might befal him, rather than upon politic considerations deprive himself of the tranquillity of his mind; and therefore, excepting his majesty's consent to license the assembly's lesser catechism with a proper preface, in all other mattersin difference he resolved to abide by his former answers.*

At the close of the treaty the king made a short speech to the commissioners, in which he reminds them how far he had condescended for the sake of peace. He desired them to put a good interpretation on his vehement expressions on some part of the debates, there being nothing in his intentions but kindness; and that as they had used a great deal of freedom, and shewed great abilities in their debates, which had taken him off from some of his opinions, that they would use the same freedom with his two houses, to press them to an abatement of those things in which his conscience was not yet satisfied, which more time might do, his opinions not being like the laws of the Medes and Persians unalterable or infallible; adding his very hearty thanks for the pains they had taken to satisfy him, professing that he wanted eloquence to commend their abilities. He desired them candidly to represent all the transactions of the treaty to his two houses, that they might see nothing of his own interest, how near or dear soever (but that wherein his conscience is not satisfied), can hinder, on his part, a happy conclusion of the treaty.

The king's concessions were certainly a sufficient foundation for peace with the Presbyterians, if they could have been relied upon, and were so voted by the parliament when it was too late. His majesty had given up the main pillars of the hierarchy, by consenting to abolish archbishops, deans, and chapters, and that a bishop should not act without his presbyters; which was archbishop Usher's scheme, and all that the Puritans at first contended for; but the Scots and the English Presbyterians, grown lofty in power, and being less apprehensive of danger from the army than they ought, concluded they could not fail of their whole establishment in a few weeks, though there was not the least provision for liberty of conscience for dissenters, which they might have been sensible would occasion high discontents in the army. The commissioners were disposed to an accommo-~ dation, and took all opportunities to assure his majesty, that. * Clarendon, p. 224. Rushworth, p. 1326. 1334.

+ Vol. Pam. no. 83.

if he would but yield for a time, things should be made easy to him afterward. But the truth is, as the king would not trust the parliament, so neither would they the king, because they observed, (1.) His dilatoriness in the treaty, as if he waited for some advantageous turn of affairs to revoke his concessions. (2.) His resolute disputing every inch of ground without yielding a single proposition, or none of any considerable moment. (3.) His majesty's maxim, that what was yielded out of necessity was not binding when the restraint was taken off. (4.) They suspected his sincerity, because the duke of Ormond was at this very time treating with the Irish rebels by his majesty's commission, which he would not recall.* (5.) They remembered his majesty's artful manner of interpreting away his concessions. (6.) They gave out that he was not his own master, but that his con

* The preceding assertions of Mr. Neal much displease Dr. Grey; he contradicts them, and endeavours to confront them with facts. He challenges Mr. Neal to produce one single well-attested fact to support his reflection on the king's sincerity. The appeal for the truth of the charge may be made to the reader, who has accom panied Charles through his reign, and observed his conduct on various occasions. The appeal may be made to the facts, that have been collected in Dr. Harris's Historical and Critical Account of Charles I. p. 72-83, and in An Essay towards a True Idea of the Character of King Charles I. p. 93-102. We may also refer to what has before been advanced on this point. It suffices to add here the authority of Ludlow only; who says, "that the duplicity of the king's dealings with the parliament manifestly appeared in his own papers, taken at the battle of Naseby and elsewhere." Ludlow's Memoirs, 4to. 1771, p. 114.- -Dr. Grey asserts against Mr. Neal, that "from the MS. treaty it is manifest, that there was not the least delay on the king's part." But he forgets the duration of the treaty, which was to continue forty days only; and, commencing on the 18th of September, did not close till towards the end of November: and would not have ended then, if the army had not seized his majesty. For the answers of the king were voted "to be a ground only for the house to proceed on to settle the peace of the kingdom." Whitelocke's Memoirs, p. 353.-But the length of the treaty could arise only from the king's not at first yielding to the propositions made by the commissioners. Mr. Neal's next assertion, that the king disputed every inch of ground" is implied in the duration of the treaty, and it is proved by the quotation, which Mr. Neal, a little farther on, makes from Whitelocke. But Dr. Grey attempts to disprove it, by bringing forward three concessions made in one day, the 21st of October, by the king. The reader will determine, whether an exception drawn from the transactions of one day can disprove an assertion which applies to a treaty depending more than seventy days: and those concessions, he will consider, were not yielded till the forty days originally appointed for the continuance of the treaty, were drawing to an end. In opposition to our author's fourth reason, Dr. Grey pro duces from Williams's MS. collections, a letter of the king, 25th of November, to the commissioners, in which he informs them (sending at the same time the letter itself for their perusal) that he had written to the marquis of Ormond, "acquainting him with such informations as he had received from the two houses concerning his proceedings in that kingdom, and requiring him to desist from any farther prosecution of And in case he shall refuse, his majeety will then make such public declaration against his powers and proceedings as is desired."-Notwithstanding this, Mr. Neal spoke on authority. For on the 21st of November, the house received letters from the Isle of Wight, "that the king refused to pass any thing against the marquis of Ormond, until the treaty be wholly ended." Whitelocke's Mem. p. 350. See also Lord Clarendon, vol. 3. p. 222.-ED.

the same.

science was under the direction of his divines, who would put him upon all extremes for their support. (7.) They were incensed at the murders and depredations of the cavalier-soldiers, even after they were beaten out of the field, and were afraid of their recovering the management of public affairs. And lastly, They were as firmly persuaded of the divine institution of presbytery, and the obligation of the covenant, as the king and his divines were of the jus divinum of episcopacy.

Yet under all these propossessions, lord Clarendon* observes some of the commissioners found means to advertise the king in private, "that they were of his majesty's judgment about church-government, which they hoped might be preserved, but not by the method his majesty pursued; that all the reasonable hope of preserving the crown was in dividing the parliament and the army, which could be done no other way than by giving satisfaction with reference to the church. This might probably unite the parliament and the city of London, and enable them to bring his majesty to London with honour, where he might have an opportunity of gaining more abatements than he could ever expect by refusing to sign the preliminaries. Many advertisements came from his majesty's friends in London, and other places, that it was high time the treaty was at an end, before the army drew nearer London, which it would shortly do, as soon as those in the north had finished their works." Sir J. Browning entreated his majesty, in his closet, to make all his concessions in one declaration, at one instant, and in one day. The parliament-commissioners were no less importunate with the king, but he was inflexible, and usually out of humour. Remarkable are the words of Mr. Whitelocke, speaking of the above-mentioned concessions: "More than this could not be obtained, though most earnestly begged of his majesty by some of the commissioners (great persons) with tears, and upon their knees, particularly as to the proposition concerning religion, wherein churchgovernment, public worship, and chiefly the revenues of the church, swayed more with the king's chaplains then about him; and they more with his majesty (continually whispering matters of conscience to him) than the parliament, and all his commissioners, could prevail with him for an *Book 11. p. 217.

agreement, though possibly his own judgment (which was above all theirs) might not be so fully convinced by his eager divines about him."* But these had possession of his majesty's conscience, and directed his answers:† and though they abhorred the thoughts of deposing the king, or putting him to death, it ought to be considered, whether their stiff and imprudent behaviour did not manifestly contribute to that catastrophe.

His majesty being thus entangled, was pleased, before the breaking up of the treaty, to send for archbishop Usher, and asked him this question, "Whether he found in all antiquity, that presbyters alone ordained any?" To which the archbishop replied frankly, that "he could shew his majesty more than that, even that presbyters alone had successively ordained bishops," and instanced in St. Jerome's words, in his Epist. ad Evagrium, where he says, the presbyters of Alexandria chose and made their own bishops from the days of Mark the apostle till Heraclus and Dionysius. At the same time the archbishop offered his own scheme for the reduction of episcopacy to the form of presbytery, which his majesty had formerly rejected, but was now at length willing to accept, as the archbishop himself told Mr. Baxter; but the Scots and English Presbyterians were grown so stubborn that they would not acquiesce.

Though the commissioners had no power to recede from their instructions, the treaty was prolonged from time to time, in hopes that something or other might gain upon the king; but his majesty was frequently out of temper, and treated the commissioners with no degree of confidence. The forty days to which the treaty was limited being ended October 28, it was enlarged for fourteen days, and then for seven, and so on to the 28th of November, for which, says lord Clarendon,§ his majesty was nothing glad; nor did his friends in the house desire the prolongation, it being moved by those that wished the treaty might have no good effect, to *Whitelocke's Memoirs, p. 325.

+ Dr. Grey is displeased with this representation, and impeaches the truth of it. He says, that when Mr. Vines took the freedom to observe, "that possibly his majesty's scruples were not so much his own as other men's," the king a little warmly replied; "that it was a mistake; for his scruples were really his own, and contained in his first paper." The doctor did not reflect, that few men are willing to have it supposed, and more unwilling to own, that they are led. But however this was, Mr. Neal is supported by the authority of Whitelockc.-Ed.

Baxter's Life, p. 206.

Vol. 3. p. 322.

give the army time to finish their summer's work, and return to London. On the last day of the treaty, when the commissioners pressed his majesty to consider, that there was not one whole day to determine the fate of the kingdom, and that nothing could save his majesty from the growing power of the army, but giving his two houses satisfaction in the particular of the church, "then (says lord Clarendon*) his majesty's own council, and the divines, besought him to consider the safety of his person, even for the church's sake, which had no prospect of being preserved but by his life, that the unavoidable necessity that lay upon him obliged him to do any thing that was not sin." And why did they not do this sooner? However, it seems they could only prevail for a suspension of the episcopal power in point of ordination and jurisdiction, till he and the two houses should agree what government should be established for the future. Which was the substance of all his majesty intended by his concessions. After supper the

commissioners took their leave, and having kissed his majesty's hand, began their journey next morning towards London. It is intrepid language that Mr. Warwick puts into the king's mouth on this occasion: his majesty said to him one night, "I am like a captain that has defended a place well, and his superiors not being able to relieve him he had leave to surrender it; but though they cannot relieve me in the time, let them relieve me when they can, else (says he) I will hold it out till I make some stone in this building my tombstone; and so I will do by the church of England."

Lord Clarendon is of opinion, "that the major part of both houses, as well as the commissioners, were at this time so far from desiring the execution of all their concessions, that if they had been able to have resisted the wild fury of the army, they would themselves have been suitors to have declined the greatest part of them." And were not the king's counsellors and divines sensible of this? Why then did they trifle away a month in fruitless debates, when it was evident to all men that the king's condition became more desperate every day?

Thus ended the famous treaty at Newport, which like all * Book 11. or vol. 3. p. 227.