CHAPTER IX
THE FALL OF THE STUARTS AND THE REVOLUTION, 1660–1688
Charles II, 1660–85.The lessons of the ‘Great Rebellion’ were by no means thrown away upon Charles Il. Again a changed England.No king after 1660 ever attempted to raise a penny without consent of Parliament. Once, but only once, at the end of his reign, Charles let four years go by without calling a Parliament. Once, but only for a moment, an unlawful court of justice was created by James Il; and there were hardly any other attempts at ‘strong government’ of the Tudor type. There were plenty of quarrels to come between Kings and Parliaments, but these were nearly always about religion or foreign wars.
The Church restored.As far as possible everything was restored, in Great Britain and Ireland, as it had existed just before the Civil War. The two Houses of Parliament, with all their old power, were restored. The Church of England, with Prayer Book and bishops, was restored as in 1640. It had suffered quite as much as the Crown, or the Cavaliers who had fought for the Crown. A certain amount but by no means all of the land was restored to its rightful owners. The Dissenters.Almost all the Church livings had been given away to Presbyterians and other Dissenters. During the Rebellion a whole crop of ‘sects’had arisen, some of which, like the Congregationalists, Baptists and Quakers, are still with us. In 1660 all wished for nothing better than a peaceful life, and to conduct their worship in their own way. No one could