The King’s chief object was to content the Scots, and separate their cause from the English. The events of the last year had convinced him that the connexion of Scottish and English affairs had involved him in all his troubles. The late projects, which were so contrary to his views, especially the attack made by Parliament on the bishops, he ascribed to Scottish influence. He believed that he could manage to resist in England if he could only pacify Scotland, but for this purpose concessions were indispensable. Even those royalists who followed Montrose, and had long sought to ally themselves with him, demanded these as absolutely necessary.
Even by these however his chief opponents were not won. The party in religion and politics which depended on Argyle, and had alone wielded the supreme power, was unwilling to lose it through new appointments, or even to share it with those who had hitherto opposed them: they accepted the King’s concessions, but at every fresh step opposed him again.
The King could appoint neither chancellor nor treasurer to please himself, so long as Argyle opposed him. At first a compromise was effected, by which Loudon, the very man whom Charles had wanted to treat as a traitor on account of his letter to the King of France, was elevated to the chancellorship. The King regarded it as a point of honour to save the men who had been conspicuously true to him from the anathema denounced against them in Scotland: the terms of an oath which Argyle had carried through the Assembly were so conceived that the clergy doubted whether it could possibly be interpreted in the King’s sense. We know the King’s predilection for Hamilton: now came the shock of finding that the friend who had advised most of what he had done against the dominant faction in Scotland himself joined that very party. To save his life Hamilton had allied himself with the Scottish commissioners, who again were dependent on the committee, at the head of which was Argyle: he now openly made common cause with the latter, and in Argyle’s enemies saw his own.
During these party conflicts some very unexpected scenes happened. Hamilton and his brother Lanerick quitted Edinburgh A.D. 1641. one day with Argyle, as their lives were in danger in the neighbourhood of the King, who inclined to their opponents. Thereupon the King, who regarded this mistrust as an insult, betook himself with an unusually numerous train, including all those whom he had taken into his protection, to the Parliament. It almost seemed as if he meant to use force against Argyle’s adherents. The rumour was spread that the fiercest and bitterest enemies of Hamilton, Kerr and Home, and their borderers, had been summoned to attack him. The consequence was that the other party armed also, and eventually gained the upper hand. After a fortnight’s absence Hamilton and Argyle returned, the latter more powerful than ever in Parliament. The second and third estates, the barons and burgesses, did nothing without him. Though here and there a preacher drew to the King’s side, most of them filled their churches with all the louder complaints against the plots which were being formed[269].
Unless Charles I were willing to break with the Parliament he had no choice but to make terms with the men of this party. Argyle was consulted on all weighty matters: in the nomination to offices, his friends, the determined supporters of the covenant, obtained the preference. Instead of the treasurer designated by the King a commission was named on which sat friends of Hamilton and Argyle. Lesley, who belonged to this party, was created Earl of Leven with all the pompous formalities of earlier times, and Argyle was advanced to a marquisate.
Men could not understand the King’s promoting his adversaries and passing over his supporters, and bitter complaints were uttered against him. But it was not his choice: it was necessity arising from the weakness of his friends and himself. These last concessions, like the earlier ones, originated in his plans for England. He obtained a promise from the men whom he promoted, namely, Argyle, Loudon and Lesley, that they would not interfere with religious affairs in England, nor ever help the English therein: they pledged A.D. 1641. him their honour, as he asserted, that they would not[270]. He meant to separate the ambition of the dominant Covenanters from the interests of the parliamentary party in England. For his attention was devoted almost entirely to England, as everything depended on depriving the revolutionary leaders there of the support which they derived from their connexion with the Scots. The sequel must show whether he was not deceiving himself, whether his old enemies now in favour would at a later time keep their word: but the whole question did not depend on this uncertainty. The result of the King’s present dealings was that the Scots attained the independence which had been their object from the beginning, their leaders retained the posts which they had as it were conquered, the influence of the crown was virtually annulled. In comparison to this practical result all the King’s schemes were of minor importance. For in events once accomplished there is a strength, independent of the combinations which produced them, which causes further consequences and reactions.
Through the disturbance of the universal order of things in the British islands, there was awakened a general and full consciousness of the elements of which they were composed, which found vent in movements that mocked at the union to which they had hitherto been subject.
The Irish Rebellion.
The government which Strafford had established in Ireland fell with him, the office of viceroy was entrusted to some of the judges, and shorn of the powers which gave it authority over the whole country. The Irish army, which had been formed with so much difficulty, and maintained in spite of so much opposition, was disbanded without any attention being vouchsafed to the King’s wish that it should be allowed to enter the Spanish service. Martial law, even for cases of rebellion, A.D. 1641. was virtually at an end; the High Commission in Ireland also was declared a general grievance and was abolished. Under the influence of events in England government based on prerogative, and on its connexion with the English hierarchy, as it had existed in Ireland since Elizabeth’s time, fell to the ground.
This revolution however might entail important results. The Irish people was Catholic: while the Protestant settlers were split into two hostile factions, and thereby the highest authority in the land, which bore a really Protestant character, was systematically weakened and almost destroyed, the thought of ridding themselves of it altogether was sure to arise in the nation. The steed, never completely broken in, felt itself suddenly free from the tight rein which hitherto it had unwillingly obeyed.