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 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 2 encouraged ton. answer it.' 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." 8 "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. 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.' 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 149 CHAPTER IV. THE ASSEMBLY OF GLASGOW. CHAP. IV. 1638. July 1. The Enginformed of lish Council 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 CHAP. 1638. July The Com mittee on Scotch affairs. Attention drawn to Ireland. 1637. Aug. Wentworth's the west of Ireland. If the Council as a body was not consulted, a special Committee was formed from amongst its members, to discuss the practicability of an armed interference in Scotland. The Committee was soon hopelessly divided in opinion. The Catholics and semi-Catholics, Arundel, Cottington, and Windebank, were for instant war. Vane, Coke, and Northumberland hesitated in the face of its enormous difficulties. The promise of 200,000l. made by Juxon a few weeks before had melted away. Only. 200l. were at the moment in the Exchequer. The utmost that could be raised by borrowing was 110,000l., a sum which would go but a little way towards the maintenance of an army. What was of more consequence was, that the recent decision in the ship-money case had revealed the discontent of the English people, and it was freely acknowledged that they were more likely to support the Scots than to draw their swords for the King.1 In these desperate circumstances, it was natural that the thoughts of those who cared for the maintenance of the King's authority should cross St. George's Channel. There at least was a man who had shown that it was possible to educe order out of chaos. Might not the force which had curbed Ireland be employed to restore discipline in Scotland? Never had Wentworth been so hopeful of the success of his great experiment as in the summer of progress in 1637. In August, just as the Scottish resistance was growing serious, he set out for the West. In a letter to Conway he described, with much amusement, the triumphal arches erected in his honour, and the long speeches of welcome inflicted on him by the magistrates of the towns through which he passed. He 1 Northumberland to Wentworth, July 23. Straf. Letters, ii. 185. WENTWORTH IN IRELAND. 151 IV. was well satisfied with the more serious business of CHAP. "Hither are we come," he wrote his journey. from Limerick," through a country, upon my faith, if as well husbanded, built, and peopled as are you in England, would show itself not much inferior to the very best you have there. The business we came about is most happily effected, and His Majesty now entitled to the two goodly counties of Ormond and Clare, and, which beauties and seasons the work exceedingly, with all possible contentment and satisfaction of the people. In all my whole life did I never see, or could possibly have believed to have found men with so much alacrity divesting themselves of all property in their estates, and, with great quietness and singleness of mind, waiting what His Majesty may in his gracious good pleasure and time determine and measure out for them. I protest I that am, to my truth, of a gentle heart, find myself extremely taken with the manner of their proceeding. They have all along, to the uttermost of their skill and breeding, given me very great expressions of their esteem and affection, so as I begin almost to be persuaded that they here could be content to have me the minister of His Majesty's favour towards them as soon as any other."1 1637. Aug. and Clan Such a letter shows Wentworth at his best. It Ormond is probable that the days of this summer progress rickard. were the last of unalloyed happiness that he ever enjoyed. He could hardly doubt what was the cause of this unexpected loyalty. At Galway, two years before, he had acted in defiance of the great tribal lord the Earl of Clanrickard. At Limerick he was acting with the warm support of the Earl of Ormond. Whether it would have been possible by patience 1 Wentworth to Conway, Aug. 21, 1637. S. P. Ireland, Bundle 286. |