Clarendon and the Declaration of Indulgence

George R. Abernathy Jr

doi:10.1017/S0022046900063211

Clarendon and the Declaration of Indulgence

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 March 2011

George R. Abernathy Jr

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George R. Abernathy Jr: Affiliation:
Assistant Professor of History, University of Alabama

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The latest monograph on the religious settlement of the Restoration calls attention to the untrustworthiness of Clarendon's account of the Act of Uniformity of 1662 while adopting the customary view, based on Clarendon's Life, that the Lord Chancellor ‘took a leading part in the Parliamentary attack upon the Indulgence’ in February 1663. With only one known exception, historians have relied heavily, and in most cases completely, on either Clarendon or T. H. Lister in ascribing to Clarendon a rôle of complete opposition to the Declaration of Indulgence of 1662 and the motives behind it, and the single exception, W. D. Christie, made only cautious references to some inaccuracies in the Life. Writers have erred in adopting Clarendon's narration of the Declaration and its background, and consequently have misinterpreted his basic policy and his interpretation of the English constitution. Careful study of new material and a re-examination of Clarendon's Life reveal that Clarendon consistently supported comprehension and toleration and that he was not responsible for the failure of the Declaration of Indulgence. It is even possible that the section of the Life so frequently cited in connexion with the Declaration does not even apply to that subject.

Type: Articles
Information: The Journal of Ecclesiastical History , Volume 11 , Issue 1 , April 1960 , pp. 55 - 73

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022046900063211 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1960

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References

^{page 55 note 1} Bosher, Robert S., The Making of the Restoration Settlement: the Influence of the Laudians, 1649–1662, Westminster 1951, 269Google Scholar n. and 270.

^{page 55 note 2} Hyde, Edward, Earl of Clarendon, The Life of Edward Earl of Clarendon, Oxford 1857, ii. 93–100Google Scholar.

^{page 55 note 3} Lister, T. H., Life and Administration of Edward, First Earl of Clarendon, London 1837–1838, ii. 197, 211–12.Google Scholar

^{page 55 note 4} Typical are Ogg, David, England in the Reign of Charles II, Oxford 1934, i. 204Google Scholar; Lingard, John, The History of England, London 1883, ix. 88–9Google Scholar; von Ranke, Leopold, A History of England principally in the seventeenth century, Oxford 1875, iii. 403Google Scholar; and Feiling, Keith, A History of the Tory Party, 1640–1714, Oxford 1924, 116Google Scholar, 130.

^{page 55 note 5} Christie, W. D., A Life of Anthony Ashley Cooper, First Earl of Shaftesbury, 1621–1683, London 1871, i. 266–70.Google Scholar

^{page 55 note 6} Wonnald, B. H. G., Clarendon: Politics, History and Religion, 1640–1660, Cambridge 1951, 280–1.Google Scholar

^{page 56 note 1} Gardiner, S. R., ‘Draft of Sir Edward Hyde of a Declaration to be issued by Charles II in 1649’, English Historical Review, VIII (1893), 304–5.CrossRef Google Scholar

^{page 56 note 2} Sir Edward Hyde to Henry Slingsby, 17/27 June 1659, State Papers Collected by Edward, Earl of Clarendon, ed. R. Scrope and T. Monkhouse, Oxford 1767–86, iii. 507; Hyde to William Rumbold, 18/28 July 1659, Ibid., 535–6; Draft of a Proclamation, 19/29 July 1659, Calendar of the Clarendon State Papers Preserved in the Bodleian Library, ed. Ogle, O. and others, Oxford 1869–1932, iv. 288Google Scholar; S. L., A Letter to the Right Honorable the Lord Lambert …, 1659.

^{page 56 note 3} Nicholas Papers, British Museum, Egerton MSS. 2542, fols. 328–39; copy of the Declaration on which Sir Edward Nicholas made marginal notes to the effect that Clarendon was personally responsible for the preamble and the section on religion.

^{page 56 note 4} Hyde, Edward, Earl of Clarendon, The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England begun in the year 1641, Oxford 1888, vi. 194–210Google Scholar; Lister, Clarendon, i. 497–8; Earl of Lauderdale to Richard Baxter, 31 March 1660, Dr. Williams's Library, Baxter MSS., Letters i. 29(27); William Bates to Richard Baxter, 30 March 1660, ibid, iv. 29; Paper by London Council, Bodleian Library, Tanner MSS. 47, fols. 1–2; John Thurloe to Edward Montagu, c. 13 April 1660, Ibid., Carte MSS. 73, fol. 406.

^{page 56 note 5} Richard Baxter, Reliquiae Baxterianae, or Mr. Richard Baxter's Narrative of the most memorable passages of his life and times faithfully published from his own manuscript, ed. M. Sylvester, London 1696, pt. ii, 277.

^{page 56 note 6} Charles II, His Majesties Declaration to all His Loving Subjects of His Kingdom of England and Dominion of Wales Concerning Ecclesiastical Affairs, London 1660.

^{page 57 note 1} Bosher, Restoration Settlement, 213–14.

^{page 57 note 2} Dr. Henry Ferne to Sir Thomas Osborne, 29 July 1661, British Museum, Additional MSS. 28,053, fob. 1–2.

^{page 57 note 3} Commons Journals, viii. 247, 254, 261–70.

^{page 57 note 4} Ibid., 279–80; the committee was also to study the ecclesiastical courts and to prepare a bill on the same.

^{page 57 note 5} Ibid., 285, 288–9, 295–6.

^{page 57 note 6} Lords Journals, xi. 305, 308.

^{page 57 note 7} Ibid., 332–3.

^{page 57 note 8} Commons Journals, viii. 321–2.

^{page 58 note 1} [Seymour Bowman], Parliamentary Diary, Bodleian Library, Salway Deposit, fols. 92–137; Commons Journals, viii. 97–173; William Prynne, The Unbishoping of Timothy and Titus, and of the Angel of the Church of Ephesus, 2nd ed., London 1660, 27; Bosher, Restoration Settlement, 175–6.

^{page 58 note 2} Commons Journals, viii. 325–6, 330–4, 341.

^{page 58 note 3} Lords Journals, xi. 364, 372–3, 376.

^{page 58 note 4} Dr. Peter Pett to archbishop Bramhall, John, 8 February 1662, The Rawdon Papers, ed. Berwick, Edward, London 1819, 136–9Google Scholar; see also bishop John Parker to Bramhall, 15 February 1662, Historical Manuscripts Commission, Report on the Manuscripts of the late Reginald Rawdon Hastings, London 1928–1947, iv. 126Google Scholar; Henry Gregory, The Returne & Restauration of King Charts the Second, British Museum, Additional MSS. 19,526, fol. 48; and Commons Journals, viii. 367.

^{page 59 note 1} Lords Journals, xi. 363, 366, 383, 390, 396, 406–8. Convocation completed the revision on 20 December 1661, but the Book was not ready for the Privy Council until 24 February: Privy Council Register, Public Record Office, PC 2/55, fols. 549, 552, 554.

^{page 59 note 2} Lords Journals, xi. 392–3, 409.

^{page 59 note 3} Printed in , H.M.C., Seventh Report, Appendix, London 1878, 162–3Google Scholar, along with minor alterations made in the Lords. A draft copy in Clarendon's hand is in the Bodleian Library, Clarendon MSS. 76, fol. 162.

^{page 59 note 4} Lords Journals, xi. 425.

^{page 60 note 1} Sir William Morice to Sir George Downing, 21 March 1662, British Museum, Additional MSS. 22,919, fol. 203.

^{page 60 note 2} Dr. Edward Lake to archbishop John Bramhall, 4 April 1662, H.M.C., Hastings Manuscripts, iv. 129–30; see also Dr. Peter Pett to Bramhall, 21 March 1662, Rawdon Papers, 140–4; Sir Edward Seymour to Lady Anne Seymour, 22 March 1662, H.M.C. Fifteenth Report, Appendix, Part VII, London 1898, 94.

^{page 60 note 3} Dr. Edward Lake to archbishop John Bramhall, 4 April 1662, H.M.C, Hastings Manuscripts, iv. 129–30.

^{page 6160 note 4} Lords Journals, xi. 421–5; Morley's explanatory clause is printed in , H.M.C., Tenth Report, Appendix, Part VI, London 1885, 177Google Scholar, and the fifths proviso appears on p. 163.

^{page 61 note 1} Commons Journals, viii. 402–17; Lords Journals, xi. 446–50.

^{page 61 note 2} Calendar of State Papers, Venetian, xxxiii. 124–5.

^{page 61 note 3} Lords Journals, xi. 471, 476.

^{page 61 note 4} Bishop John Gauden to earl of Bristol, 1 May 1662, State Papers Collected by Edward, Earl of Clarendon, iii. Appendix xcvi-c, for this and other letters between the two.

^{page 61 note 5} Dr. Peter Pett to archbishop John Bramhall, 20 May 1662, Rawdon Papers, 163–5.

^{page 61 note 6} Sir Henry Bennet to Charles II, n.d., Lister, Clarendon, iii. 198–201. Lister felt that the document was submitted between 19 May and 24 August, but probably closer to the first date. It was probably written prior to the decision of 8 June to call the judges and bishops before the Privy Council to advise on a possible suspension of the Act, Privy Council Register, Public Record Office, PC 2/56, fol. 6.

^{page 62 note 1} In July 1658 Clarendon wrote a letter for the king to Cardinal de Retz in which he asserted that the king had the power of suspending or dispensing with laws, Bodleian Library, Clarendon MSS. 58, fols. 140–1.

^{page 62 note 2} Bosher, Restoration Settlement, 269 n.

^{page 62 note 3} Clarendon, Life, i. 554–61.

^{page 62 note 4} Ibid., 566–70.

^{page 62 note 5} Thomas Bates to Viscount Massereen, n.d., Bodleian Library, Carte MSS. 31, fol. 328. This letter was written about a June, perhaps as late as 8 June, for it reached Dublin by 16 June.

^{page 62 note 6} Letter of intelligence to Sir Edward Nicholas from the Public Record Office, SP 29/56, fol. 6 as quoted by Bosher, Restoration Settlement, 258.

^{page 62 note 7} Privy Council Register, Public Record Office, PC 2/56, fol. 6; bishop George Morley to Clarendon, 3 September 1662, Bodleian Library, Clarendon MSS. 77, fol. 339; Clarendon, Life, i. 566–70.

^{page 63 note 1} Letter to John Thornton, n.d., Bodleian Library, Rawlinson Letters 109, fol. 87. The signature and date have been torn away, but reference to the ejectments places the date after 24 August. The general points of this letter are confirmed by Baxter, Reliquiae Baxterianae, pt. ii, 429–30.

^{page 63 note 2} Thomas Rugge, Mercurius Politicus Redivius, British Museum, Additional MSS. 10,117, fol. 42; Clarendon, Life, i. 564–5, mentioned Albermarle's rôle but not his own.

^{page 63 note 3} Rugge, Mercurius Politicus Redivius, British Museum, Additional MSS. 10,117, fols. 42–5; Mercurius Publicus, No. 35, p. 579; Oliver Heywood's Life of John Angier of Denton together with Angier's Diary, ed. Axon, Ernest, Manchester 1937, 127Google Scholar; The Life of Adam Martindale written by Himself, ed. Parkinson, Richard, Manchester 1845, 167Google Scholar; The Diary of Henry Newcombe, ed. Heywood, Thomas, Manchester 1849, 118.Google Scholar

^{page 63 note 4} Dr. Denton, William to Sir Ralph Verney, 27 August 1662, , H.M.C., Seventh Report, Appendix, Part 1, London 1878, 484Google Scholar; The Life of Adam Martindale, 167.

^{page 63 note 5} Mercurius Publicus, No. 35, p. 579; Daniel O'Neill to Ormonde, 2 September 1662, Bodleian Library, Carte MSS. 32, fols. 3–4; Sir Edward Nicholas to Ormonde, 30 August 1662, Ibid., 47, fols. 359–60; Sheldon to Clarendon, 30 August 1662 Ibid., Clarendon MSS. 77, fols. 319–20.

^{page 64 note 1} Clarendon to Ormonde, 1 September 1662, Ibid., Carte MSS. 47, fols. 3–4.

^{page 64 note 2} Daniel O'Neill to Ormonde, 2 September 1662, Ibid., 32, fols. 3–4.

^{page 64 note 3} Bennet to Ormonde, 9 September 1662, Ibid., 221, fol. 9.

^{page 64 note 4} Clarendon, Life, ii. 93–9.

^{page 64 note 5} The fullest expression of this thesis is found in Barbour, Violet, Henry Bennet, Earl of Arlington, Secretary of State to Charles II, Washington 1915, 46–69.Google Scholar

^{page 64 note 6} Daniel O'Neill to Ormonde, 13 September 1662, Bodleian Library, Carte MSS. 32, fols. 25–6; O'Neill to Ormonde, 11 October 1662, Ibid., fols. 67–8; O'Neill to Ormonde, 18 October 1662, Ibid., fols. 82–3; Sir Edward Nicholas to Ormonde, 7 October 1662, Ibid., 47, fols. 371–2; bishop of Lichfield and Coventry to bishop Gilbert Sheldon, 13 October 1662, Ibid., Tanner MSS. 48, fol. 58; Comte d'Estrades to Louis XIV, 9/19 October 1662, Baschet Transcripts, Public Record Office, 31/3. As might be expected, these reports ranged from the possible to the ridiculous.

^{page 65 note 1} Clarendon to Ormonde, 30 September 1662, Bodleian Library, Carte MSS. 217, fol. 467.

^{page 65 note 2} O'Neill to Ormonde, 11 October 1662, Ibid., 32, fols. 67–8.

^{page 65 note 3} Clarendon to Ormonde, 25 October 1662, Ibid., 47, fols. 12–13.

^{page 65 note 4} O'Neill to Ormonde, 18 October 1662, Ibid., 32, fol. 32.

^{page 65 note 5} Hooke, William to Davenport, John, 5 March 1663, Massachusetts Historical Society, The Mather Papers, Boston 1868, 207.Google Scholar

^{page 65 note 6} Bennet to Ormonde, 16 December 1662, Bodleian Library, Carte MSS. 46, fols. 21–2.

^{page 65 note 7} M. Battailler to M. Lionne, 4/14 December 1662, Baschet Transcripts, Public Record Office, 31/3.

^{page 65 note 8} Clarendon to Ormonde, 13 January 1663, Bodleian Library, Carte MSS. 47, fols. 20–1.

^{page 65 note 9} Viscount Cornbury to Ormonde, 24 January 1663, Ibid., fols. 22–3.

^{page 65 note 10} Clarendon to Ormonde, 24 January 1663, Ibid., fols. 24–5.

^{page 65 note 11} Viscount Cornbury to Ormonde, 21 February 1663, Ibid., fols. 30–1.

^{page 65 note 12} Clarendon to Ormonde, 6 June 1663, Ibid., fol. 52.

^{page 66 note 1} Bennet to Ormonde, 13 January 1663, Ibid., 221, fols. 19–20.

^{page 66 note 2} Clarendon to Ormonde, 31 January 1663, Ibid., 47, fols. 34–5.

^{page 67 note 1} Clarendon to Ormonde, 7 February 1663, Lister, Clarendon, iii. 234–8.

^{page 67 note 2} Viscount Cornbury to Ormonde, 21 February 1663, Bodleian library, Carte MSS. 47, fols. 30–1.

^{page 67 note 3} Clarendon to Ormonde, 28 February 1663, Lister, Clarendon, iii. 239–43.

^{page 67 note 4} Bennet, to Sir Richard Fanshaw, 6 March 1663, H.M.C., Manuscripts of J. M. Heathcote, London 1899, 65.Google Scholar

^{page 67 note 5} Calendar of State Papers, Venetian, xxxiii. 232 and 237.

^{page 67 note 6} Privy Council Register, Public Record Office, PC 2/56, fol. 261.

^{page 67 note 7} William Hooke to John Davenport, 5 March 1663, Massachusetts Historical Society, The Mather Papers, 207.

^{page 67 note 8} Lister, Clarendon, ii. 204, without giving any authority, maintained that Robartes attended the Council when the question was debated.

^{page 67 note 9} Bennet to Ormonde, 30 December 1662, Bodleian Library, Carte MSS. 221, fols. 15–16; it was probably this subject which troubled Clarendon.

^{page 67 note 10} Sheldon, Bishop Gilbert to Cosin, bishop John, 26 December 1662, The Correspondence of John Cosin, ed. Ornsby, George, Surtees Society 1869–1872, ii. 101–2Google Scholar, in which he expressed more concern about a possible attack on the Church of England for its wealth.

^{page 67 note 11} Sheldon, to Charles, II, [January 1663], Airy, Osmund, ‘Notes on the Reign of Charles II’, British Quarterly Review, LXXVII (1880), 332–3.Google Scholar

^{page 68 note 1} William Hooke to John Davenport, 5 March 1663, Massachusetts Historical Society, The Mather Papers, 207.

^{page 68 note 2} Baxter, Reliquiae Baxterianae, pt. ii, 429–30.

^{page 68 note 3} Calendar of State Papers, Venetian, xxxiii. 229; William Hooke to John Davenport, 5 March 1663, Massachusetts Historical Society, The Mather Papers, 207. Charles ordered Edmund Calamy released from prison and apparently offered the Presbyterians benefices if they would support him.

^{page 68 note 4} Ibid.; A M[emorandum] of what y^e Independ^t; Ministers sayd to y^e Kinge, 27 February 1663, British Museum, Sloane MSS., 4107, fols. 16–20.

^{page 68 note 5} Cobbett, William, Parliamentary History of England, London 1806–1820, iv. 258–60.Google Scholar

^{page 68 note 6} Commons Journals, viii. 438.

^{page 68 note 7} Lords Journals, xi. 482.

^{page 69 note 1} Commons Journals, viii. 440, 442–3, 451.

^{page 69 note 2} See the works mentioned at p. 55 nn. 1–5.

^{page 69 note 3} William Hooke to John Davenport, 5 March 1663, Massachusetts Historical Society, The Mather Papers, 208.

^{page 69 note 4} Printed in Christie, Shaftesbury, i. Appendix lxxix-xi; the version in H.M.C., Seventh Report, Appendix, Part I, 167–8, summarises the preamble and omits the closing sentences.

^{page 69 note 5} Lords Journals, xi. 482–92.

^{page 70 note 1} William Hooke to John Davenport, 5 March 1663, Massachusetts Historical Society, The Mather Papers, 207.

^{page 70 note 2} O'Neill to Ormonde, 20 June 1663, Bodleian Library, Carte MSS. 32, fol. 597.

^{page 70 note 3} Bennet to Ormonde, 13 January 1663, ibid, 221, fols. 19–20.

^{page 70 note 4} O'Neill to Ormonde, 20 June 1663, Ibid., 32, fol. 597.

^{page 70 note 5} Warwick to Sir Richard Fanshaw, 12 April 1663, H.M.C., Manuscripts of J. M. Heathcote, 77–8.

^{page 70 note 6} King's Address to the Congregational Ministers, 27 February 1663, British Museum, Additional MSS. 4164, fol. 114.

^{page 70 note 7} William Hooke to John Davenport, 5 March 1663, Massachusetts Historical Society, The Mather Papers, 207; the Roman Catholics began deserting the king about 28 February, William Coventry to Ormonde, 28 February 1663, Bodleian Library, Carte MSS. 47, fol. 397.

^{page 70 note 8} Calendar of State Papers, Venetian, xxxiii. 238.

^{page 70 note 9} Christie, Shaftesbury, i. 267–8.

^{page 71 note 1} William Denton to Sir Henry Verney, 26 March 1663, H.M.C., Seventh Report, Appendix, Part I, 484; Calendar of State Papers, Venetian, xxxiii. 241.

^{page 71 note 2} Lords Journals, xi. 573, 577.

^{page 72 note 1} [Clarendon], Touchinge Liberty of Conscience, British Museum, Sloane MSS. 4107, fols. 260–4. The title given is from a near contemporaneous endorsement. The document is a smooth draft with numerous interlineations and alterations and is completely in the hand of Clarendon. How the paper became separated from the other Clarendon manuscripts is a mystery, but the paucity of important manuscripts for this period in the Bodleian Library suggests that many of the chancellor's post-1660 manuscripts were removed from the main collection by Clarendon or some other person.

^{page 73 note 1} Earl, of Anglesey, to Ormonde, 11 August 1663, H.M.C., Manuscripts of the Marquess of Ormonde, New Series, London 1902–4Google Scholar, iii. 71.

^{page 73 note 2} William Prynne, An Exact Chronological Vindication and Historical Demonstration of Our … King's Supreme Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction …, London 1665–70, ii. ‘Epistle Dedicatory’ to Clarendon.

^{page 73 note 3} [Clarendon], Second Thoughts; or the Case of a Limited Toleration, stated according to the present Exigence of Affairs in Church and State, [London 1663]. This work is dated 1660 or 1663 by libraries, but its content suggests 1663 as its date of publication.

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