The opposition of religious opinions, the great European interests at stake, and the most important questions of internal policy, were mixed up with the quarrels of persons in high positions, who, in the event of a political defeat, would, according to old English custom, have to fear even for their lives.
The King had resolved that an Irish Parliament should precede the sitting of Parliament in England. Wentworth, who was not until now raised to a rank fully equal to his position, was nominated Lord Lieutenant in Ireland, and at the same time was made Earl of Strafford, which was the name of the wapentake in which Wentworth-Wodehouse was situated, where his ancestors had resided since the Conquest. He had now to go over to Ireland once more, in order to bring matters there to a successful issue.
He fully realised to himself the importance, the difficulty, and even the danger of his position.
In his gratitude for his promotion in rank he once more expressed the opinion that the kingship was an image of the Divine Majesty. After his journey to Ireland, where he had to endure an attack of gout, he writes that whether in health or suffering, whether lame or blind, he would at all times be found faithful to the service of his lord. He promises to be back in England at the opening of Parliament, even if he should be tormented with pain, even though he might have to expect to find his most violent enemies in that body; but he A.D. 1640. strongly urges that everything should meanwhile be carefully prepared beforehand in England as well as in Ireland, and especially that the raising of troops, which had been resolved on, should not be delayed. ‘For that this work before us,’ he says, ‘should it miscarry, we are all like to be very miserable: but carried through advisedly and gallantly, it shall by God’s blessing set us in safety and peace for our lives after, nay, in probability, the generations that are to succeed us. Fi a faute de courage: je n’en ay que trop. What might I be with my legs that am so brave without the use of them[169].
In Ireland the Lord Lieutenant easily attained his object. On March 23, the very same day on which he invoked the loyalty of the King’s Irish subjects against the Scottish Covenanters, whose designs he declared to be detestable, the Irish granted four subsidies, adding that they were ready, in case the war continued, to devote all their possessions, and even their persons, to the service of the King. Further measures were taken to equip an army of 8000 men, with cavalry and artillery. Thus, after a stay of fourteen days, in which he had successfully executed his plans, Strafford recrossed St. George’s Channel.
At the English Court meanwhile negotiations with the Scots had been resumed, but the commission appointed by the King to manage the affair decided that, if Scotland did not first of all acknowledge both those rights, without which no supreme authority could exist, namely, the right of convening and dissolving deliberative assemblies in Church and State, as well as of vetoing any measure proposed in these assemblies, no further negotiation could be carried on with that country. Strafford, successful and full of conscious pride in consequence of his success in Ireland, thought that matters had been so skilfully arranged that the Scottish war would be ended as soon as begun, and that the Earl of Argyle would sell his cause at a cheap price.
The eyes of every one in the three kingdoms were now turned upon the English Parliament, to which the question was submitted, whether it would support its sovereign in his position A.D. 1640. in Europe, and, above all, maintain him in his sovereignty over Scotland, or whether it would, on the contrary, attempt to give effect to its own ancient but hitherto repressed claims.
On April 13/23, 1640, the Parliament, as had been announced, was opened. The Lord Keeper above all things set before them the necessity of giving the King assistance against the Scots. He read the despatch of the six Scottish nobles already referred to, by which Colvil had been accredited at the court of the King of France, whom in the despatch, after French fashion, they simply called ‘The King.’ Charles I himself added a few words on the matter. The Lord Keeper’s proposal aimed at securing an immediate grant of adequate subsidies; without this, it was said, the war could not be conducted, and yet it must be waged in the following summer. A formal approval of tonnage and poundage which the King, under the pressure of necessity, had hitherto collected without approval, was also now proposed. If these grants should be made, which the King regarded as a pledge of the affection and loyalty of his subjects, he would prove himself on his part, it was said, a just, gentle, and gracious sovereign; then, and not till then, might petitions directed to promote the welfare of England be brought under discussion, and the King would then co-operate with Parliament to the advantage of the country.
It was intended that, before any further discussion of the questions of domestic policy at issue, the King should be placed by means of copious subsidies in a position to revive the royal authority which had been shaken in Scotland, and, in consequence, everywhere else as well.
It is evident however that the English Parliament could not be moved to adopt such a course. In the elections the government had been again as unsuccessful on this occasion as it had been ten or twelve years before. The boroughs had the preponderance at the elections, and in the boroughs the party devoted to the Presbyterian and Parliamentary cause were in the ascendant. The oppression of the system previously pursued, and the apprehension of worse consequences, had necessarily led to this result. We learn that even in Westminster the King failed to procure a seat in the House A.D. 1640. of Commons for a confidential servant of his court: supporters of the Opposition were elected under his very eyes[170].