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STRAFFORD, THOMAS WENTWORTH, EARL

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Originally appearing in Volume V25, Page 980 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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STRAFFORD, See also:THOMAS See also:WENTWORTH, See also:EARL of (1593-1641), See also:English statesman, son of See also:Sir See also:William Wentworth, of Wentworth Woodhouse, near See also:Rotherham, a member of an See also:ancient See also:family See also:long established there, and of See also:Anne, daughter of Sir See also:Robert Atkins of See also:Stowell, See also:Gloucestershire, was See also:born on the 13th of See also:April 1593, in See also:London. He was educated at St See also:John's See also:College, See also:Cam-See also:bridge, was admitted a student of the Inner See also:Temple in 16o7, and in 1611 was knighted and married See also:Margaret, daughter of See also:Francis See also:Clifford, 4th earl of See also:Cumberland. In 1614 he represented See also:York-See also:shire in the Addled See also:Parliament, but, so far as is now known, it was not till the parliament of 1621, in which he sat for the same See also:constituency, that he took See also:part in the debates. His position towards the popular party was See also:peculiar. He did not sympathize with their zeal for See also:war with See also:Spain, but See also:James's denial of the rights and privileges of parliament seems to have caused him to join in the vindication of the claims of the See also:House of which he was a member, and he was a warm supporter of the protestation which See also:drew down a See also:sentence of See also:dissolution upon the third parliament of James. In 1622 Wentworth's wife died, and in See also:February 1625 he married Arabella See also:Holles, daughter of the earl of See also:Clare. He was returned for See also:Pontefract to the parliament of 1624, but appears to have taken no part in the proceedings. He had no sympathy with the popular outcry against Spain nor for See also:wars undertaken for religious considerations to the neglect of the See also:practical interests of the See also:country. He desired also to avoid See also:foreign complications and " do first the business of the See also:commonwealth." To the advances of See also:Buckingham he replied coldly that " he was ready to serve him as an honest See also:man and a See also:gentleman." In the first parliament of See also:Charles I., See also:June 1625, he again represented York-shire, and at once marked his hostility to the proposed war with Spain by supporting a See also:motion for an See also:adjournment before the house proceeded to business. He took part in the opposition to the demand made under the See also:influence of Buckingham for war subsidies, and was consequently, after the dissolution in See also:November, made See also:sheriff of See also:Yorkshire, in See also:order to exclude him from the parliament which met in 1626. Yet he had never taken up an attitude of antagonism to the See also:king. His position was very different from that of the See also:regular opposition.

He was anxious to serve the See also:

Crown, but he disapproved of the king's policy. In See also:January 1626 he had asked for the See also:presidency of the See also:council of the See also:North, and had visited and been favourably received by Buckingham. But after the dissolution of the parliament he was dismissed from the justiceship of the See also:peace and the See also:office of custos rotulorum of Yorkshire, to which he had been appcinted in 1615, as the result probably of his See also:resolution not to support the See also:court in its See also:design to force the country to contribute See also:money without a See also:parliamentary See also:grant. At all events he refused in 1627 to contribute to the forced See also:loan, and was imprisoned in consequence. Wentworth's position in the parliament of 1628 was a striking one. He joined the popular leaders in resistance to arbitrary See also:taxation and imprisonment, but he tried to obtain his end with the least possible infringement of the See also:prerogative of the Crown, to which he looked as a reserve force in times of crisis. With the approbation of the House he led the See also:movement for a See also:bill which would have secured the liberties of the subject as completely as the See also:Petition of Right afterwards did, but in a manner Iess offensive to the king. The proposal was wrecked between the uncompromising demands of the parliamentary party who would give nothing to the prerogative and Charles's refusal to make the necessary concessions, and the leadership was thus snatched from Wentworth's hands by See also:Eliot and See also:Coke. Later in the session he See also:fell into conflict with Eliot, as, though he supported the Petition of Right in substance, he was anxious to come to a See also:compromise with the Lords, so as to leave See also:room to the king to See also:act unchecked in See also:special emergencies. On the 22nd of See also:July 1628, not long after the See also:prorogation, Wentworth was created See also:Baron Wentworth, and received a promise of the presidentship of the Council of the North at the next vacancy. This implied no See also:change of principle whatever. He was now at variance with the parliamentary party on two See also:great subjects of policy, disapproving both of the intention ofparliament to seize the See also:powers of the executive and also its inclination towards See also:puritanism.

When once the See also:

breach was made it naturally See also:grew wider, partly from the See also:engrossing See also:energy which each party put into its See also:work, and partly from the See also:personal animosities which of See also:necessity arose. Such and no other was the nature of Wentworth's so-called apostacy." As yet Wentworth took no part in the See also:general See also:government of the country. In See also:December he became See also:Viscount Wentworth and See also:president of the Council of the North. In the speech delivered at York on his taking office he announced his intention, almost in the words of See also:Bacon, of doing his utmost to bind up the prerogative of the Crown and the liberties of the subject in indistinguishable See also:union. " Whoever," he said, " ravels forth into questions the right of a king and of a See also:people shall never be able to wrap them up again into the comeliness and order he found them." His government here was characterized by the same feature which afterwards marked his See also:administration in See also:Ireland and which it was the gravest See also:charge in his See also:impeachment that he intended to introduce into' the whole English administration, namely the See also:attempt to centralize all See also:power with the executive at the expense of the individual in See also:defiance of those constitutional liberties which ran See also:counter to and impeded this policy. The session of 1629 ended in a breach between the king and the parliament which made the task of a See also:moderator hopeless. Wentworth had to choose between helping a Puritan House of See also:Commons to dominate the king and helping the king to dominate a Puritan House of Commons. He instinctively See also:chose the latter course, and he threw himself into the work of, repression with characteristic energy, as if the See also:establishment of the royal power was the one thing needful. Yet even when he was most resolute in crushing resistance he held that he and not his antagonists were maintaining the old constitution, which they had attempted to alter by claiming supremacy for parliament. In November 1629 Wentworth became a privy councillor. In See also:October 1631 he lost his second wife, and in October 1632 he married See also:Elizabeth, daughter of Sir See also:Godfrey See also:Rhodes. In January 163 2 he had been named See also:lord-See also:deputy of Ireland, and arrived in See also:Dublin in July 1633.

Here he had to See also:

deal with a people who had not arrived at See also:national cohesion, and amongst whom English colonists had been from See also:time to time introduced, some of them, like the See also:early See also:Norman settlers, being See also:Roman Catholics, whilst the later importations stood aloof and preserved their Protestantism. In his government here he showed the most remarkable abilities as a ruler. " The lord deputy of Ireland," wrote Sir Thomas See also:Roe to the See also:queen of Bohemia, " Both great wonders and governs like a king, and hath taught that See also:kingdom to show us an example of envy, by having parliaments and knowing wisely how to use them." He reformed the administration, getting rid summarily of the inefficient English officials. He succeeded in. so manipulating the parliaments that he obtained the necessary grants, and secured their co-operation in various useful legislative enactments. He set on See also:foot a new victualling See also:trade with Spain, established or promoted the See also:linen manufacture, and encouraged the development of the resources of the country in many directions. The customs See also:rose from a little over £25,000. in 1633–1634 to £57,000 in 1637–1638. He raised an See also:army. He swept the pirates from the seas. He reformed and instilled See also:life into the See also:Church and rescued church See also:property. His strong and even administration See also:broke down the tyranny of the great men over the poor. Such was the government of " Thorough," as Strafford expresses it. Yet these See also:good See also:measures were all carried out by arbitrary methods which diminished their use-fulness and their stability.

Their aim moreover was not the prosperity of the Irish community but the benefit to the English See also:

exchequer, and Strafford suppressed the trade in See also:cloth " lest it should be a means to See also:prejudice that See also:staple commodity of See also:England." 1 Extraordinary acts of despotism took See also:place, as in the See also:case of Esmond, Lord See also:Chancellor See also:Loftus and Lord Mountnorris, the last of whom Strafford caused to be sentenced to See also:death ' Strafford's See also:Report of 1636. See also:Cat. of See also:State Papers; Irish, Z633-1647, P. 134. in order to obtain the resignation of his office, and then pardoned. Promises of legislation such as the concessions known as the " See also:graces " were not kept. In particular Strafford set at naught Charles's promise that no colonists should be forced into See also:Connaught, and in 1635 he proceeded to that See also:province, where, raking up an obsolete See also:title—the grant in the 14th See also:century of Connaught to Lionel, See also:duke of See also:Clarence, whose See also:heir Charles was—he insisted upon the See also:grand juries in all the counties finding verdicts for the king. One only, that of See also:Galway, resisted, and the See also:confiscation of Galway was effected by the court of exchequer, while he fined the sheriff £l000 for summoning such a See also:jury, and cited the jurymen to the See also:castle chamber to See also:answer for their offence. In See also:Ulster the arbitrary confiscation of the property of the See also:city companies aroused dangerous animosity against the government. Towards the native Irish Wentworth's bearing was benevolent but thoroughly unsympathetic. Having no notion of developing their qualities by a See also:process of natural growth, his only See also:hope for them See also:lay in converting them into Englishmen as soon as possible. They must be made English in their habits, i.n their See also:laws and in their See also:religion. " I see plainly," he once wrote, " that, so long as this kingdom continues popish, they are not a people for the Crown of England to be confident of." High-handed as Wentworth was by nature, his See also:rule in Ireland made him more high-handed than ever.

As yet he had never been consulted on English affairs, and it was only in February 16.37 that Charles asked his See also:

opinion on a proposed interference in the affairs of the See also:Continent. In reply, he assured Charles that it would be unwise to undertake even See also:naval operations till he had secured See also:absolute power at See also:home. He wished that See also:Hampden and his followers " were well whipped into their right senses." The opinion of the See also:judges had given the king the right to See also:levy See also:ship-money, but, unless his See also:majesty had " the like power declared to raise a See also:land army, the Crown " seemed " to stand upon one See also:leg at home, to be considerable but by halves to foreign princes abread." When the Scottish Puritans rebelled he advocated the most decided measures of repression, in February 1639 sending the king £2000 as his contribution to the expenses of the coming war, at the same time deprecating an invasion of See also:Scot-land before the English army was trained, and advising certain concessions in religion. Wentworth arrived in England in See also:September 1639, after Charles's failure in the first Bishops' War, and from that moment he became Charles's See also:principal adviser. Ignorant of the extent to which opposition had See also:developed in England during his See also:absence, he recommended the calling of a parliament to support a renewal of the war, hoping that by the offer of a loan from the privy councillors, to which he himself contributed £20,000, he would place Charles above the necessity of submitting to the new parliament if it should prove restive. In January 164o he was created earl of Strafford, and in See also:March he went to Ireland to hold a parliament, where the See also:Catholic See also:vote secured a grant of subsidies to be used against the Presbyterian Scots. An Irish army was to be levied to assist in the coming war. When in April Strafford returned to England he found the Commons holding back from a grant of See also:supply, and tried to enlist the peers on the See also:side of the king. On the other See also:hand he induced Charles to be content with a smaller grant than he had originally asked for. The Commons, however, insisted on peace with the Scots. Charles, on the See also:advice, or perhaps by the treachery of See also:Vane, returned to his larger demand of twelve subsidies; and on the 9th of May, at the privy council, Strafford, though reluctantly, voted for a dissolution. The same See also:morning the See also:Committee of Eight of the privy council met again.

Vane and others were for a See also:

mere See also:defence against invasion. Strafford's advice was the contrary. " Go on vigorously or let them alone .. . , go on with a vigorous war as you first designed, loose and absolved from all rules of government, being reduced to extreme necessity, everything is to be done that power might admit. . . .. You have an army in Ireland you may employ here to reduce this kingdom . . . ." He tried to force the citizens of London to lend money. He supported a project for debasingthe coinage and for seizing See also:bullion in the See also:Tower, the property of foreign merchants. He also advocated the See also:purchase of a loan from Spain by the offer of a future See also:alliance. He was ultimately appointed to command the English army, and was made a See also:knight of the Garter, but he was seized with illness. and the rout of Newbum made the position hopeless.

" Pity me,',' he wrote to his friend Sir See also:

George See also:Radcliffe, `:` for never came any man to so lost a business . . . . In one word here alone to fight with all these evils, without any one to help." In the great council of peers, which assembled on the 24th of September at York, the struggle was given up, and Charles announced that he had issued writs for another parliament. The' Long Parliament assembled on the 3rd of November 164o, and Charles immediately summoned Strafford to London, promising that he " should not suffer in his See also:person, See also:honour or See also:fortune." He arrived on the 9th and on the loth proposed to the king to forestall his impeachment, now being prepared by the parliament, by accusing the leaders of the popular party of treasonable communications with the Scots. The See also:plan however having been betrayed, See also:Pym immediately took up the impeachment to the Lords on the 1th. Strafford came to the house to confront his accusers, but was ordered to with-draw and committed into custody. On the 25th of November the preliminary charge was brought up, whereupon he was sent to the Tower, and, on the 31st of January 1641, the accusations in detail were presented. These were, in sum, that Strafford had. endeavoured to subvert the fundamental laws of the kingdom, and that the attempt was high See also:treason. Muth stress was laid on Strafford's reported words, already. cited—" You have an army in Ireland you may employ here to reduce this kingdom," England, it being contended, and not See also:Scotland being here meant. It is clear nevertheless that however tyrannical and mischievous Strafford's conduct may have been, his offense was not one which could by any straining of See also:language be included in the limits of high treason; while the copy of a copy of rough notes of Strafford's speech in the committee of the council, the genuineness of which was asserted only by the See also:defendant's accusers or personal enemies and not supported by other councillors who had also been See also:present on the occasion, could not be See also:evidence which would convict in a court of See also:law. In addition, the words had to be arbitrarily interpreted as referring to the subjection of England and not of Scotland, and were also spoken on a privileged occasion. See also:Advantage was freely taken by Strafford of the weak points in the attack, and the lords, his judges, were considerably influenced in his favour.

But behind the legal aspect of the case lay the great constitutional question of the responsibility to the nation of the See also:

leader of its administration, a principle which was now to be revived after many centuries of neglect, and, in the circumstances which then prevailed, could only be enforced by the destruction of the offender. The Commons therefore, feeling their victim slipping from their grasp, dropped the impeachment, and brought in and passed a bill of See also:attainder, though owing to the opposition of the Lords, and Pym's own preference for the more judicial method, the See also:procedure of an impeachment was practically adhered to. Strafford might still have been saved but for the king's See also:ill-advised conduct. A See also:scheme to gain over the leaders of the parliament, and a scheme to seize the Tower and to liberate Strafford by force, were entertained concurrently and were mutually destructive; and the See also:revelation of the army See also:plot on the 5th of May caused the Lords to pass the attainder. Nothing See also:row remained but the king's See also:signature. Charles had, after the passing of the attainder by the Commons, for the second time assured Strafford " upon the word of a king, you shall not suffer in life, honour or fortune." Strafford now wrote releasing the king from his engagements and declaring his willingness to See also:die in order to reconcile Charles to his subjects. " I do most humbly beseech you, for the preventing of . such massacres as may happen by your refusal, to pass the bill; by this means to remove . . . the unfortunate thing forth of the way towards that blessed agreement, which See also:God, I See also:trust, shall for ever establish between you and your subjects." Finally Charles yielded, giving his fatal assent on the loth of May. Strafford met his See also:fate on the 12th of May on Tower See also:Hill, receiving See also:Laud's blessing, who was then also imprisoned in the Tower, on his way to See also:execution. Thus passed into See also:history " the great person," as See also:Clarendon well calls him, without doubt one of the most striking figures in the See also:annals of England. Strafford's patriotism and ideas were fully as See also:noble as those of his antagonists. Like Pym, a student of Bacon's See also:wisdom, he believed in the progress of England along the lines of natural development, but that development, in opposition to Pym, he was convinced could only proceed with the increase of the power of the executive, not of the parliament, with a government controlled by the king and not by the people.

He was equally an upholder of the union of interests and See also:

affection between the See also:sovereign and his subjects, but believed this could only exist when the king's will, and not that of the parliament, was See also:paramount. The development of the constitution, in his opinion, either in the direction of a See also:democracy or an See also:aristocracy, was equally fatal and could only See also:lead to anarchy, to the See also:waste of national re-See also:sources and to degeneration. With a strong and untrammelled executive directed by a single will, See also:wise reforms could be carried out, the weak defended against the strong, the resources of the country developed to their full extent, the hesitations, delays and contradictions caused by barren discussions avoided, and the national forces concentrated on See also:objects See also:worth the aim. For one brief moment it was given to Strafford to carry out his ideals, and the final failure of his Irish administration, and especially its inability to endure in spite of its undoubted successes, has afforded an See also:object-See also:lesson in one-man government for all time. If such was the event in Ireland, where See also:political ideas were still See also:rude and elementary, still less could success be expected from the attempt to introduce the centralization and absolute power of the executive into England, where principles of government had been highly developed both in theory and practice, and a contrary tendency had long been established towards the increase of the rights of the individual and the power of parliament. While arousing in the course of his career the most See also:bitter enmities—and no man's death was ever received with more public rejoicing—Strafford was capable of inspiring strong friendships in private life. Sir Thomas Roe speaks of him as " Severe abroad and in business, and sweet in private conversation; retired in his friendships but very See also:firm; a terrible See also:judge and a strong enemy." His See also:appearance is described by Sir See also:Philip See also:Warwick: " In his person he was of a tall stature, but stooped much in the See also:neck. His countenance was cloudy whilst he moved or sat thinking, but when he spake, either seriously or facetiously, he had a lightsome and a very pleasant See also:air; and indeed whatever he then did he performed very See also:grace-fully." He himself jested on his own " See also:bent and ill-favoured brow," Lord See also:Exeter replying that had he been " cursed with a See also:meek brow and an See also:arch of See also:white See also:hair upon it," he would never " have governed Ireland nor Yorkshire." Strafford was married three times: (I) in 1611 to See also:Lady Margaret Clifford, daughter of Francis, 4th earl of Cumberland; (2) 111 1625 to Lady Arabella Holles, daughter of John, 1st earl of Clare; (3) in 1632 to Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Godfrey Rhodes. He See also:left three daughters and one son, William, 2nd earl of Strafford. See the See also:article on Strafford in the Dict. Nat. Biog. by S.

R. Gar-diner; Strafford's Letters, ed. by W. Knowler (1i39); R. See also:

Browning's Life of Strafford, with introduction by C. H. See also:Firth (1892); Papers See also:relating to Thos. Wentworth. ed. by C. H. Firth for the See also:Camden Society (189o), Camden See also:Miscellany, vol. ix.; Private Letters from the Earl of Strafford to his third Wife (Philobiblon See also:Soc. Biog. & Hist. Misc.

1854, vol. i.) ; Lives by H. D. See also:

Traill (1889) in " English Men of See also:Action See also:Series," and by Elizabeth See also:Cooper (1886) ; Cat. of State Papers, Domestic and Irish, esp. 1633-1647 Introduction; Hist. See also:MSS. See also:Comm. MSS. of Earl See also:Cowper; Strafford's See also:Correspondence, of which the volumes published by Knowler represent probably only a small selection, remains still in MS. in the collection of Earl See also:Fitzwilliam at Wentworth Woodhouse. (P. C.

End of Article: STRAFFORD, THOMAS WENTWORTH, EARL

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