On the 30th of the following December, a Bill for the utter abolition of Episcopacy was read a first time;[326] and on the 26th of January following, 1643, the Bill was reported in the House of Lords as having been approved by the committee and read the third time. What had been threatened for nearly two years was done at last in a few hours. The emergency of the moment, and the critical state of the war, caused now the hasty passing of the measure, for which a long train of events had opened the way.
Other acts of a like complexion gather around this central one. On the 23rd of December, an order was given to secure the library, writings, and goods in Lambeth House, belonging to the see of Canterbury, and to take the keys of the palace, which was now to be used as a prison. On the 3rd and 5th of January, a similar disposal was made of Ely House and the palace of the Bishop of London, near St. Paul's. On the 30th of December, the Lords and Commons, ignoring altogether the laws and customs of the Episcopal Church, ordered a clergyman to be instituted to the vicarage of Chard, in Somersetshire; and on January the 7th, a Bill against pluralities and non-residence received a third reading by the Lords.[327]
Negotiations at Oxford.
Be it remembered, that all these Bills, after passing both Houses, remained without Royal assent; and therefore could not be regarded as Acts of Parliament according to the principles of the English Constitution: a circumstance which, of course, the Sovereign and the Royalist party took care to urge against them.
The Scotch Presbyterians, after having failed in their attempts at the beginning of the year 1642 to mediate between the King and the Parliament, continued anxiously to watch the progress of affairs in England, with a view to the accomplishment of that union between the two countries upon which they had already set their hearts. Willing, and even anxious, to take a part in the war, they waited until such applications for aid should be made by either of the belligerents as might seem most likely to terminate the strife in favour of their own Church schemes. Doubtless they would have helped the King, if, on the one hand, he would have renounced Episcopacy and embraced Presbyterianism, or if, on the other hand, Parliament had opposed Presbyterianism and maintained Episcopacy. But Charles despaired of their assistance, knowing well the religious antipathies existing between himself and them; and Parliament at first forbore to solicit their military help, not then feeling their very great need of it.
Even when a turn in affairs made it appear valuable, Parliament did not ask for it with as much earnestness as the northern brethren would have wished. It is plain, from Baillie's letters, that he and his friends were readier to draw the sword for the true Kirk on this side the Tweed than the English at present were to enter on a military alliance with Scotland for ecclesiastical objects. After a diplomatic lull—in which for a long time, says the worthy man, we "lay verie calm and secure,"[328] and when intrigues amongst the Scotch Royalists filled the Presbyterian magnates with alarm—they turned their thoughts towards Oxford, and sent Commissioners to treat with the King.
1643, January.
The Earl of Loudon, now Chancellor of Scotland, came to Oxford as the principal lay commissioner, and Alexander Henderson accompanied him as an ecclesiastical one. The latter bore a petition from the General Assembly, prepared by himself. This petition dwelt upon the insolence and presumption of Roman Catholics, and entreated that there might be an established uniformity in religion. It was urged that, since prelatical government had been taken away, a government by assemblies, as in other reformed kirks, should follow.[329]
Negotiations at Oxford.
Another embassy, with somewhat different designs, reached the same place soon afterwards. It included the Earl of Northumberland, with other noblemen and gentlemen, Bulstrode Whitelocke, who relates particulars of the visit, being one of them.[330] They were sent by the Parliament to confer with the King for an ultimate peace with an immediate cessation of arms, upon terms which were strictly prescribed in their commission. These ambassadors were not plenipotentiaries, but they were selected for their known moderation, as persons likely, on that account, to be acceptable to the monarch. They travelled with the King's safe conduct in a style which was no doubt very superior to that of the emissaries from the North. They had "six gallant horses in every coach," and the whole party was attended by a number of servants on horseback. This imposing procession, however, failed to awe the "rascality of the town;" for they, and even "some of better rank but like quality," reviled the distinguished visitors as so many rebels and traitors. However, Charles received them all in the gardens of Christ Church very graciously, and held out his hand for each to kiss. Immediately they proceeded to business, and the Earl of Northumberland, "with a sober and stout carriage," read to the King the propositions of the two Houses. The Monarch began to interrupt. The Earl smartly replied, "Your Majesty will give me leave to proceed." Charles stuttered out, "I—I," and then paused, allowing the bold nobleman to have his way.