the Rump Parliament in session; he gave it recognition but forced it to readmit the Presbyterian members who had been ex

GENERAL MONK

cluded by Pride's purge. Soon afterward the Long Parliament came to an end.

Before disbanding, the Long Parliament ordered the election of a new body, which is known as the Convention Parlia

ment, from The

the fact that Convention Parliament. it was not

summoned by the king. A few days after the meeting of this body, it received a message from Charles Stuart known as the Declaration of Breda; in this he promised to forgive the past, to over

look religious differences, to pay Cromwell's soldiers in full, and to leave all in peaceful enjoyment of their prop- The Declaraerty. These promises were, however, to be subject tion of Breda. to the pleasure of parliament and were carried out in part only. The Convention received the Declaration with enthusiasm and on the same day resolved that "according to the ancient and fundamental laws of this kingdom the government is and ought to be by King, Lords, and Commons." On the 25th of May Charles landed at Dover; four days later he was in London.1

349. Charles II.2 Charles entered London on his thirtieth birthday. For nearly ten years he had traveled abroad, dependent on his friends in France or on his relatives in Holland

1 Cheyney, No. 310; Innes, II, 113-115; Kendall, No. 90.

2 Robinson, No. 145; Tuell and Hatch, No. 53 (Green); Cheyney, No. 311.

for shelter and subsistence. He had, therefore, learned a lesson which his father had never learned: that a king, if he wishes to live in comfort, must regard, to some extent at least, the wishes of his subjects. Therefore there was no danger of an immediate repetition of the difficulties of his father's reign; for no matter what happened, the second Charles was determined not to resume his "travels." But England soon learned that good government was not to be

Charles II.

CHARLES II

Edward Hyde, earl of Clarendon.

expected from a man like Charles II: the dark, handsome man who landed in the spring of 1660 was able and intelligent; but he was also lazy, extravagant, and pleasure-loving. To a large section of the English people the new king was a bitter disappointment.

350. Clarendon. Charles' first confidential minister was Clarendon, his lord chancellor, who for seven years directed the policies of England. Edward Hyde, created earl of Clarendon not long after

the restoration, was a lawyer of considerable abilities, and a man of sterling character. He was devoted to Charles, whom he had followed into exile. But he possessed no real genius for statesmanship; no marked originality appears in his policies. His purpose was to restore not only the dynasty but the entire historic constitution

1 Review secs. 316, 319.

THE RESTORATION SETTLEMENT

377

including the church. As the innovations of Charles I and Laud were not parts of the traditional scheme of government, they were given no consideration. Unfortunately, Clarendon was unable to realize the

vast changes that had come over England during the generation that had just passed. In his devotion to the past he was also blind to the value of some of Cromwell's constitutional changes, such as the union of the islands into one state, the reform of the franchise, and the improvements in parliamentary representation: Clarendon wanted everything to be just as it had been before the civil war.

351. The Restoration Settlement. Meanwhile, the Convention proceeded to carry out the provisions of Charles' Declaration. It was a moderate body, largely composed of Presbyterians, and in many respects it legislated wisely. The army, with the exception of two regiments, was paid and disbanded. An Act of Indemnity was The Act of passed extending pardon to all the political offend- Indemnity. ers of the past; but to this a long list of exceptions was added comprising the judges who had tried and condemned Charles I and a few others. Some of these suffered death;1 Problem of some were imprisoned; and others sought refuge forfeited beyond the seas. The question of the forfeited lands was a difficult one; but the actual possessor was usually

1 Innes, II, 115-116; Robinson, No. 146.

lands.

left in possession, and a few only of the dispossessed royalists regained control of the estates that they had lost during the revolution. The Convention also abolished feudalism by doing away with the old feudal rights and dues. As in this way the king lost a considerable amount of revenue, the Convention granted him an additional income in the form of a tax on beer. It was believed that from the sources available the royal income would amount to about £1,200,000; but this amount the king was never able to collect. To obtain additional revenues Charles II would be compelled to call parliament.1

The Cavalier

3

352. The Restoration of the Church: the Clarendon Code. On the church question the Convention reached no conclusion. In December Charles dissolved the Convention and ordered new elections. The electors in their eagerness to show their loyalty chose new members of an extreme loyalistic type. Few Presbyterians kept their seats. The new so-called Cavalier Parliament was 'intensely Anglican. Parliament. During the previous twenty years there had been much confusion in the English church; its organization had fallen to pieces; its membership had largely passed over to the 66 sects." As these bodies all dissented from Anglican practices and beliefs, their followers came to be known as Dissenters; as they refused to conform to the Prayer Book in church worship, they were also called Non-conformists.

By a series of acts called the Clarendon Code, though Clarendon probably did not wholly approve of the measures, the Cavalier Parliament restored the Anglican church to power and deprived the dissenters of the freedom of worship that Charles had promised and also to a large extent of political rights. The restoration had in large measure been accomplished by the The Corpora- Presbyterians; but now these very men were tion Act. 1661. made ineligible to the municipal offices, for by the Corporation Act only such persons as partook of the communion in the Anglican church were allowed to share in municipal

1 Innes, Industrial Development, 191.

2 Gardiner, 583-586, 588, 590.

3 Masterman, 134-136.

THE RESTORATION IN THE COLONIES

1662.

379

But

The Conven

ticle Act.

1664.

government. It was also found that among the priests who officiated in the churches there were many who deviated in preaching and ceremonial from the Anglican The Act of standards. By an Act of Uniformity these were Uniformity. given the choice between conforming and resigning. About 2000 resigned their livings rather than conform. these non-conformists continued to preach in homes and elsewhere. Parliament, therefore, passed the Conventicle Act which limited the attendance at such services to five in addition to the members of the household where the meetings were held. The strength of the dissenters lay in the towns, and there this act was enforced with difficulty. A law called the Five Mile Act The Five Mile was accordingly passed which forbade a nonconformist preacher to settle nearer than five miles to any corporate town; he was also forbidden to make teaching or preaching his profession.1 It was hoped that the lack of teachers and spiritual advisers would in time drive all the dissenters back into the Anglican churches.

Act. 1665.

353. The Restoration in the Colonies. One result of the Clarendon Code was to furnish large additions to the colonial population. Persecution was endured for some years; 2 but it soon became wearisome, and an exodus of dis- Migration of satisfied Englishmen, in some respects comparable the dissenters. to the great Puritan migration, began, this time chiefly to new settlements. It will be remembered that during the commonwealth period England's possessions in the New World consisted of three groups: islands in the West Indies, the southern colonies of Maryland and Virginia, and New England. Of these New England alone had shown much sympathy with the Revolution. In the other colonies the restoration merely meant a speedy return to the old régime.

During the twenty years of the rebellion and the republic, New England had displayed a spirit of independence that the government could not overlook. A confederation had been 1 Kendall, No. 92.

2 Cheyney, No. 313.

3 Review sec. 344.