Surely such a system of royal and political hocus-pocus had never been concerted before. Ormond, on seeing the defeasance, declared that it was quite satisfactory, binding the king to nothing; in fact, he had to avoid the danger of alarming the Catholics and losing their army for the king; and the Protestants having seen the affected zeal to prosecute Glamorgan had become greatly appeased. Glamorgan was, therefore, liberated, and hastened again to Kilkenny to urge on the sending of the forces. But the late disclosures had not been without their effect. One part of the council insisted on the full execution of the king's warrant, the open acknowledgment of Catholicism as the established religion, and the pope's nuncio, Runcini, who had lately arrived, strongly urged them to stand by that demand. But another part of the council were more compliant, and by their aid Glamorgan obtained five thousand men, with whom he marched to Waterford, to hasten their passage for the relief of Chester, where Lord Byron was driven to extremities by the Parliamentarians. There, however, he received the news that Chester had fallen, and there was not a single port left where Glamorgan could land his troops; he therefore disbanded them.

Despite the failure of his efforts, the unfortunate monarch still endeavoured to negotiate some terms for himself, first with one party and then with another, or with all together. The Parliament had treated with contempt two offers of negotiation from him. They did not even deign him an answer. But his circumstances were now such that he submitted to insults that a short time before would have been deemed incredible. On the 29th of January, 1646, he made his second offer; he repeated it on the 23rd of March. He offered to disband his forces, dismantle his garrisons—he had only five, Pendennis in Cornwall, Worcester, Newark, Raglan, and Oxford—and to take up his residence at Westminster, near the Parliament, on a guarantee that he and his followers should be suffered to live in honour and safety, and his adherents should retain their property. But the Parliament were now wholly in the ascendant, and they made the wretched king feel it. Instead of a reply, they issued an order that if he should come within their lines, he should be conducted to St. James's, his followers imprisoned, and none be allowed to have access to him. At the same time they ordered all Catholics, and all who had borne arms for the king, to depart within six days, or expect to be treated as spies, and dealt with by martial law.

But whilst thus ignominiously repelled by Parliament, Montreuil was still pursuing negotiations on his behalf with the Scots. He obtained for the purpose the post of agent from the French Court to Scotland, and with some difficulty obtained from the Parliament leave to visit the king at Oxford with letters from the King of France and the Queen Regent, before proceeding northwards. He employed his time there in urging Charles to agree with the Scots by conceding the point of religion; and at length it was concluded that Charles should force his way through the Parliamentary army investing Oxford, and that the Scots at Newark should send three hundred horse to receive him, and escort him to their army. Montreuil delivered to Charles an engagement from the Scottish commissioners for the king's personal safety, his conscience, and his honour, as well as for the security and religious freedom of his followers. This was also guaranteed by the King and Queen Regent of France on behalf of the Scots who had applied to them for their good offices. Charles wrote to Ormond in Ireland, informing him that he had received this security, and on the 3rd of April, 1646, Montreuil set forward northwards.

ENGLAND During the CIVIL WAR 1642-1649.

Artiste Illustrators. Ltd. 84

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Montreuil carried with him an order from the king to Lord Bellasis, to surrender Newark into the hands of the Scots, but on arriving at Southwell, in the camp of the Scots, he was astonished to find that the leaders of the army professed ignorance of the conditions made with the Scottish Commissioners in London. They would not, therefore, undertake the responsibility of meeting and escorting the king—which they declared would be a breach of the solemn league and covenant between the two nations—till they had conferred with their Commissioners, and made all clear. The security mentioned by Charles to Ormond would, if this were true, have been from the Commissioners only; and there must have been gross neglect in not apprising the officers of it. Montreuil was greatly disconcerted by this discovery, burnt the order for the surrender of Newark, and wrote to Charles to inform him of the unsatisfactory interview with the Scots. It is doubtful whether Charles ever received this letter. At all events, impatient of some results, for the Parliamentary army was fast closing round Oxford, he snatched at another chance. Captain Fawcett, Governor of Woodstock, sent to tell him that that garrison was reduced to extremities, and to inquire whether he might expect relief, or whether he should surrender it on the best terms he could obtain. Charles immediately applied to Colonel Rainsborough, the chief officer conducting the siege of Oxford, for passports for the Earl of Southampton and Lindsay, Sir William Fleetwood, and Mr. Ashburnham, to treat with him about the surrender of Woodstock; but the main thing was to propose the coming of the king to them on certain conditions. Rainsborough and the other officers appeared much pleased, but said they could not decide so important an affair without reference to their superior officers, but if the offer were entertained, they would the next day send a pass for them to come and complete the negotiation. If the pass did not come, it must be understood that the offer was not accepted. No pass came, and the king was reduced to great straits, for the Parliamentarian armies were coming closer and closer. He applied then to Ireton who was posted at Woodstock, but he returned him no answer; to Vane, but he referred him to Parliament; and thus was the humiliated king treated with the most insulting contempt. It was believed that it was the intention of Parliament to keep Charles there till Fairfax and Cromwell, who were now marching up from the west, should arrive, when they would capture him and have him at their mercy.

At length Montreuil informed Charles that deputies from the army had met the Commissioners at Royston, and that it was settled to receive the king. There are conflicting accounts of the proceedings at this period. Clarendon and Ashburnham, who have both left narratives, vary considerably. Ashburnham, the king's groom of the chambers, says that word was sent that David Leslie would meet his majesty at Gainsborough with two thousand horse, but Montreuil's message was that the Scots would send a strong party to Burton-on-Trent, beyond which they could not go with that force, but would send a few straggling horse to Harborough, and if the king informed them of the day he would be there, they would not fail him. As to a proposal that Charles was impolitic enough to make to these Scottish Covenanters, to form a junction with Montrose, a man whom they hated with a deadly hatred for his ravages and slaughters of their party, they treated it with scorn; and, says Montreuil, "with regard to the Presbyterian government, they desire his majesty to agree with them as soon as he can. Such is the account they make here of the engagement of the king, my master, and of the promises I had from their party in London." He adds that if any better conditions could be had from any other quarter, these ought not to be thought of. Montreuil wrote twice more, the last time on the 20th of April, expressing no better opinion of the Scots, and saying that they would admit none of his majesty's followers save his two nephews, Rupert and Maurice, and such servants as were not excepted from the pardon; and that they could not then refuse to give them up to the Parliament, but would find means to let them escape.

A gloomier prospect for the king than the one in that quarter could scarcely present itself. It appears that he had not yet agreed to the ultimatum of the Scots—the concession of the supremacy of the Presbyterian Church—and therefore there was no actual treaty between them. But all other prospects were closed; Charles must choose between the Scots and the Parliament, the latter body pursuing a contemptuous and ominous silence. Fairfax and Cromwell were now within a day's march of the city, and Charles made his choice of the Scots. Yet so undecided even at the moment of escaping from the city was he, that he would not commit himself irrevocably to the Scots, by announcing to them his departure and the direction of his journey. It is remarkable, indeed, that he had not before, or even now, thought of endeavouring to escape to Ireland, and making a second stand there with the confederates, or of getting to the Continent and awaiting a turn of fortune. But he seemed altogether like a doomed mortal who could not fly his fate.