There were two distinct views as to the changes which ought to be undertaken in relation to prelacy. In January, 1641, the English clergy of Presbyterian sentiments, seven hundred in number, placed beside the root and branch petition one of A.D. 1641 their own, which aimed not at the abolition but at a reform of the English episcopate. They desired to confine the bishops to their spiritual functions, and further to limit these, especially in respect to ordination and ecclesiastical censure, and to deprive them of a part of their revenues, and of their influence in the State, namely, their seat and voice in Parliament. In reference to the constitution of the legislative authority in the realm, there was no difference between the two programmes: but the latter did not interfere so fundamentally with the conditions of daily life. The relegation of the episcopate to its original functions was sure to meet with wider assent than its entire abolition.

Among the existing committees was one for ecclesiastical affairs: the first debate of the Lower House on this subject (Feb. 9) was on the question whether the two petitions, or only one of them, should be referred for consideration to this committee. The most conspicuous speakers were Lord Digby and Nathaniel Fiennes.

Digby remarked, that any one who looked merely at the abuses might very likely be disposed to cry out with the fifteen thousand petitioners, ‘Down with the bishops!’ but that in the great council of the nation men ought not to be thus swayed by passion. He recalled the services which the episcopal order had rendered since the Reformation, and the good repute which it enjoyed abroad even among the Protestants, as he had himself often observed. To try to establish in England a Presbyterian system would be a rash, an impracticable, an Utopian undertaking. He repeated what the King had already openly declared, that he could never assent to the abolition of Episcopacy, with the addition that the crown could not possibly spare the bishops. This was of course a reason why its opponents should not tolerate it. Fiennes rejected Episcopacy chiefly because its jurisdiction was opposed to the secular courts, and its natural policy hostile to that of Parliament. The sees and chapters with their dependencies he likened to old trees in a forest, which by their roots and wide-spreading branches prevent the young growth from coming up: if they are felled and uprooted the young trees will obtain fresh air, and there will be valuable timber also for the church and A.D. 1641 kingdom. For already the idea was gaining favour of using the spiritual revenues to defray both earlier expenses and also those still being incurred for the maintenance of the two armies. Fiennes however met with considerable opposition. After the matter had been debated a whole day the vote seemed likely to go against him. Meanwhile however the question had been eagerly discussed in the city: although here both views found supporters, yet public opinion, as Baillie observed, was in favour of Episcopacy being rooted out totally and entirely. The petitioners were not going to be defeated at the first step. Next day they mustered at Westminster some two thousand strong, to lend support to their suit, as they said. And so great was the impression in fact produced by this demonstration, that a majority of about thirty-five declared for the reference of both petitions to the committee, which was at the same time completed in a corresponding manner, Nathaniel Fiennes and the younger Vane being added to it. Of the proceedings of the committee unfortunately but few fragments are preserved to us; by way of specimen, the questions about the authority claimed by the bishops were discussed with much ecclesiastical learning. Selden in particular, who already enjoyed a great reputation, defended Episcopacy with great earnestness and success. The committee however did not decide in favour of abolishing the constitution itself, conformably to the London petition. On the other hand, the views of the preachers found much favour: not only was it resolved that the exclusion of the bishops from temporal affairs was advisable, but their authority in certain spiritual functions was disputed, and the retention of the rich revenues of the chapters called in question[226]. On March 9 the committee reported to the Lower House to this effect. In conformity with the report the House two days later passed a resolution that the legislative and judicial authority of the bishops in the House of Peers, as well as their participation in temporal courts, was a hindrance to the discharge of their spiritual duties and generally injurious to the commonwealth, A.D. 1641 and that these powers might and should be taken from them by bill[227]. We see the wide scope of this resolution, which severely shook one of the chief foundations of the English constitutional edifice, as it had been framed in the course of centuries; it corresponded to the political tendencies of the time, but yet in contrast to the popular views of the day appeared altogether too moderate. The city mob, which saw itself checked in its course, was little contented therewith. The Scots saw in the resolution only a beginning of the good work: at present, said they, you are stripping off the roof, another time you will pull down the walls. They did not hesitate to address to the Upper House, before which the matter was now to come, a document drawn up by Henderson, in which they declared against Episcopacy altogether.

In the same paper the other affair was also referred to, which the Upper House had before it, and which was soon to concentrate on itself the almost exclusive attention of all men.

The Proceedings against Strafford.

The Commons had impeached the Viceroy of Ireland for high treason because he had attempted to overthrow the fundamental laws of England and to introduce arbitrary government. On January 30 they laid before the Upper House the grounds of the impeachment in twenty-eight articles[228]. When Strafford read the articles he took courage. He wrote to his wife that there was not a capital offence in any one of them: he hoped that these storm clouds would soon disperse, and that they should live to spend calm days together. It is an indication of his opinion, that he sought and obtained the King’s leave to mention in his defence the A.D. 1641 deliberations which had taken place in the Privy Council, in spite of the oath which he had sworn to observe secrecy.

The commencement of the proceedings before the Lords in Westminster Hall was delayed till March 22. Then the Lords took their seats in their proper order of precedence on the platform which had been erected on the floor of the Hall. The members of the Lower House sat on each side on benches rising in the form of an amphitheatre. Spectators’ galleries had been erected, especially one for the King and Queen, who appeared there with their attendants. At 9 a.m. Strafford entered. The manly expression of his countenance was heightened by the marks of illness under which he was suffering: his whole bearing breathed confidence in his cause, gravity, and dignity.

The proceedings of the next few days related especially to Irish affairs. Not without a certain emotion Strafford replied to the accusations made by the Irish Parliament, which were given in evidence against him, that he thought to have earned the thanks of the nation. Among other charges was one of having taken the sum of £24,000 from the Irish treasury: he pointed out that he had been authorised by the King to spend Irish money to the amount of £40,000, and repeated with emphasis that he was an honourable man. Among the heaviest accusations was one of having kept a sentence of death suspended over a great Irish noble, Lord Mountnorris. Strafford was able to show that the sentence was pronounced without his participation, under the existing martial law, and at his prayer had remained unexecuted: he had wished merely to show the power of the State to the refractory. Many of the things laid to his charge the Privy Council had ordered, some the King had expressly dictated. He was accused of having desired to attach as much authority to the resolutions of the Irish Privy Council as to the acts of the Parliament there: he replied that a greater authority had always been allowed to the Privy Council in Ireland than in England, and that among a nation so little civilised it must be so. His defence, which was based on the distinction between the circumstances of England and Ireland, had in general more truth than the prosecution, which treated Irish A.D. 1641 events in the same way as if they had happened in England. It was not everything that Strafford could or would justify: but he pointed out that the things which could justly be imputed to him could only be reckoned as slight offences: the sum of all these misdemeanours did not amount to one felony, and a hundred felonies were yet no treason, the three things being altogether distinct from one another.

With redoubled vehemence the prosecution attacked his influence over English affairs, in relation to which the violent measures that he had counselled in his speeches, the furious threats which he had employed against the citizens of London on their refusal of a loan, and above all the advice given by him to the King to dissolve the last Parliament, were imputed as crimes. Strafford calculated that none of this could be proved against him. But after some delay a private document was produced, which seemed to admit of no answer: it was the protocol of the sitting of May 5, already mentioned, in the hand of Sir Henry Vane. The younger Vane, who belonged to the separatist party, had found it among his father’s papers, and without much hesitation had handed it to Stafford’s enemies. According to this paper Strafford had on that day, in his eagerness to induce the King to make war on Scotland, reminded him of the Irish troops, of which he could dispose, and that certainly in language which might perhaps apply to England also[229]. We will not discuss the question whether Strafford would not have brought the Irish army into England had need arisen: his disposition renders it not improbable, but as a matter of legal evidence it did not follow from the words of the protocol, and he himself gave it an unqualified denial. What will be the end of it, he added, if words which are spoken in the King’s Privy Council, half understood or misunderstood by its members, are to be turned into crimes; no one will any longer have the courage to speak out his opinion plainly to the King.

A.D. 1641