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Home Domestic Affairs, 1660-88, in England and Scotland England; Part 3 |
England; Part 3So far matters had been settled by the Convention Parliament, but this Parliament found itself unable to come to an agreement over the fourth promise of Charles—the promise of liberty of conscience. Charles had tried to effect a compromise through a conference between leading ecclesiastics; but the attempt was a failure, and it was left to a new Parliament to deal with the question. That Parliament is known in history as the Cavalier Parliament, and it lasted from 1661 to 1679. It was remarkable during the first few years of its existence for its exuberant Royalism; indeed, it was more Royalist, so the saying went, than the king himself.On the religious question the Cavalier Parliament proved itself to be more Anglican than even the ordinary High Churchman, and between 1661 and 1665 four Acts were passed against the Puritans. By the first of these Acts, the Corporation Act, no one could be a member of the municipal bodies which governed the towns and controlled the election of Members of Parliament unless he took an oath denying the lawfulness, under any pretext whatever, of taking up arms against the king, and received the Communion according to the rites of the Church of England. This Act sought to deprive the Puritans of their hold upon the towns and the House of Commons. By the Act of Uniformity every clergyman and schoolmaster was obliged to take a similar oath of non-resistance and declare his "unfeigned consent and assent" to everything contained in the Book of Common Prayer, in which six hundred alterations had just been made, of a trivial character mostly, it is true, but in an anti-Puritan direction. No less than two thousand clergymen refused to conform to this Act, and were deprived of their livings. By the Five-Mile Act these two thousand dispossessed clergymen were not allowed to come within five miles of their former livings or of any corporate town unless they took the non-resistance oath imposed by the Corporation Act, and promised not "to endeavour at any time any alteration of government either in church or state". By the Conventicle Act religious meetings —other than those of the Church of England—were forbidden, under penalty of imprisonment for the first, and transportation for the third, offence. By these Acts, sometimes known as the Clarendon Code because Clarendon was the chief minister at the time, the final severance between the Church of England and the more advanced Puritans was completed. The rivalry between the Church of England and the Nonconformist bodies began—and it is not yet ended. The Amnesty, the Land, and the Religious Questions had all been settled, at least temporarily, but one problem still remained which no party in the State had hitherto satisfactorily solved—how were the powers of the Monarchy and the Parliament to be harmonized? It might appear, at first sight, that the Monarchy, at the Restoration, recovered all its old authority. The king, as before, chose his own ministers and conducted the home and foreign policy of the country. Though feudal dues were abolished, the king was granted by Parliament a revenue for life from customs and excise. In one respect, indeed, Charles was more powerful than his predecessors in that he had a small standing army of some five thousand men, which was increased as the reign progressed (The "New Model" soldiers composed a regiment of foot (the Coldstream) and a regiment of horse (the Blues—so called from their uniforms); besides these there was The regiment of Grenadiers, composed chiefly of Cavaliers, and two troops of Life Guards, whilst a troop of horse and a regiment of foot, known respectively in later years as the Royal Dragoons and the Queen's Regiment, were required for the defence of Tangier. The Royal Scots and the Buffs were also created in Charles II’s reign, the one being recruited from Scotsmen who had fought for the King of France, and the other from those who had served under the banner of Holland. The Scots Greys were also formed in Charles II’s reign). |
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