The Bishops were dissatisfied with the interview of the 28th, and requested the Archbishop to procure another audience. One was appointed for Tuesday, the 2nd of October; then it was postponed until the following day. The Prelates occupied the interval in careful deliberation, and drew up a paper, in which they advised, that the management of affairs in the counties should be entrusted to qualified persons amongst the nobility and gentry; that the Ecclesiastical Commission should be annulled, dispensations terminated, the President and Fellows of Magdalen restored, licenses to Papists recalled, the Vicars Apostolical inhibited, vacant Bishoprics filled, Quo Warrantos superseded, charters restored, a Parliament called, in which, with due regard to the security of the Established Religion, liberty of conscience should be granted; and, finally, permission vouchsafed to the Bishops to attempt the re-conversion of His Majesty to the Protestant faith.
The paper containing this advice was signed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Bishops of London, Winchester, Asaph, Ely, Chichester, Rochester, Bath and Wells, and Peterborough.[27]
Before the Bishops were admitted to the conference, James made another concession to popular excitement, by declaring in Council to the Aldermen of London, his intention to restore to the City the much-prized charter of which it had been deprived.
1688.
On the 3rd of October the second meeting of the Bishops with the King occurred. They presented their paper, and whatever the immediate effect of their last request might have been, they now received the assurance of a gracious consideration being given to their requests. The King almost immediately afterwards extinguished the Commission, and signified his purpose of rectifying corporate abuses.[28]
Within a few days, collects were drawn up by the Bishops, to be used in all cathedral, collegiate, and parochial churches and chapels within the kingdom during this time of public danger. They received His Majesty’s approval, and were printed for general use. It is curious to observe that they are so framed as to lay all the blame of existing calamities on the shoulders of the people, and to breathe a spirit of intense loyalty to His Majesty’s person.[29]
PREPARATIONS FOR REVOLUTION.
Upon the 12th of October, the King authorized the Bishop of Winchester to settle the troubles at Magdalen College; but so suspicious had the public become in reference to the Royal sincerity, that it was currently and falsely reported immediately afterwards, that he had altered his mind, and withdrawn the order.[30]
Repeated Royal conferences could not be held without attracting attention. They became the subject of common talk, and the suspicious temper of people appeared in a rumour, that the right reverend fathers were being hoodwinked by a Popish Sovereign and his Popish Councillors. Evelyn wrote to Sancroft on the 10th of October, telling him that the calling of His Grace and the Bishops to Court, and what had been required of them, was only calculated to create jealousies and suspicions amongst well-meaning people—the whole of the plan being the work of Jesuits. He also complained that in all the Declarations published in pretended favour of the Church of England, there was not once any mention made of the Reformed or Protestant religion.[31]
In another letter, the contents of which were intended to be communicated to His Grace, serious charges are alluded to as brought against the Bishops.