A history of England principally in the seventeenth century, Volume 2 (of 6)

by Leopold von Ranke

The Scots also on their part had reasons for not driving matters to extremities. An open conflict with the King would have fanned into bright flame the opposition in the North, which had hardly been quelled, and which was already stirring again, so that it would have been necessary to detach a military force to that quarter; and, as has been mentioned, such a conflict was no part of their original intention.

Hamilton had not long been stationed in the Frith when some of the leading Covenanters presented themselves for a conference with him, in which they offered to pay every kind of civil obedience to their sovereign, provided that they could obtain satisfaction as to their ecclesiastical institutions[123]. Hamilton applied to the King in reference to these proposals, and as from the beginning Charles had not intended to subdue the Scots by force, but only by taking arms to compel them to show greater compliance in negotiation, he now acceded to their proposals. On a further application, and on the appearance of symptoms of returning A.D. 1638. obedience in the army encamped over against him, he issued a safe conduct to his own camp for the four deputies whom the Scots appointed, that they might lay their demands before a commission nominated by himself.

The two armies had advanced into the field to meet one another, and lay encamped against one another in open hostility; but in temper they were not altogether opposed. In the one, obedience to the King had not yet been entirely thrown off: in the other it still reigned, but no longer in full strength. How then could men on both sides not hesitate before they caused fresh bloodshed between two nations of common descent, who had been closely connected together for the last century? Instead of fighting they began to negotiate. We must now turn our attention, not to deeds of war, but to arguments and counter-arguments advanced before an assembled council.

The royal commission was composed of men of very different views. With Arundel, in whose tent the meetings were held, sat Essex and Holland: among the Scots were seen some of the former champions of the movement, Rothes and Loudon. The negotiations began on June 11. Hardly had Arundel formally opened the conference when the King appeared in order to conduct his cause in person, for he could not let it be said of him that he was unwilling to listen to his subjects.

The Scots affirmed that their proceedings were in accordance with the acknowledged and written laws of the country. The King denied this: for how indeed could it be said that the last Assembly at Glasgow had been elected or held according to legal forms? In consequence of this he was also unable to regard their decisions as legal or to ratify them. He assured them that he had no intention of altering anything in the matter of religion or law which had been laid down by sovereign authority: but if he said one thing and they another, who, he asked, was to judge between them: who was to fix the sense of the laws?

This in fact was the question at issue. He had intended to decide it in his own favour by superiority of arms, and to break down the political and military opposition in which A.D. 1638. the Scots had engaged. As he had not succeeded in doing this, while at the same time matters had not gone so far as to compel him to an absolute surrender—for at all events he had achieved one object, and had in the first place secured England against an invasion of the Scots, which had been feared—no final accommodation could be expected.

The Scots declared in writing that their wishes were only directed to the maintenance of religion and liberty in accordance with the ecclesiastical and political laws of the country: that they would never desire anything which was not laid down in these; and that they were ready as loyal subjects to obey the King. Charles I replied, that if such were their wishes, they were also his own.

A movement towards an approximation now took place, in which however each side reserved to itself its own views as to what the laws really contained.

The agreement which was arrived at after some days (June 17), the so-called Pacification of Berwick, arranged that the Scottish army should be disbanded, the English fleet withdrawn from the Frith, the King’s castles with their ammunition restored to him, and that any vessels that had been detained should be returned to the Scots[124]. The King consented that in the following August first a free General Assembly, and immediately afterwards a Parliament also, should be held; that they should henceforward be regularly summoned, and that the one should have the decision of ecclesiastical, the other that of temporal affairs. He did not however consent to acknowledge the last Assembly at Glasgow as legal, from considerations, as was said in the proclamation, which were imposed upon him by the sovereign power which had descended to him from his ancestors. What were these considerations? Even if Charles I allowed everything which he or his father had lately introduced to be swept away, yet he would not permit that any part of it should be declared illegal or papistical. He would not allow the reproach of having ordained anything illegal to fall either on himself or on his father. He assented to A.D. 1638. the most important enactments of the Assembly at Glasgow; he assented provisionally even to the abolition of episcopacy; but he held to the view that the Assembly had been illegally summoned, and was illegal: that which might be reaffirmed in a new assembly approved by him, and that only, would he then ratify. In other matters also he clung with similar inflexibility to his conception of the supreme power which must remain in his hands. He was ready to allow periodical ecclesiastical and temporal assemblies to meet. His commissary was to be instructed to proclaim the meeting of such an assembly again within a year; but it appeared to him insufferable that he should be pledged to do this for all future time. If he allowed that his veto should not be exercised with regard to their next proceedings, he was yet resolved not to allow himself to be robbed of this veto for ever. But these are just the most important questions which arise as to parliamentary or representative forms of government. How could it be expected that the strong opposition between royal authority and the independence of parliamentary and ecclesiastical assemblies which was implied in these questions, and which had deep root in Scotland especially, should so easily be brought to a settlement without a real and strenuous conflict.

The news of the Pacification of Berwick was received with great satisfaction, especially in the Protestant world. That the Scots had not been overpowered appeared of itself to be an advantage; but it was thought moreover that King Charles would desire to give employment to the Scots in order to keep them obedient; and where else could that employment be found but in the German war? It is affirmed that Lesley offered him to lead his troops immediately to the Continent for the reconquest of the Palatinate; that he did not require the King to bear any other cost but that of their transport; for Lesley intended to maintain his Scots in Germany as Mansfeld and Wallenstein had maintained their troops[125]. King Charles is said to have entered for a moment into this plan. The rejection of his last overtures A.D. 1638. by Austria appeared to justify it, and no doubt all his affairs might, had he accepted the proposal, have assumed a different aspect. But so bold and reckless an enterprise was repugnant to his character. After some reflection he put it aside. Apart from his fears of strengthening his opponents at home, his relations with France and Spain were not in such a condition that he could throw his weight decisively into the scale.