Yet, notwithstanding his arbitrary character, James was easily managed by those who would flatter his vanity.  For this reason he was always under the control of worthless favorites like Carr, Earl of Somerset, or Villiers, Duke of Buckingham.  These men were the secret power behind the throne, and they often dictated the policy of the Crown.

420.  The Gunpowder Plot (1605).

The King’s arbitrary spirit angered the House of Commons, many of whom were Puritans (S378).  They believed that the King secretly favored the Roman Catholics; and for this reason they increased the stringency of the laws against persons of that religion.  To vindicate himself from this suspicion, the King proceeded to execute the new statutes with rigor.  As a rule, the Catholic were loyal subjects.  We have seen that when Spain threatened to invade the country, they fought as valiantly in its defense as the Protestants themselves (SS399, 400).  Many of them were now ruined by enormous fines, while the priests were driven from the realm.

One of the sufferers by these unjust measures was Robert Catesby, a Catholic gentleman of good position.  He, with the aid of a Yorkshire man, named Guy Fawkes, and about a dozen more, formed a plot to blow up the Parliament House on the day the King was to open the session (November 5, 1605).  Their intention, after they had thus summarily disposed of the government, was to induce the Catholics to rise and proclaim a new sovereign.  The plot was discovered, the conspirators were executed, and the Catholics treated with greater severity than ever (S382).

421.  American Colonies, Virginia, 1607.

A London joint-stock company of merchants and adventurers, or speculators, established the first permanent English colony in America, on the coast of Virginia, in 1607, at a place which they called Jamestown, in honor of the King. (See map facing p. 222.) The colony was wholly under the control of the Crown.

The religion was to be that of the Church of England.  Most of those who went out were described as “gentlemen,” that is, persons not brought up to manual labor.  Fortunately the eneergy and determined courage of Captain John Smith, who was the real soul of the enterprise, saved it from miserable failure.

Negro slavery, which in those days touched no man’s conscience, was introduced, and by its means great quantities of tobacco were raised for export.  The settlement grew in population and wealth, and at the end of twelve years (1619) it had secured the privilege of making its own local laws, thus becoming practically a self-governing community.

422.  The Pilgrims; the New Power.

The year after the Virginia legislature was established, another band of emigrants went out from England, not west, but east; not to seek prosperity, but greater religious freedom.  James’s declaration that he would make all men conform to the Established Church, or drive them out of the land, was having its due effect (S418).