The Bampton Lectures were a course of lectures established in 1751 by John Bampton, canon of Salisbury, who bequeathed certain property to the University of Oxford for the endowment of eight divinity lectures to be annually delivered. The subjects prescribed were mainly connected with the evidences of Christianity, and the lecturer must have taken the degree of M.A. at Oxford or Cambridge. The first course of lectures was delivered in 1780, and were delivered every year since, with the exceptions of 1834, 1835, and 1841. Among the more remarkable lectures were those by Dr. White in 1784, by Dr. Mant in 1812, by Reginald Heber in 1815, Whately in 1822, Milman in 1827, Dr. Hampden in 1832, Mr. Mansel in 1858, Canon Liddon in 1866, CanonGore in 1891. A similar course of lectures, the Hulsean, was annually delivered at Cambridge. Research Bampton Lectures
The Hampden Clubs were clubs formed throughout Britain in 1816 nominally to advocate reform. A Committee drawn from both Houses of Parliament was appointed to inquire into their working, and reported, on February 9, 1817, that their object was revolution. Research Hampden Clubs
The meeting of the Long Parliament (as it was afterwards called) in November 1640 ended the great days of the English monarchy, and sowed the seeds for the English Civil War. The Commons were determined on reform; they meant to put an end to the king's unconstitutional methods in both Church and State. Charles I himself, though he seldom faced facts, saw that some concessions would be necessary. But a real settlement was not achieved, chiefly because tempers were rising and the atmosphere soon became that of a revolution. Charles was partly to blame. He had no real desire for a lasting understanding with Parliament, and his shifty character aroused general distrust. But he found that the more he gave way to Parliament, the more it demanded. John Pym, a squire of Somerset, was the acknowledged leader of the Commons.
His enemies nicknamed him 'King Pym'. He was 'the first great popular organiser', for he used the press, the petition, and even the platform to support his cause. He now led the attack on the chief instruments of the late personal government. The judges who had upheld Charles's financial exactions in the Courts were arrested and imprisoned, and so was Archbishop Laud, who was beheaded in 1645. But the principal victim was Strafford. He was charged with having tried to 'subvert the fundamental laws and government of England and Ireland, and instead thereof to introduce an in March arbitrary and tyrannical government against law'. 1641 he was brought to Westminster Hall to be tried for high treason. But his accusers were at once faced with a difficult point. Strafford may have tried to 'subvert the laws'; but treason meant treason to the king, and had Strafford been a traitor to Charles? It was difficult to prove that he had, and as the trial proceeded it became clear that the verdict would be Not Guilty. But the Puritan majority in the House was determined that Strafford should die. Parliament therefore passed a special Bill of Attainder, condemning the minister to death without trial.
The Lords passed the Bill of Attainder, and it remained for the king to give or to withhold his consent. Some may think that it was Charles's duty to risk his life to defend Strafford. But the mob raged round Whitehall, howling for blood. Charles feared for the safety of the queen and his children, and he gave way. ' If my own person only were in danger', he told the Council, with tears in his eyes, 'I would gladly venture it to save Lord Strafford's life.' Three days later the earl was led to his execution in May 1641 in the presence of a crowd of 200000 people who had come to witness the end of 'Black Tom Tyrant'. No man ever died more bravely. 'I thank my God', he said, as he prepared to die, 'I am not afraid of death, but do as cheerfully put off my doublet at this time as ever I did when I went to bed.' The executioner offered to cover his eyes with a handkerchief. 'Thou shalt not bind my eyes.' said Strafford, 'for I will see it done.' And so he placed his head upon the block.
His misfortune, wrote Laud, was that 'he served a mild and gracious prince, who knew not how to be, or be made great'. That summerParliament was busy passing a number of Acts intended to make absolute government impossible for the future. One Act declared that the presentParliament could not be dissolved without its own consent; another - the Triennial Act - that in future Parliaments should be Called every three years. The three Courts by which the king and Laud had carried out their religious and financial measures were abolished - the Star Chamber, the Court of High Commission, and the Council of the North. Finally Ship-Money and other arbitrary forms of taxation were declared illegal. These abolitions of the year 1641 were the permanent, constructive work of the Puritan revolution; nor were the institutions then destroyed restored with the monarchy in 1660. Meanwhile another Bill had come up for discussion. A petition was presented to Parliament praying for the ending of episcopacy (that is, the rule of the Church by bishops) 'in all its roots and branches'.
The thorough-going Puritan members considered the petition, and a 'Root-and-Branch' Bill in 1641 was prepared, but it fell through. For now a new factor came into play. Hitherto a large majority, both of Lords and Commons, had been united in their opposition to the king. But this Bill divided parliamentarians for the first time. There were many who began to fear extremes; and a moderate party now sprang up. It was out of this debate on the Root-and- Branch Bill that the germs of the future Roundhead and Cavalier parties were formed. The extremists - the Roundheads - included Pym, Hampden, and Oliver Cromwell. The chief figures on the other side were LordFalkland and Sir Edward Hyde, afterwards the famous Earl of Clarendon, the future Chancellor and historian. Parliament adjourned for six months, but met again at the end of October. It had no sooner assembled than terrible news arrived from Ireland. Now that the stern hand of Strafford was withdrawn, the crushed Irish had risen against their lords. There was a sudden and horrible rebellion thousands of Protestants were massacred in cold blood. When this news was received in London it only served to increase the Puritanfury. Meanwhile the Commons drew up a Grand Remonstrance in November 1641, in which they recited the past acts of the king and his servants to which they objected - there were 201 items - and stated a programme for the future. Some of its clauses prayed the king to reduce the power of the bishops and to remove 'oppressions in religion'. Another clause asked His Majesty to employ ministers 'such as the Parliament may have cause to confide in' - which in later times solved the problem of disputes between king and Parliament.
All this shows that Parliament had considerably advanced its demands. During the months from November 1640 to September 1641 they, had succeeded in placing constitutional checks on the king's power. From November 1641 to August 1642 they were bent on seizing control of both Church and State, until they forced Charles to reply: ' If I granted your demands, I should be no more than the merephantom of a king.' The Grand Remonstrance was passed by a majority of only eleven - a fact which illustrates the growth of the anti-Puritan party.
The situation, at the end of 1641, was dangerous in the extreme. On the one hand the queen and the swaggering ' Cavaliers' of the Court were urging Charles to strike at King Pym and his fellow leaders before it was too late. On the other hand, London was a stronghold of Puritanism, and it was the London merchants who had felt the weight of Charles's taxation most heavily. The London ' prentices' and the king's swordsmen were itching to get at one another's throats. Never the less Pym proceeded steadily on his way. He was determined to deprive the king of the command of the militia; for it was obvious that if the Irish rebellion was to be crushed a militia must be called out. And once Charles had command of the national armed forces, would he not use them to crush Parliament and destroy English liberty for ever? Pym had no doubt that he would. A Militia Bill was therefore brought in, and - contrary to all English law and custom - it took the command of the military forces out of the king's hands. To this Charles of course refused his consent.
Early in January 1642 he took the queen's advice, and instructed the Attorney- General to impeach Pym, Hampden, and three other leading members of the Commons. The members were alarmed, but Charles promised them 'on the word of a king' that no violence should be done them. The next day - the 4th of January 1642 - he went down to the House with 400 swordsmen. He left his guard at the door, and walked in accompanied only by Prince Rupert, his German nephew. But the five members, warned of his intention, had fled by river. There was a dead silence as the king looked round. He asked the Speaker, Lenthall, where the missing members were. 'I have neither eyes to see', Lenthall replied, 'nor tongue to speak in this place, but as this House shall direct me.' There was another pause as Charles scanned the benches. 'I see', he said at last, 'all the birds are flown. I do expect you will send them to me as soon as they shall return hither.' Then, amid cries of 'Privilege, privilege', he walked out. By this revolutionary act the king had outlawed himself. All hope of reconciliation being now past, he determined to try the issue of war. He left his capital on the 10th of January, sent the queen out of the country, and took up his quarters at York. Parliament claimed the control of the militia and secured the command of the fleet. During the spring and summer of 1642 both sides were busy raising troops. The great strength of the Puritan cause was London. The city contained a tenth of the population of England - 500000 out of five million. The number of troops which London provided was more than sufficient to quell any Royalist opposition in the surrounding country. The London 'train-bands' therefore protected the Puritan leaders during the eight months that the king was gathering his army in the north - January to August 1642. And so the English Civil War started. Research Long Parliament
The Root-and-Branch Men was a name assumed about 1641 by the extreme Puritan party, who advocated the abolition of the established church. The chief leaders were Nathaniel Fiennes, Vane, and Hampden. Research Root-and-Branch Men
John William Draper was an English-born chemist and physiologist. He was born in 1811 at Liverpool and died in 1882. Born in England he went to America in 1832 and was successively professor of physical science in Hampden-Sidney College, Virginia, and of natural history, chemistry, and physiology in the University of New York.. He made extensive contributions to science, particularly in the line of chemistry and the action of light. During the American Civil War he was inspector of hospitals. Among his chief works is his History of the Intellectual Development of Europe. Research John Draper
Sir John Eliot was an English politician. He was born in 1592 and died in 1632. He entered parliament in 1614 as member for St Germans, winning immediate reputation as an orator. As vice-admiral of Devon he was energetic in suppressing piracy. In the three parliaments of 1623, 1625, 1626, he made his way to the front of the constitutional party, joined Hampden and the rest in refusing contributions to the forced loan, and took a prominent share in drawing up the Remonstrance and Petition of Right. He was imprisoned in the Tower in 1629, and died still in confinement in 1632. During his imprisonment he wrote a work on constitutional monarchy entitled the Monarchy of Man. Research John Eliot
John Hampden was an English politician and Parliamentarian. He was born in 1594 at London and died in 1643 at the Battle of Thame during the Civil War. In 1609 he was entered a gentlemancommoner at Magdalen College, Oxford. He began the study of law in the Inner Temple, but having inherited an ample fortune on his father's death he lived the usual life of a country gentleman. He became a member of parliament in 1621 and in 1626 helped to prepare the charges against the Duke of Buckingham. In 1627 he was imprisoned for refusing a loan to the King, Charles I and again in 1634 when he refused to pay the Ship-Money tax, supposedly for outfitting the King's navy. He was one of the five members of parliament whose attempted seizure by Charles I precipitated the Civil War. When war broke out, he raised a regiment of infantry for the Parliamentarians, and subsequently demonstrated great leadership and grasp of tactics at the Battle of Edgehill and the Battle Of Reading before being killed at the Battle of Thame. Research John Hampden
William Henry Harrison was the ninth President of the USA. He was born in 1773 at Berkeley, Charles County, Virginia and died in 1841. A son of Benjamin Harrison, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, he was educated at Hampden Sidney College, entered the army, and fought at Wayne's victory of 1794. In 1798 he became Secretary of the Northwest Territory, and in 1799 delegate to Congress.
In 1800 he was appointed Governor of the new Indiana Territory. He was still Governor when the Indian outbreak occurred, and his victory at Tippecanoe, on November the 7th, 1811, gave to him a national reputation and an epithet for life.
In the War of 1812 he was major-general, first of Kentucky militia, and then in the regular army. He defended Fort Meigs against the British in 1813, and on October the 5th of the same year he achieved his second noted military exploit by defeating Proctor and Tecumseh at the Battle of the Thames. General Harrison resigned from the army in 1814.
From 1816 to 1819 he was Congressman, from 1825 to 1828 US Senator, and US Minister to the United States of Colombia from 1828 until 1829. As the Whigcandidate for President in 1836 he was defeated by Van Buren. In December, 1839, the Whig Convention put Harrison again before the country, and Van Buren was again his antagonist. The campaign of 1840 was without precedent or successor. The log cabin and hard cider charged by his opponents against his early record, became a tower of strength to him; a campaign ball was set rolling across the country and Tippecanoe and Tyier too were fairly sung into the White House.
In his Cabinet Webster as Secretary of State was the ablest member. Fatigue and exposure and importunities of office-seekers caused his death after a month of service, the first death of a President while in office. General Harrison, though by no means brilliant, was an able administrator, and a man of good sense. Research William Harrison
Abbreviations
Research Bampton Lectures
