Upon this intimation, the lord chancellor quitted the council-chamber.
After the council had deliberated for some time, Lord Rich thus addressed the king: “Considering the prejudice that might ensue if the seals were allowed to continue in the hands of so arrogant a person as Lord Southampton, we are of opinion that he should be deprived of his office, and fined, and remain a prisoner in his own house at your Majesty’s pleasure.”
“Is that the opinion of the whole council?” demanded Edward.
“It is, my liege,” replied Somerset. “You cannot pardon him,” he added, in a low tone.
“On whom shall the seals be bestowed?” inquired the king.
“None were more fitting for the office than the Lord St. John,” replied Somerset.
“Be it as you suggest,” rejoined the king. “Let Lord Southampton be recalled.”
As the lord chancellor re-entered the council-chamber, he saw from the looks of all around him that the decision was against him. He therefore attempted no defence, but, with his arms folded upon his breast, listened calmly while his sentence was pronounced. A deep flush, however, suffused his swarthy features when he heard that the great seal was to be delivered to Lord St. John.
“His majesty will not gain much by the exchange,” he muttered; “but the lord protector will. He will find the new lord chancellor sufficiently subservient. I pray your Majesty to let me be removed at once.”
His request was acceded to; and he was conducted by a guard to his own residence, Ely House, where he was detained a close prisoner.
| Go to Table of Contents |
Chapter IX
IN WHAT MANNER THE LORD HIGH ADMIRAL DISCHARGED THE DUTIES OF HIS OFFICE
Freed from his most dangerous foe, Somerset felt perfectly secure. So slavishly subservient to his will were the council, that he did not always deem it necessary to consult them. In many important matters he acted without other authority than his own. Both civil and military appointments were made by him. He signed warrants for arrest and imprisonment, and issued mandates under his own seal. He held private conferences with foreign ambassadors, and did not always disclose the nature of the negotiations concluded with them. Maintaining a perfectly regal state, he assumed a haughtiness of deportment, and an arrogance of tone, especially disagreeable to the old nobility, whose hatred of him was increased by his undisguised efforts to ingratiate himself with the Commons.
Called upon to fulfil his lavish promises to his adherents, Somerset found it no easy matter to satisfy their importunities. But he had a resource which in those days could readily be made available. The Church had been largely stripped of its possessions by the late king, but a good deal yet remained of which it might be deprived. A bill was hastily passed, by which nearly three thousand charities, colleges, free-chapels, and other religious establishments were suppressed, and their rents and revenues confiscated, and transferred to the Crown. Out of the funds thus obtained, the lord protector enriched himself and rewarded his associates.
Calculating upon a long lease of power, Somerset determined to build himself a palace which should surpass that of Whitehall. Accordingly, he selected a site on the banks of the Thames, and recking little that it was occupied by the ancient church of St. Mary-le-Strand and other time-honored monastic structures, he sacrilegiously ordered their demolition. With as little scruple as had actuated him in the choice of a situation for his proposed palace, he set to work to procure building materials. There were plenty of churches to supply him with masonry. Without hesitation he pulled down the large church of Saint John of Jerusalem, with its noble tower, the cloisters on the north side of Saint Paul’s, with the charnel-house and chapel, and appropriated the wreck to his own use. These sacrilegious proceedings were generally condemned, and the superstitious believed they would bring him ill-luck. In spite, however, of this disapprobation, Somerset House was commenced, and eventually completed.
While the lord protector was thus exercising the power he had so unscrupulously obtained, holding a court, lording it over the council, controlling their decrees, and occasionally sharply reproving them, conferring with foreign ambassadors, signing decrees and warrants, disposing of offices and treasures, making presentations and promotions, ordering arbitrary arrests and imprisonments, after the fashion of the imperious Harry, and in all other respects comporting himself like a king, his younger and no less ambitious brother had begun to discharge the functions of the important office conferred upon him.