750. The Prince rejects a the Countess If Buckingham had still some regard for decorum, Charles shared the popular feeling to the full. Whilst James's decision March 18. was still hanging in the balance, three cartloads of fruits and sweetmeats were driven up to the gate of present from St James's Palace, at that time the residence of the Olivares. Prince of Wales. They were a present from the Countess of Olivares, prepared in happier days. Charles would not even vouchsafe to look at them. Turning to Cottington, he bade him divide the good things as he pleased amongst his attendants.1 March 17. robbed of his A king's son, it thus appeared, could be lamentably deficient in the elements of good breeding. The day before this exhibition of discourtesy there had been a deed done Lafuente in France by which still greater obloquy was brought despatches. upon the English name. The Spanish Government, in the hope of obtaining better terms from James, had despatched Gondomar's confessor, Lafuente, to England, trusting that his discreet character and his accurate knowledge of the Court might procure him a hearing where the impatient Inojosa and the blunt, soldierlike Coloma had failed. As Lafuente was travelling near Amiens, his coach was surrounded by a number of men armed with pistols and disguised with false beards. His baggage was searched with the utmost minuteness, and even the leaves of his breviary were eagerly turned over. His assailants were evidently no common robbers, for, though they carried off every scrap of paper in his possession, they left his money and all his valuable property untouched. The affair was never subjected to any serious investigation, but Lafuente believed that the culprits were Frenchmen employed by the Marquis of Hamilton, whose intimacy with Buckingham made it unlikely that the outrage had been committed without the knowledge of the Lord Admiral.2 If so, and if Lafuente's instructions were in Buck 'Chamberlain to Carleton, March 20, S. P. Dom. clxi. 4. Salvetti's News-Letter, March 26 2 Lafuente to Philip IV., March sisco de Jesus, 97. Madrid Palace Library. Fran |