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Home The First Two Stuarts and their Foreign Policy The First Two Stuarts and their Foreign Policy; Part 2 |
The First Two Stuarts and their Foreign Policy; Part 2The portraits of Vandyck and the fate of the martyred king have combined to prejudice most people in favour of Charles I. And, indeed, he was not without many attractive characteristics. He was a thorough gentleman, devoted to his wife and children, artistic (before the Civil War he had acquired the best picture gallery in Europe (Unfortunately the Commonwealth sold most of the pictures after the king's execution; and they are now to be found in various foreign collections, and especially in Paris, Madrid, and Petrograd)), and fond of good literature, and more especially of Shakespeare. Moreover, he was a hard worker at the business of his kingdom. But as a ruler he showed his worst side. He was a silent, obstinate, self-absorbed, unimaginative man, who never knew what anyone else was thinking about. He was absolutely untrustworthy; he would make promises, but with all sorts of mental and private reservations, and consequently he often failed to keep them. No one who has not followed his intrigues in detail, either at home or with foreign powers, can understand how difficult he was to deal with. He would pursue at the same time three or four contradictory plans, and it is not surprising, therefore, that his policy should have been futile. It might be said of him, as was said of another ruler, " that his head was as full of schemes as a warren was full of rabbits, and, like rabbits, his schemes went to ground to avoid notice or antagonism".Such was the character of the two kings. We must now see in what manner they dealt with the problems which faced them. We may take, first, those that arose in foreign affairs, since the desire to get money to take part in foreign politics profoundly affected the relations between the Stuart kings and their parliaments. In some respects England's position in 1603 was far more secure than it had been before. When James VI of Scotland became James I of England these two countries, after hundreds of years of rivalry, were at last united under one king. Hitherto, for England's Continental foes, Scotland had been the most convenient of allies; when English energies were absorbed in foreign wars Scotland always had the opportunity of making an invasion, an opportunity of which she not infrequently took advantage. But henceforth, Scotland is, generally speaking, the ally and not the foe of England in her foreign undertakings. Moreover, there were no rivals to the throne whom foreign powers could support, and the succession seemed secure. Again, there was no danger to be apprehended from Spain Englishmen during the first half of the seventeenth century, and even later, continued to hate the Spaniards, but they no longer had reason to fear them. Consequently England was not vitally concerned in affairs on the Continent, as she had been under Elizabeth through fear of Spain's ambitions, and as she was to be later, owing to the ambitions of France. |
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