151 CHAPTER VI. THE HOUSE OF TUDOR. A.D. 1485-1603. HENRY VII-HENRY VIII-EDWARD VI.-MARY.-ELIZABETH. SECTION I. HENRY VII., August 22, a.d. 1485,—April 22, a.d. 1509. 1. Objects for which Henry VII. was raised to the Crown. 2. Pecuniary Impositions. 1. Objects for which Henry VII. was raised to the Crown. 1485-1509. HENRY VII., a creature of the people, had been raised to the HENRY VII. throne in order to cut up the roots of faction; to restore public tranquillity; and to establish a legal government on the ruins of tyranny. He did the very reverse of this; his reign and that of his son, have been two of the severest under which our country hath groaned; and yet, in these very reigns, the foundations of liberty were laid much broader and stronger than ever1. The king, under the pretext of establishing liberty, obtained an ascendancy over the deliberations of the commons, and, as practical proofs of the sincerity of his "liberal professions," to his "liberal friends," procured the powers of the Star Chamber, and causelessly procured numerous bills of attainder, in order to gratify his hateful prejudices3. The increased powers of the estates of parliament is evinced, by their vesting the crown in Henry VII. without alleging any title in him to that crown, by inheritance, election, or otherwise'. Creation of the court of Star Chamber. Stat. 3 Henry VII. c.1. This had the effect of exalting the authority of the com- Powers of the mons; and Henry availed himself of such authority, by exercising all his tyrannical acts through their instrumen 1 Bolingbroke's Hist. Eng. 90. 2 6 Rot. Parl. 386, 400. Stat. 3 Henry VII. c. 1. sed vide Bacon, 581. 3 Lingard, 623. 3 Hume, 397. 1 Brodie 158, et seq.; 33 Hume, 318, 322, 363, 383. Bacon, 611. Polyd. Virg. 593. * 3 Lingard, 607-609. 3 Hume, 316. commons exalted. HENRY VII. tality; in fact, both united in one common object, namely, to destroy the influence of the peers. 1485-1509. Object of the king and com mons to impo lity. The facilities which had been given to the lords to alienate their lands, united with the enlargement of commerce and verish the nobi- navigation, had increased the property of the commons, and, consequently, their power in the state; but as the influence of the nobility decreased, the tyranny of the king and commons increased, and to a much more dangerous extent than it had ever done under the feudal laws. Revenues of the crown. Number of temporal peers. Almost absolute power of the king. The extensive landed property which accrued to the crown, by succession to the inheritance of the Houses of Lancaster and York united, and by the confiscations which had followed the national commotions, had produced, during a period of above fourscore years, from the deposition of Richard II. to the accession of Henry VII., a great income; which, with the ordinary permanent income of the crown, arising from various duties and grants by parliament, and from the profits of tenures and other royal rights, had been managed with great economy; and Henry VII. was thus rendered, in a great degree, independent of that parliament, which had created his title to the throne, and particularly of the House of Commons, whose influence had been principally derived from the pecuniary necessities of the king. In the House of Lords, the influence of the crown was always predominant, the number of temporal peers having during this reign, averaged about forty, and at the commencement not so many; the spiritual lords having been therefore always the majority of the house. Henry VII. proceeded as he had been suffered to set out, and established by degrees, and those not slow, a power almost absolute. By making an ill use of this power, the king was the real author of all the disorders in the state, and of all the attempts against his government; and yet, the better to prevent such disorders, and to resist such attempts, further powers were entrusted to him. Because he had governed ill, it was put in his power to govern worse; and liberty was undermined for fear it should be overthrown. It hath fared sometimes with monarchy as with the church of Rome; both have acquired greater wealth and power by the abuse of what they had, and mankind have been egregiously the bubbles of both". 2. Pecuniary Impositions. HENRY VII. 1485-1509. volences and con tributions. Although the parliaments of the first two Tudors cordially system of beneparticipated with the crown in every oppressive enactment, yet they invariably manifested reluctance to grant pecuniary assistance. Accordingly Henry VII. adopted the unfair system of "benevolences" or "contributions," which gifts, though apparently voluntary, were "extortions;" and this improper conduct indirectly received a parliamentary sanction, by a statute enforcing the personal payment of arrears of money, which individuals had been induced to promise2. Unceasing efforts were made by the king to amass treasure, and almost every alteration in the laws, however salutary or otherwise in their future consequences, had this, and this only, for their great and immediate object3. The laws altered, lation of trea for the accumu sure. laws. Every scheme was adopted, in prosecutions upon old and Prosecutions forgotten penal laws, in order to extort money from the sub- upon old penal ject, and which was preferred to the framing of any new beneficial regulations. strumental to oppression. The feudal rights were instrumental to oppression. The Feudal rights inlands of those who died without heirs reverted to the crown by escheat. Officers were appointed in every county to prosecute the king's rights; his title was to be found by the 1 "A benevolence was originally a contribution made by the king's immediate vassals; but, from a relaxation of the ancient feudal principles, in the reign of Edward IV., had extended over the whole kingdom. It was always, except in the singular cases, considered as a free gift, and could not be levied, by force, from such as persisted in refusing it. But, although the people were not bound, in law, to contribute, they had every inducement from expediency; since a refusal was likely to be attended with greater inconveniency, than the payment of the money which was demanded. From the discretionary power of executing the law, the crown had many opportunities of harassing those who showed themselves unwilling to relieve its necessities; and seldom failed to make them heartily repent of their obstinacy. The king had the power of quartering troops in any part of the kingdom: by which means he was enabled, however unjustly, to create expenses and vexation to such of the inhabitants as had not complied with his demands. The very solicitation of a benevolence upon the part of the crown, was therefore justly regarded in the light of hardship; and to repress which, the Stat. 1 Richard III. c. 2, was enacted; which provides that the king's subjects shall from henceforth, in no wise, be charged by such charge, exaction, or imposition called a benevolence, nor by such like charge; and that such exations called benevolences, before this time taken, be taken for no example to make such, or any like charge of any of the king's subjects hereafter, but shall be damned and annulled for ever."" Stat. 11 Henry VII. c. 10'; vide etiam 3 Hume, 376. 3 4 Black. Com. 428. 1485-1509. HENRY VII. inquest of a jury, summoned at the instance of the escheator, and returned into the Exchequer. It then became a matter of record, and could not be impeached. Hence the escheators taking hasty or false inquests, defeated the right heir of his succession. Course of justice furnished pre ing money. Excessive fines were imposed on granting livery to the tences for exact- king's wards on their majority. Informations for intrusions, criminal indictments, outlawries, or civil process; in short, the whole course of justice furnished pretences for exacting money; while a host of dependants on the court, suborned to play their part as witnesses, or even as jurors, rendered it hardly possible for the most innocent to escape these penalties. Even the king's clemency seems to have sprung from the sordid motive of selling pardons:--he made a profit of every office in his court, and received money for conferring bishopricks'. Extortions of the These extortions and corruptions contributed to the unpopucrown tolerated, larity of Henry, and answered the end of invigorating his power: they were tolerated by the commons, because the fines and forfeitures impoverished and intimidated the nobility. because they impoverished the nobility. Possession of the throne gives a sufficient title to giance. 3. Regulations of Police and Commerce. Regulations are found among the statutes of this reign, both with regard to the police of the kingdom, and its commerce; but the former are generally contrived with much better judgment than the latter; the more simple ideas of order and equity are sufficient to guide a legislator in everything, that regards the internal administration of justice; but the principles of commerce are much more complicated, and require long experience and deep reflection, to be well understood in any state'. Under the family contests of the Plantagenets the lives and properties of individuals were held by a precarious tenure, the subjects' alle- which created the necessity of Stat. 11 Henry VII., c. 13, by which a shield was acquired against the violence and vengeance of factions, and placed the civil duty of allegiance on a just foundation, by destroying the distinction between governments "de jure" and "de facto." Stat. 11 Henry 1 Ellis' Letters illustrative of English Hist. 38. 3 Turn. Hist. of England, 628. 1 Hallam's Const. Hist. 21. Hall's Chron. of England, 486. 13 Hume, 397. 2 73 Hume, 366, 367. 1 Hallam's Const. Hist. 12. |