Yet under all these prepossessions, lord Clarendon|| observes some of the commissioners found means to advertise the king in private, "that they were of his majesty's judg ment 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 honor, 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 intreated 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 humor. Remarkable are the words of Mr. Whitlocke, 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 church government, 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 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

* Whitlocke's Memoirs p. 325.

|| Book xi. p. 217. Dr. Grey is displeased with this representation, and impeaches the truth of it. He says, that when Mr. Vines took the freedom to observe,

abhorred the thoughts of deposing the king, or putting him to death, it ought to be considered, whether their stiff and imprudent behavior 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. Jerom'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 majesty 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 Oct. 28, it was enlarged for fourteen days, and then for seven, and so on to the 28th of November, for which (says lord Clarendont) 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 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 that possibly his majesty's scruples were not so much in his own as other men's," the king a little warmly replied; "That it was a mis'take; 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 Mr. Whitlocke. Ed. + Vol. iii, p. 222.

Baxter's Life, p. 206.

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, 6 besought him to consider the safety of his person, even for the church's sake, which had no prospect of being 6 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 relive me when they can, else (says he) I will hold it out 'till 1 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 con'cessions, 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 the former proved unsuccessful, chiefly from an incurable jealousy between the contending parties, which how reasonable it was on either side must be left with the reader.

Book xi. or vol. iii. p. 227.

The noble historian observes, that the king sent the prince of Wales a journal of the proceedings of the treaty, and an exact copy of all the papers that had passed to the 29th of November, together with a letter of six sheets of paper written with his majesty's own hand, containing the reasons and motives of all his concessions. The conclusion of the letter, his lordship says, deserves to be preserved in letters of gold, as it gives the best character of that excellent prince; but the copy does not, in my opinion, resemble the original. Some passages of it are these: -We have labored long in search of peace, do not you 'be disheartened to tread in the same steps.-Prefer the way of peace-conquer your enemies by pardoning rather than by punishing-Never affect more greatness or 'prerogative than that which is really and intrinsically for the good of your subjects, not the satisfaction of favorites. You may perceive that all men entrust their treas'ure where it returns them interest. If princes, like the sea, receive, and repay all the fresh streams the rivers 'intrust them with, they will not grudge, but pride them'selves to make them up an ocean-If God restore you to 'your right, whatever you promise keep-Don't think any thing in this world worth obtaining by false and unjust 'means."-These are excellent maxims of government;. and if his majesty had conducted himself by them he could not have been reduced to such a low and destitute condition, as to have hardly a place in the world to hide himself in; "for, says lord Clarendon, there was at that time no court in christendom so honorably or generously 'constituted, that it would have been glad to have seen him, and they who wished him well, did not wish his escape, because they imagined imprisonment was the worst that could befal him."

I am unwilling to suspect the genuineness of this letter, though there were so many forgeries obtruded upon the world about this time to advance his majesty's piety and virtue, that one can hardly feel the ground he treads on. If such a letter was sent to the prince, it is very strange he should never see it; or that his lordship, who lived in the prince's family, and extracted his account of the treaty * Book xi. or vol. iii. p. 229. Clarendon, vol. iii. p. 231.

of Newport from these papers, (as he declares) should never shew it his master; and yet these are the words of bishop Burnet, in the History of his Life and Times: "The duke of York suffered me to talk very freely to him about religion, and he told me among other things, that the let'ter to the prince of Wales was never brought to him."

The army had been six months in the field this summer engaged against the cavaliers and Scots, who being now reduced and subdued, they began to express a high dissatisfaction with the present treaty, because no provision had been made for their darling point, liberty of conscience. Here they had just reason of complaint, but ought not to have relieved themselves by the methods and at the expence they did. They were thoroughly incensed against the king and his cavaliers on one hand, and the high presbyterians on the other. It appeared to them, that the king's sentiments in religion and politics were not changed; that he would always be raising new commotions till things returned to their former channel; and in the present treaty he had yielded nothing but through constraint; and that when he was restored to his throne, after all the blood that had been shed, they should neither be safe in their lives or fortunes. On the other hand, if presbyterian uniformity should take place by virtue of the present treaty, their condition would be little mended; for (said they) if the king himself cannot obtain liberty to have the common-prayer read privately in his own family, what must the independents and sectaries expect? What have we been contending for, if after all the hazards we have run, presbytery is to be exalted, and we are to be banished our country or driven into corners?

While the resentments of the army were thus inflamed, their officers, who were high enthusiasts, though men of uublemished morals, observed several days of fasting and

The character of virtuous morals, bishop Warburton considers as inconsistent with their being, as Mr. Neal says, "high enthusiasts :" "when," his lordship adds, "they all acted (as almost all enthusiasts do) on this maxim. that the end sanctifies the means, and that the elect "(of which number they reckoned themselves chief) are above ordinan'ces :" Mr. Neal, I presume, is to be understood as speaking of their personal virtue, with regard to sensual indulgencies, in opposition to drunkenness and debauchery. Ed.