HAMILTON'S DESPONDENCY. not be sorry if the Covenanters even proceeded to call a Parliament and Assembly without authority from him. By so doing they would only put themselves more completely in the wrong.' 145 CHAP. 1638. June 24. talks of Hamilton it was not He threatreturn to to England. Hamilton had already discovered that so easy to win time as Charles imagined. ened to break off the negotiation, to England, and to advise the King to take another course. At last he obtained an engagement from the Covenanters that they would disperse to their homes, and would take no forward step for three weeks, during his absence, on the understanding that he would do his best to induce the King to summon an Assembly and a Parliament. In announcing this arrangement to Charles, Hamilton made the most of the delay that he had gained. It was possible, he said, that having once dispersed, the Covenanters would return in a better frame of mind. They would certainly not surrender the Covenant, but they would perhaps not so adhere to it' as now they did. He had also something to say about the impending war. He could not secure the landing of the proposed force of 6,000 men, but a lesser number might be brought in the fleet to make incursions in Fife and the Lothians. Dumbarton was already in safe hands, and he was in treaty with the Earl of Mar for the surrender of Edinburgh Castle. Yet he could not deny that the Covenanters were also active, and were importing arms freely from the Continent.2 returning June 29. Hamilton In reply, Charles gave the required permission to The Commissioner was to promise nothing has leave to which would afterwards have to be refused. return. 1 The King to Hamilton, June 25; VOL. I. Burnet, 60. He return. CHAP 1638. June 29. July 4. The Decla might, however, recall the law courts to Edinburgh, and give some vague hopes of a future Assembly and Parliament. On the other hand, the Declaration in its amended form must be published before he left Edinburgh.1 Hamilton had already set out for England when this letter reached him. He at once turned back, and on July 4 the King's Declaration was read at the ration read. Market Cross at Edinburgh. Covenanting Scotland was informed that the Canons and Service Book would only be pressed in a fair and legal way. Another tion. Once more, as soon as the herald had fulfilled his task, a Protestation was read in reply. The Covenanters again appealed to Assembly and Parliament as the only lawful judges of their cause. Nor did they fail to make it known that the Assembly which they contemplated was a very different one from those gatherings which had ratified the will of James with enforced subserviency. Bishops were to have no place there excepting as culprits to give an account of their misdeeds. Of this Assembly they began to speak in terms to which a servant of King Charles could hardly dare to listen. It was openly said that the right to hold Assemblies came direct The Divine from God, and that no earthly Prince might venture to interrupt them." right of Assemblies. The Coun cil takes part against the Declara tion. The long controversy was slowly disentangling itself. The claim of Charles to cast the religion of his subjects in the mould which seemed fairest in his eyes was met by the stern denial of his right to meddle with religion at all. This outburst of Scottish feeling penetrated to the HAMILTON'S INTRIGUE. Privy Councillors, who in the morning had given an official approval to the Declaration, signified their determination to withdraw their signatures. Unless this were permitted, they would sign the Covenant at once. To save himself from this indignity, Hamilton tore up, in their presence, the paper on which their approval had been recorded.1 147 CHAP. III. 1638. July 4. July 5. tion from encouraged Whilst the Lord Commissioner was still arguing Deputawith the Council, a deputation from the Covenanters the Covenarrived to remonstrate against the language of the anters. Declaration. Hamilton replied with firmness. The Council, he said, 'knew what they did, and would answer it.'2 When the members of the deputation took leave, he followed them out of the room. "I They are spoke to you," he is reported to have said as soon as by Hamil he was in private with them, "before those Lords of the Council as the King's Commissioner; now, there being none present but yourselves, I speak to you as a kindly Scotsman. If you go on with courage and resolution, you will carry what you please; but if you faint and give ground in the least, you are undone. A word is enough to wise men." "What I cannot do by strength," he had explained to Charles, "I do by cunning." Hamilton's cunning was as ineffectual as his strength. It is not necessary 1 Hamilton to the King, July 4; Hamilton Papers, 21. Burnet, 64. 2 Rothes, 175. 3 These words are given by Guthry (Memoirs, 40). He says that he heard the story on the same day from a person who had been told it by Cant, who was himself one of the deputation, and heard it again, 'in the very same terms,' that evening from Montrose, who was another of the deputation. It does not follow that the very words are accurately set down by Guthry when he came to write his Memoirs. The belief that he was playing a double game was too common in Scotland not to have had some foundation. The English author of the curious narrative printed in the Appendix to the Hamilton Papers (263), says that 'he gave them advice as his countrymen to keep to their own principles, lest the English nation . . . . should encroach upon them.' ton. CHAP. 1638. July 5. to suppose that he wished to ruin his master. He probably wanted simply to be on good terms with all parties, and thought, as was undoubtedly the case, that it would be better for Charles as well as for Scotland, that he should accept the terms which appeared to be inevitable. With this object in view, it was to him a matter of indifference whether Charles frightened the Scots into surrender, or the Scots frightened Charles into concessions. As the first alternative appeared to be more than ever improbable, he now Hamilton's took his journey southward, with the hope that Charles would give way more readily than his subjects. He was prepared to urge him to give his consent to the meeting of Assembly and Parliament, to allow them to give a legal condemnation to the recent ecclesiastical innovations, and even to place the Bishops for the future under the control of the General Assembly. It might well be doubted whether Charles would be prepared to yield so much. There could be no doubt whatever that the Scots would not be content with less. return to England CHAPTER IV. THE ASSEMBLY OF GLASGOW. CHAP. IV. 1638. July 1. The Enginformed of lishCouncil the state of affairs. ON July 1, a few days before Hamilton set out for England, Charles for the first time broached the subject of the Scottish troubles in the English Privy Council. The necessity of placing Berwick and Carlisle in a state of defence, made it impossible to treat the matter any longer as one in which England was wholly unconcerned. The King spoke of his wish to have brought about a religious uniformity between the two kingdoms. He explained that he had now found it necessary to entrust Arundel with the work of strengthening the Border fortresses, but that he had no intention of dealing hardly with the wild heads in Scotland, if they went no farther than they had done as yet. Beyond this vague statement he did not go. No opinion was asked from the Privy Councillors, and none was given. Charles was doubtless not unconscious of the difficulty of gathering an adequate military force. That weary look, which, transferred The King's to the canvas of Vandyke, gained for Charles so many dency. passionate admirers, was now stealing over his countenance. For the first time in his life he left the tennis-court unvisited, and, except on rare occasions, he avoided the excitement of the chase. He announced that, this year, his progress would be but a short one, and that he would return to Oatlands before the middle of August at the latest.1 1 Garrard to Wentworth, July 3. Straf. Letters, ii. 179. Zonca's Despatch, July, Ven. Transcripts. despon |