CHAP. XXVIII. Feb. 23. CHAPTER XXVIII. Propositions of the two Parliaments offered to the King at Newcastle, and rejected.-King delivered by the Scots to the English Parliament, and removed to Holdenby House. -Visitation of the University of Oxford.-Preachers sent to prepare the Way for the Visitation.-Enmities of Chillingworth and Cheynel.-Judgment of the University of Oxford against the Solemn League and Covenant, the Negative Oath, and the Directory.-Visitation of Oxford, and Ejectment of the Royalists.-King seized by the Army, and removed to Hampton Court.-Flies to the Isle of Wight.-Treaty of Newport.-A self-constituted High Court of Justice sits for the Trial of the King.-Conduct of the different religious Classes.The King beheaded-ΕΙΚΩΝ ΒΑΣΙΛΙΚΗ. WHILE the king was engaged in defending episcopacy with his pen, the English parliament was employed in preparing its propositions of peace. The Scottish commissioners demurred to them for some time, but having at length yielded, a deputation from the two houses joined with the Scots in opening a negotiation at Newcastle *. The articles relating to religion were, that the king, after the example of his father, should take the Solemn League and Covenant; that episcopacy, and all its appendages, should be abolished; that * The English peers were the earls of Pembroke and Suffolk; the commoners were sir Walter Erle, sir John Hippesley, Robert Goodwin, and Luke Robertson: the earls of Argyle, and Loudon, the chancellor, were the Scottish commissioners. Marshal was the chaplain of the deputation. Rushworth's Collections, vol. vi. A. D. 1646. the ordinance for calling the assembly of divines should be confirmed; that, since both kingdoms were obliged, by the covenant, to establish an uni- Charles I. formity of faith and worship in both kingdoms, such a reformation should be made as their respective parliaments, aided by their divines, might determine; that an oath, containing an abjuration of the papal supremacy, should be tendered to all Romanists, and, on their refusal to take it, they should be subjected to all the penalties of recusancy; that their children should be educated in the protestant religion; and, lastly, that bills should be passed for the better observance of the Lord's day, for the suppression of pluralities, and for the reformation of the two universities. The powers of the commissioners extended no farther than to receive the king's answer to the propositions, and to obviate his scruples. The earl of Pembroke plainly told the king that the commissioners must either receive his final resolutions within ten days, or return; and both intercessions and menaces were used to procure his assent. It has been said, that the English deputies besought him, on their knees, to comply; but the earl of Loudon advanced far beyond the language of expostulation, and spake to this effect: "The differences between your majesty and your parliament are grown to such a height, that, after many bloody battles, they have your majesty, with all your garrisons and strong towns, in their hands. They are now in a capacity to do what they will in church and state; and some are so afraid, and others so unwilling, to submit to your government, that they desire not you, nor any of your race, to reign longer XXVIII. CHAP. over them; but they are unwilling to proceed to extremities, till they hear your last resolutions. Now, sir, if you shall refuse to assent to the propositions, you will lose all your friends in the houses and in the city, and all England will join against you as one man: you will be deposed, and the nation will set up another government. The people of England will charge us to deliver you to them, and remove our armies within our own borders; and, upon your refusal, we shall be constrained to settle religion and peace without you. We own that the propositions are higher in some things than we approve; but the only way to establish your throne is to consent to them at present, and you may recover in a time of peace all that you have lost in this time of tempest and trouble*.” Through sir William Davenant, the queen added her solicitations, and implored the king to give up the church for his own safety: but all powerful as her advice generally was, it was now offered in vain. Davenant himself presumed to offer some arguments of his own; and having mentioned the church slightingly, the king abruptly dismissed him, and commanded him never again to appear in the presence of his sovereign †. When the time limited for receiving the king's answer had expired, he gave it in writing to the commissioners, but addressed it to the speaker of the house of peers. He said that he knew not what answer to make, till he should be satisfied whether any authority would be left to the monarch, if the *Rushworth's Collect. vol. vi. + Clarendon's Hist. of the Rebellion, b. 3. concessions now demanded were made. His counter proposal was, to come to either of his own palaces in the neighbourhood of London, and there reside, till, in a personal treaty with his parliament, such an agreement might be established as might be permanent. But he was convinced that the happiness of the kingdom would never be promoted by the propositions now submitted to him*. In his interviews with the commissioners, Charles endeavoured to convince them of the expediency of tolerating episcopacy, even for their own object, that of destroying the sectaries. He demanded liberty of conscience for himself and for those of his own persuasion: he was contented to restrain episcopal government to the diocesses of Oxford, Winchester, Bath and Wells, and Exeter, leaving the rest of England to the presbyterian discipline, with the strictest clauses which could be penned against the papists and independents. But the Scots would abate nothing of the rigour of the covenant, even to accomplish the overthrow of popery and sectarianism t. When the king failed in his attempts to convince the Scottish commissioners, he made an application, through his friends, to the kirk. His proposals were laid before the general assembly; but that body was equally inflexible with the commissioners. It was there resolved, that the king's heart was not with the kirk of Scotland, and that his promises could not be depended on, any longer * Clarendon's History, b. 10. † Duke of Hamilton's Memoirs, p. 288. A. D. 1646. Charles I. XXVIII. CHAP than it was not in his power to set them aside. Charles would have willingly retired into Scotland, but its clergy refused to admit him. The general assembly published a solemn warning to all estates and degrees of persons throughout Scotland, that, by receiving the king, the suspicions of the English nation would be excited. So far as their sovereign was for the Solemn League and Covenant, so far they would be for him; but if he refused to satisfy the desires of his people, both kingdoms were engaged to pursue the ends of the covenant against all lets and impediments. On reading the admonitions of the kirk, the Scottish parliament resolved, that the king be desired to grant the whole of the propositions, and that, in case of his denial, the kingdom should be settled without him. It was further resolved, that the kingdom of Scotland could not lawfully engage for the king, as long as he refused to take the covenant, and give the required satisfaction in point of religion *. 1647. January. After some delay, these resolutions of the Scottish parliament were delivered to the king: but he was steady in his denial of their demands. His determination having been reported, it was debated in the Scottish parliament, whether the king should be left in England, and to his parliament of that Jan. 16. kingdom? The question was decided in the affirmative; and on condition of receiving from England the arrears of pay due to the Scottish army, it was agreed that the army should be withdrawn from the English border, and that the person of the * Rushworth's Collect. vol. 6. |