CHAP. V.]

NEW METHOD OF TAXATION.

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art to remove from themselves the odium of the demand, By their secret persuasion, sir Richard Paston, a country gentleman of independent fortune, brought forward Nov. the proposition in the house of commons; and, when to 25. carry on the deception, a known dependent of the ministers rose to suggest a smaller sum, he was eagerly interrupted by two members, supposed to have no connexion with the court. The artifice escaped notice, and the original motion was carried, after an animated de- 1665. bate, by a majority of seventy voices. The lords as- Feb. sented, and the king issued a declaration of war *.

The provisions of this money-bill deserves the reader's attention, because they put an end to the ancient system of taxation, and effected a considerable change in the acknowledged immunities of the clergy. 1o. He is aware that, from the commencement of the contest between Charles I. and his parliament, down to the restoration of his son, the manner of raising supplies by grants of subsidies, tenths, and fifteenths, had been abandoned, for the more certain and less cumbrous expedient of levying monthly assessments on the several counties. The ministers of Charles were not ignorant of the superior merit of the new plan; but, as it was originally a revolutionary measure and had excited the complaints of the people, they had deemed it prudent, in a former session, to revert to the old monarchical model. The experiment, however, failed; the four last subsidies had not raised more than one half of the sum at which they were calculated; the house consented that the new grant should be levied by twelve quarterly assessments on the counties † ; and from that period the ancient subsidies fell into desuetude. 2°. Hitherto the clergy had preserved the honourable privilege of taxing themselves, and had usually granted in convocation the same

* Com. Journ. Nov. 25-Feb. 3. Lords' Journ. xi. 654. Clarendon's statement cannot be reconciled with the journals. See Clar. 228-221. Pepys tells us that, in framing the estimates, the Admiralty studied to make the charges of the last year as high as possible, ii. 228.

† Car. ii. c. i.

22.

number of clerical subsidies as was voted of lay subsidies by the two houses of parliament. But this distinction could not conveniently be maintained, when money was to be raised by county rates; and it was therefore agreed that the right of the clergy should be waived in the present instance, but, at the same time, be preserved for them by a proviso in the act. The proviso, however, was illusory, and the right has never since been exercised. In return, the clergy claimed, what could not in justice be denied, the privilege of voting as freeholders at elections; a privilege which, though never expressly granted, has since been recognised by different statutes*. But a consequence followed from this arrangement, which probably was not foreseen. From the moment that the convocation ceased to vote money, it became of little service to the crown. It was no longer suffered to deliberate, to frame ecclesiastical canons, or to investigate the conduct, or regulate the concerns, of the church. It was, indeed, summoned, and the members met as usual, but merely as a matter of form; for a royal mandate immediately arrived, and an adjournment, prorogation, or dissolution followed. That, however, which seems the most extraordinary is, that this change in the constitution, by which one of the three estates ceased, in fact, to exist, and a new class of freeholders, unknown to the law, was created, owes its origin, not to any legislative enactment, but to a merely verbal agreement between the lord chancellor and archbishop Sheldon +.

From parliament, the lord high admiral hastened to the Gun-fleet to superintend the naval preparations: Charles, by his commands, and occasionally by his presence, seconded the industry of his brother; and, be

10th Anne, c. 23. 18th George II. c. 18.

See Echard, 818. Burnet, i. 340, note; iv. 508, note.

Charles paid much attention to naval affairs. He studied the art of ship-building, and persuaded himself that he could make improvements in it. In a letter to prince Rupert, he says, "I believe that if you trie the "two sloopes that were builte at Woolidge, which have my invention in "them, they will outsail any of the French sloopes." Lansdowne, MSS. MCCVI. p. 162.

A.D. 1665.]

VICTORY BY SEA.

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fore the end of April, the most formidable fleet that England had ever witnessed, was ready to contend for the empire of the sea. The duke, despising the narrow prejudices of party, had called around him the seamen who fought and conquered in the last war; and when the duke of Buckingham and other noblemen, whose only recommendation was their birth and quality, solicited commissions, he laconically replied, that they might serve as volunteers; but experience alone could qualify them to command. The future operations were arranged with his council, and, at his suggestion, an improvement was adopted, that something of that order should be introduced into naval, which was observed in military engagements. It was agreed that the fleet should be divided into three squadrons; the red under the command of the duke, the white under that of prince Rupert, and the blue under the earl of Sandwich; that it should be formed in line preparatory to battle; and that the several captains should be enjoined to keep the stations allotted to them by their respective commanders *. James unfurled his flag on board the Royal Charles; April ninety-eight sail of the line and four fire ships followed 21. him to seat; and for more than a month this formidable armament insulted the coast of Holland, and rode triumphant in the German ocean.

At length an easterly wind drove the English to their own shores, and the Dutch fleet immediately put to sea. It sailed in seven divisions, comprising one hundred and thirteen ships of war, under the command in chief of Opdam, an officer, who in the late war had deserved the confidence of his countrymen. It exhibited a gallant and animating spectacle: the bravest and the noblest

"This was the first war wherein fighting in a line, and a regular form "of battle, was observed." Life of James, i. 405. This system introduced by the duke was invariably followed till Clerk's "Essay on Naval Tactics" induced Lord Rodney to break through the enemy's line in his victory of the 12th of April, 1782.

Three were first rates, eleven second, fifteen third, thirty-two fourth, eleven fifth, and twenty-six merchant ships carrying from forty to fifty guns. Life of James, 405. Macpherson's Papers, i. 31.

youths of Holland repaired on board to share the dangers of the expedition; and, as the admiral had received a positive order to fight, every heart beat high with the hope or assurance of victory. Opdam himself was an exception. His experienced eye discovered, in the insufficiency of many among his captains, and the constitution of their crews, reason to doubt the result of a battle; and to his confidants he observed-" I know "what prudence would suggest; but I must obey my orders, and by this time to-morrow you shall see me "crowned with laurel or with cypress*."

66

June Early in the morning of the third of June the hostile 3. fleets descried each other near Lowestoffe. Seven hours

were spent in attempts on each side to gain and keep the advantage of the wind; at length the English, by a skilful manœuvre, tacked in the same direction with the enemy, and accompanied them in a parallel line, till the signal was made for each ship to bear down and engage its opponent. The sea was calm: not a cloud could be seen in the sky; and a gentle breeze blew from the south-west. The two nations fought with their characteristic obstinacy; and, during four hours, the issue hung in suspense. On one occasion the duke was in the most imminent peril. All the ships of the red squadron, with the exception of two, had dropped out of the line to refit; and the weight of the enemy's fire was directed against his flag-ship, the Royal Charles. The earl of Falmouth, the lord Muskerry, and Boyle, son to the earl of Burlington, who stood by his side were slain by the same shot; and James himself was covered with the blood of his slaughtered friends. Gradually, however, the disabled ships resumed their stations; the English obtained the superiority; and the fire of the enemy was observed to slacken. A short pause allowed the smoke to clear away; and the confusion, which the duke observed on board his opponent, the Eendracht, bearing Opdam's flag, induced him to order all his guns to be * Basnage, i. 741.

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THE PLAGUE IN LONDON.

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discharged into her in succession, and with deliberate aim. At the third shot from the lower tier, she blew up, and the admiral, with five hundred men, perished in the explosion. Alarmed at the loss of their commander, the Dutch fled. James led the chase; the four sternmost sail of the enemy ran foul of each other, and were consumed by a fire-ship, and three others shortly afterwards experienced the same fate. But Van Tromp kept the fugitives together, whilst the darkness of the night retarded the pursuit of the conquerors; and in the morning the Dutch fleet was moored in safety within the shallows*. In this action, the most glorious hitherto fought by the navy of England, the enemy lost four admirals, seven thousand men slain, or made prisoners, and eighteen sail either burnt or taken. The loss of the victors was small in proportion. One ship of fifty guns had been taken in the beginning of the action; and the killed and wounded amounted to six hundred men. But among the slain, besides the noblemen already mentioned, were the earls of Marlborough and Portland, and two distinguished naval commanders, the admirals Lawson and Sampson +.

At another time the report of such a victory would have been received with the most enthusiastic demonstrations of joy; but it came at a time when the spirits of men were depressed by one of the most calamitous visitations ever experienced by this or any other nation. In the depth of the last winter two or three isolated cases

The result of the victory would have been more complete, had not the Royal Charles during the night slackened sail and brought to, which detained the rest of the fleet. For some time the fact was concealed from the duke, who had retired to rest: but it gradually became known, and, from an inquiry instituted by the house of commons, it appeared that Brunkhard, one of the duke's servants, who had been greatly alarmed during the battle, endeavoured at night to persuade the master to shorten sail, lest he should lead the ship into the midst of the enemy; and, failing in this, after a pause, delivered to him an order, or something like an order, to the same effect. Burnet insinuates that the order came from the duke (i. 377); that it was forged by Brunkhard appears from the inquiry before the house (ibid. 378, note), from Clarendon, 269, and from the Life of James, i. 415.

There are numerous accounts of this battle: I have preferred that given in the life of James, i. 407-415.