THE NEGOTIATION WITH THE KING DROPPED. 209 CHAP resistance, declaring that nothing but force would. LIV. induce him to leave his present quarters. 1647 negotia Obviously the attempt of Cromwell and Ireton to Failure come to terms with Charles had broken down; and, of the as might have been expected, each party to the ne- tions. gotiations threw the blame on the other. Charles held that the army had only offered him terms in order to sow division between himself and his subjects. The officers held that Charles only talked of conciliating them in order to divert their attention from the general attack upon them which he was preparing.1 When the Army Council met, as had been announced, on the 14th, nothing was said about any negotiation with the King. The discussion, on of the the other hand, turned on the necessity of forcing Council. Charles to accompany the army if it was called on to resist a Scottish invasion. For the present, however, no decision was arrived at, as no measures could be taken till the intentions of the Scots had been more clearly manifested. 1 Newsletter, Oct. 1, R.O. Transcripts. 2 Letter of Intelligence, Oct. 14, Clarendon MSS. 2,624. Oct. 14. Meeting Army 210 CHAP. 1647 Rumoured between and Ireton. CHAPTER LV. THE AGREEMENT OF THE PEOPLE. AT the time when the last overtures of the army were rejected by Charles, there were rumours that a difference of opinion had arisen between Cromwell difference and Ireton, a difference which was said to be caused Cromwell by Ireton's dissatisfaction with Cromwell's desertion of the King's interests. Though no more than this is known, the most probable explanation is that Cromwell, though not as yet prepared for a breach with the King, perceived that it would be necessary, if he was to be brought to terms, to put stronger pressure on him than could be put by the army alone. At all events, it is at this time that Cromwell is found the Pres aiming at a compromise with the Parliamentary Presbyterians, a compromise which was embodied in a scheme accepted by the Lords on October 13, and brought on for discussion in the Commons on the same day. Cromwell seeks a compromise with byterians. Oct. 13. The Lords' According to this scheme, Presbyterian governscheme for ment was to be established in the Church for three years-the very period for which the King's assent was secured; whilst, with certain exceptions, those a settle ment of religion. 1 "There hath been of late some difference between Cromwell and Commissary Ireton; and I am induced to think it to be the falling off of Cromwell from the King, because that Ireton, like an honest man, stands to make good what he hath promised, and lately, in discontent, offered to quit his command in the army." Letter of Intelligence, Oct. 11, Clarendon MSS. 2,622. 2 See pp. 69, 70. CROMWELL AND THE PRESBYTERIANS. who were desirous of worshipping in any other way were to be at liberty to do so, provided that they did nothing in disturbance of the peace of the kingdom. The exceptions were those who professed' the Popish religion,' and those who departed from the Christian religion as set forth in the Apostles' Creed, or held such doctrines as would render them liable, according to the recent Ordinance, to suspension from communion. Further, no one was to be freed from the penalty attached to those who did not attend divine service on the Lord's day unless he could show either a reasonable cause of absence, or that he was present to hear the Word of God preached or expounded unto him elsewhere.' I 6 211 CHAP. 1647 in West Hall. terianism settled till On the morning of the 13th, the day on which A crowd the Lords' proposal was to be discussed in the minster House of Commons, Westminster Hall was filled by a motley crowd of Roman Catholics, of seekers who professed that they were still in search of a religion, and of rationalists who declared themselves ready to conform to the dictates of reason only. To these Presby Cromwell had no help to give. Aiming at objects to be within the scope of practical achievement, he con- the end of tented himself with supporting the scheme already session. adopted by the Lords. Though he acted as teller in a division in favour of the three years' limit for the Presbyterian establishment, he was beaten by 38 to 35; and was again beaten by 41 to 33 on an amended proposal to fix the limit to seven years. The House then adopted without a division a resolution that the Presbyterian discipline should remain 1 The Moderate Intelligencer, E. 410, 25; L.J. ix. 482. the next CHAP. 1647 Question of tolera in force till after the next session of Parliament, whenever that might be.1 The remaining clauses relating to toleration and tion for the its limits were then run through without any Catholics. further division. Selden,2 indeed, pleaded hard for Selden and the Catholics as believers in Jesus Christ, and was Marten plead for them. Oct. 14. A pro posed Catholic petition. supported by Marten, who boldly asked why Presbyterians were to be tolerated if Catholics were excluded. The common-place answers were promptly forthcoming. Selden was told that the Catholics were idolaters, and Marten was answered with the argument that the Catholics unlike the Presbyterians had a foreign prince at their head. On the following day Selden and Marten replied at length. Selden drew the well-known distinction between idolatry and prayers for the intercession of the saints; whilst Marten, with his accustomed license of speech, carried the attack into the quarters of the Presbyterians. It was better, he said, to have one tyrant abroad than a tyrant in every parish, and even added that the Protestant clergy detested the Catholic priests simply on account of their superior chastity. Marten's words were not likely to carry much weight on a question of moral purity, and the House without a division persisted in refusing toleration to the Catholics. The victims of the Recusancy laws had indeed prepared a petition, in which they renounced the opinion that it was lawful to murder or resist excommunicated kings. It was all to no purpose. Even those Even those Independents who 1 C.J. v. 332. 2 "Seldenus Independente, e tutto interamente Ecclesiastico sine ecclesia." Newsletter, Nov. 1' Oct. 22, Roman Transcripts, R.O. 3 "Non e semetipso, sed a Spiritu Sancto." Ib. 4 Ib. 5 Salvetti's Newsletter, Oct. 22, Add. MSS. 27, 962, L, fol. 457. Nov: 1' A PRESBYTERIAN AMENDMENT. had hitherto supported their claims could do nothing for them, and their petition was not even presented to the House.1 It was one thing to grant Catholics toleration in accord with a restored King. It was another thing to wring its concession from a hostile public opinion. 213 LV. 1647 Even on a point on which public opinion was far Toleration less decided Cromwell was unable to reduce his new denied to be to those the Prayer Cromwell Presbyterian allies to reason. The House having who use refused to decrease the exceptions from toleration, Book. proceeded to include amongst them all who used the Book of Common Prayer. Thus amended, the Parliamentary Propositions became a direct defiance flung in Charles's face. As Cromwell did not even take a division on this proposal, it may reasonably be supposed that he saw opposition to be hopeless. On the 16th he acted with Marten as a teller Oct. 16. in favour of a proposal for immediately taking into and consideration the manner of the address to be made to the King.' They were beaten by a conjunction of Independents and Presbyterians, but it is easy to understand that Cromwell desired to hasten the presentation of this impracticable scheme in order to get rid of it by the King's inevitable rejection, and thus to prepare the way for a more reasonable settlement if such a settlement was to be had. Marten, on the other hand, was eager for haste because he desired no settlement in which the King should take a part. 3 Marten urge haste. divisions army. Every day that passed in uncertainty was increas- Growing ing the difficulties of Cromwell's position. In the in the army the anti-monarchical party was gathering strength. King and Parliament, it seemed, had tried their hands at bringing about a settlement, and had |