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 Domestic Affairs, 1660-88, in England and Scotland

Domestic Affairs, 1660-88, in England and Scotland

England

We must now trace the internal history of the twenty-eight years that elapse between the Restoration of 1660 and the Revolution of 1688. Something may be said first of the two kings, of Charles II, who reigned till 1685, and of his brother, James II, who reigned till 1688.

With the Restoration we are conscious of a lowering in the ideals of the nation. Both the rival parties in the previous troubles had produced fine personalities, men actuated by lofty motives, and exhibiting nobility of character. With the Restora­tion we begin, it has been said, the life of modern England, and the Age of Heroics gives way to the Age of Common Sense. Charles was a king in keeping with such an epoch. Since the age of fifteen he had been, but for the brief campaign in 1651, an exile from his country, and now he entered London, as king, in 1660 on his thirtieth birthday. He had the Englishman's love of exercise—he was devoted to tennis (He used to play in the summer at 5 o'clock in the morning) and hunting, and would often walk from Whitehall to Hampton Court. But in matters of business he was indolent, and his frivolity was incurable. "Naturally I am more lazy than I ought to be", was his own frank confession; and he was engaged in chasing a poor moth, so it is said, whilst the Dutch guns were heard roaring in the Thames. He was thoroughly selfish and unprincipled, and prepared to sacrifice religion, friends, or ministers, if he found such a course the more convenient for his own interests. Moreover, his live in exile had been a very demoralizing one for him, and when he returned to England his Court was notorious for its license and corruption, and for the evil influence exercised by women such as Lady Castlemaine and the Duchess of Portsmouth. Finally, he was at heart a Catholic, but was too prudent in politics, or too luke­warm in faith, to venture to declare himself.

Scotland under the Commonwealth and later Stuarts, 1651-1688

We must now say a few words about the history of Scotland since Commonwealth times. At the Battle of Worcester, 1651, the Scottish army was destroyed as a fighting force; and Scotland was occupied by an English army and subjugated. Till the Restoration in 1660 she was governed by George Monck and English Commis­sioners. On the whole, their rule was very successful Taxation, no doubt, was heavy, but still justice was done in civil and criminal cases far more effectively and speedily than ever before. The tyranny of the Presbyterian Church was broken, and some efforts in the direction of toleration were made. The Highlands were pacified and good order maintained throughout Scotland ("A man may ride over all Scotland ", said a contemporary, " with a switch in his hand and a hundred pounds in his pocket, which he could not have done these five hundred years"). Above all, Scotland secured Free Trade with England, and her prosperity was, as a consequence, greatly developed.

Then came the Restoration. One result of it was that Scot­land lost her Free Trade with England, though she recovered her independence. Another was that the supreme authority of the king was restored. And along with the king's supremacy in political affairs, the supremacy of the bishops was re-established in religious matters. From 1638-51 the Presbyterians had been the persecuting body; now it was their turn to suffer. The Marquis of Argyll (He was known in the Lowlands, in consequence of a slight squint, as "the gleyd-eyed Marquis "), the leader of the Presbyterians, whose loyalty to the Stuarts had been somewhat doubtful, and who had made terms with Cromwell's Government, was beheaded, as were three others. All existing holders of livings had to be re-instituted by bishops; but nearly one-third of the ministers refused to recognize the bishops and were "outed" from their benefices. By a Law, known popularly as the "Bishop's Drag-net", those persons who refused to go to church were fined; and laws which in­creased in severity as time went on were passed against persons attending conventicles, i.e. religious meetings outside church. These laws resulted in a good deal of persecution (Even "the Boot" was used for the extraction of evidence against Covenanters, "the Boot" being a frame into which wedges were driven to crush the leg), especially in the south-west, which was full of Covenanters.

Chronology
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