[269] Relation of the Incident, for so this event is termed. ‘5-600 following his coach, amongst whom were all those that were cited to the Parliament, and likewise those that were accused to have been of this plot against us.’
[270] Despatch of the French minister Sabran, 20 March, 1645. The King assured him, ‘qu’il avait tiré serment sur leur foi et leur honneur du chancelier d’Ecosse, du comte d’Argyle et de Leslie, que jamais ils ne se mêleroient de la religion d’Ingleterre et ne l’assisteroient jamais à ce sujet.’
[271] Narrative of Macguire, in Nalson ii. Carte, who denies it, tries in vain to clear the old English Catholics of all participation.
[272] Sanderson 438. ‘A gentleman of a meer Irish family, but a true Protestant by a long conversation with the English.’
[273] This apology, as well as another addressed to the Queen, proves clearly that the authority to seize the goods of the Protestants, which the Irish professed to have received from the King himself, was a deliberate invention, as was maintained from the first moment. If not, how came the Catholics not to refer to it?
CHAPTER VIII.
DAYS OF THE GRAND REMONSTRANCE.
Wearied with the labours of the long session, the English Parliament during the King’s absence entered on a recess, which was to last from September 9 to October 28, not however without first appointing a committee, chosen of both Houses, to despatch current business and maintain order.
Men breathed again after the tension at which the immense activity of the last ten months had kept their minds: but when they came quietly to look back upon the past, the feeling that was evinced was by no means one of entire satisfaction[274]. There was no blinding themselves to the fact that they had gone far beyond the prospects which had floated before the eyes of the majority at the time of the last elections to Parliament. Instead of a restoration of the rights of Parliament on the ancient footing[275], the constitution was endangered, and all power fallen into the hands of a few men, who had the majority in the divisions. The members who returned to their counties did not give a very satisfactory report of the mode of carrying on the debates, in which they were often prevented from stating their views, so that there was not complete freedom of speech[276]. Disapproval was especially A.D. 1641. aroused by a resolution which had been passed in very thin houses during the last days of the session, and clothed with legal force without respect to constitutional forms. It related to spiritual affairs. The Calvinistic communion-tables that had been set aside were again to be restored, the pictures and ceremonial vessels which had been introduced by Laud to be removed, the bowing at the name of the Redeemer discontinued, and Sunday on the other hand to be observed with the Sabbatarian rigour of the Scots. Without having arrived at a complete agreement with the Upper House, which in its weakened condition still offered some resistance, but supported by a minority there which under the circumstances was considerable, the Lower House issued this ordinance, apparently no longer troubling itself about the old forms which required the concurrence of the three components of the legislature. The ad interim commission, of which John Pym was the most active member, held that this declaration should be published everywhere, and carried into effect so far as was possible without a breach of the peace. Lecturers devoted to the Presbyterian system were appointed side by side with the parochial clergy who adhered to Anglicanism. The idea was—and it was at the moment recommended by political considerations—to approach as nearly as was possible without much ado to the Scottish system.
No doubt the Presbyterians far and wide in the country were well inclined to assist: but they were by no means so strong in England as in Scotland; the Episcopal Church had struck deep root in England. Men would endure no alterations in the Book of Common Prayer, which had so long formed the basis of their domestic and public devotions: they had already grown used to the altars, and liked the dignity of the restored ceremonial: nor were they willing to be deprived of the bishops, who were popular in many quarters, especially as they were likely to be easier to keep A.D. 1641. in order than the many thousands of lay elders to be substituted for them. Here and there tumultuous scenes took place in the churches where attempts were made to give effect to the orders of Parliament: elsewhere the people declared against the decrees of the Synod of Dort, for the doctrines of Laud’s system were of an Arminian character: in a great number of counties petitions were circulated for the maintenance of that episcopal constitution which had been inherited from the earliest times. Bishop Williams of Lincoln, who during these months made a personal visitation of his large diocese, called to remembrance the services of the bishops in heading the resistance to the aggressions of Rome: he declared it to be a conscientious duty to abide by the arrangements made by their forefathers, so long as they were not legally repealed: no one, he said, should be led astray after the idol of imaginary freedom, for there would be so many masters that all the rest would be slaves[277].
Williams had belonged to the foremost opponents of Laud and his regulations: but zealous as he was in resistance to Laud, he was equally free from all Puritan and Scottish predilections. He refused to designate the Scots as loyal subjects, as was expected of him in the thanksgiving service for the restoration of peace with Scotland: he was willing to allow a limitation of the prelates’ authority, but insisted on the maintenance of their dignity, and of the forms of church government. He offered direct opposition to the orders of the Lower House and its commission, to the extent of declaring that all who should follow them would deserve punishment.