1539

WENTWORTH'S OFFER.

35

Scots think that he purposed to effect a crossing. "By which means," he explained, "I shall raise such a rattle as may occasion, perchance, them to rest the less; howbeit it will not in the conclusion have with it that dangerous sting which the rattle-serpents we hear of in Virginia are reported to carry with them in their tails."

As it was still possible that even this threat of invasion might not be sufficient to keep the Scots from invading England, Wentworth had yet one more suggestion to make. "If," he wrote, "their present strength be in any proportion equal to his Majesty's forces, methinks it were good, by quietness and show of treaty, to amuse them and spin out this summer as much as possibly may be, so wasting them à petit feu, and dissolving them through their own wants, distastes, and discontentments among themselves."2

Charles is unable to accept it.

The last suggestion was well suited to make an impression on Charles's mind. Yet even if he had wished to adopt it, it was out of his power to adopt it as a whole. Wentworth wished him to treat whilst his army kept guard upon the Borders. Charles knew perfectly well that he could not keep his army long enough together to make a fictitious negotiation of any value at all. If he did not treat in earnest, it would soon be too late to treat at all. Even whilst he could keep his army together he had nothing to oppose to the combination of military discipline and national and religious enthusiasm which formed the strength of the Scottish army. Brave as his English followers individually were, Leslie, if he had chosen to attack them in their bivouac at the Birks, would have driven them like England. chaff before the wind. If Charles should make up his mind to treat he would find the Scots ready to meet him half-way. There were shrewd heads in the Scottish camp, who knew better than to court a perilous victory. They were now contending with Charles. If English soldiers were driven in headlong rout, and if the tramp of a Scottish army were heard on English soil, it might very well be that they would

June 6. The Scots shrink from

invading

I Wentworth's knowledge of rattlesnakes was evidently not great. ? Wentworth to Vane, May 30, Melbourne MSS.

have to contend with an insulted nation. In Parliament, or out of Parliament, supplies would no longer be withheld, and the invaders would meet with a very different force from that which was now before them.

negotiate.

The procla

Whilst the Scots were in this frame of mind,' and, as far as it is possible to calculate, just after Charles had received WentThe offer to worth's letter, one of the King's Scotch pages visited their camp and recommended his countrymen to open a negotiation. They at once sent the Earl of Dunfermline to request the King to appoint commissioners to treat, and to assure the English nobility that they had no wish to throw off their allegiance to the Crown. Charles laid it down as a condition of the negotiation that they must first read his proclamation denouncing their leaders as traitors. mation pri- As usual, they were perfectly ready to give obedience in the letter. A few of the very men who were denounced assembled in a tent to hear the proclamation read. On them the threat of the confiscation of their lands was not likely to make much impression. Yet with this hollow form Charles was forced to content himself. The disposition to avoid a battle, which had long prevailed amongst the men of rank in the English camp, had now spread to the common soldiers. They had learned by this time that money The English reluctant to was running short, and they knew by experience that bread and beer were growing scarce.

vately read.

fight.

"A great

neglect there hath been," wrote one who was on the spot, "in those who had the charge of providing for the soldiers, for they have wanted exceedingly since their coming, yet have been very patient; but now there is strange doctrine spread in the camp and swallowed by the officers and soldiers, so that it is time to make an end of this work. The clergy that are in this camp doth carry themselves so indiscreetly, as also the Scottish bishops and clergy here, that I assure you they do much hurt his Majesty's affairs by their violence." Bristol bluntly spoke

As early as the beginning of the month there had been talk of a negotiation, but the King would admit of no treaty unless his houses and castles were first given up. Widdrington to Lord Fairfax, Jun 3, Fair. fax Correspondence, i. 367.

1639

camp.

A NEGOTIATION OPENED.

37

out what was doubtless in the thoughts of all. Most of the lords, he said, were resolved to petition for a Parliament. The lords, indeed, disclaimed any such intention; but the unspoken thought was, we may well believe, in the minds of all of them.' On the afternoon of the 7th Hamilton appeared in Charles's He had to tell how Aboyne had reached Aberdeen, and had driven the Covenanting forces to retire by Hamilton at his mere presence in the roads. But he could not say that this diversion was likely to be of any permanent benefit to the Royal cause. Aboyne had written to him urgently for supplies. Even if he had had supplies to give, he was already on his way to Berwick by the King's orders before he received the letter.2

June 7.

the camp.

June 2. Aboyne at Aberdeen.

June 7. Hamilton is unable to

The negotia. tion on the Borders.

Hamilton had every reason to be satisfied with support him. the temper of his royal master. The negotiation which had already been informally opened on the Borders was merely a continuation of that which had been set on foot by himself. He would now be present to watch over its progress. The day after the illusory reading of the proclamation at Dunse, Dunfermline returned to ask for a safe-conduct for the Scottish negotiators. Hamilton was there, to whisper that it would be wise to consent to the abolition of Episcopacy, and even to the Covenant itself. In time the discontented nobility would be gained over by favours, and better times would come.3

Hamilton's advice.

Such advice was too consonant with Charles's nature not to find entrance into his mind. He may not have intended foul play; but, even if he did not, his inborn incapacity to look facts in the face would lead to much the same result as if he had been a deliberate trickster. He doubtless believed firmly that the Presbyterian experiment would before long prove intolerable, and he did not wish to bar the door against the restitution

'Mildmay to Windebank, June 10, S. P. Dom. ccccxxiii. 67.

2 Burnet, 140. Spalding, i. 200. Spalding charges Hamilton with having deserted Aboyne in defiance of orders from the King. This is plainly a mistake. Even when Aboyne was in the Forth, Hamilton had but one regiment with him.

1 Burnet, 140.

of the more perfect system. A man of a larger mind might have felt in precisely the same way; but he would have declared openly what his hopes were, and in so doing he would have inspired confidence where Charles only inspired distrust.

June 11. Opening of

the confer

ence.

On the 11th the conference was opened in Arundel's tent between six commissioners from the Scots and six commissioners from the King. Scarcely had the negotiators taken their places, when Charles himself stepped in. He assumed that tone of superiority which was natural to his position. He was there, he said, to show that he was always ready to listen to his the negotia subjects, and he expected them to act as was becoming to subjects.

The King appears to

take part in

tion.

From this position he never departed. He had come not as a diplomatist but as a judge. "I never took upon me,” he said, "to give end to any difference but where both parties first submitted themselves unto my censure, which if you will do, I shall do you justice to the utmost of my knowledge, without partiality." "The best way," he said afterwards, "were to take my word, and to submit all to my judgment."

His dialectical skill.

In the discussion which followed, Charles showed great dialectical skill. He seized rapidly on the weak points of the Scottish case, and exposed them without ostentation or vindictiveness. The strength of the Scottish case lay outside the domain of dialectics. All sorts of questions might arise about the composition of the Assembly, about the vote of the lay elders, and about the pressure exercised by the Tables at the time of the election. The arguments by which the Scots were ready to prove that the decisive authority in ecclesiastical matters resided in the Assembly which had met at Glasgow were neither more nor less convincing than the arguments by which Charles was ready to prove that it resided in himself. The true answer for the Scots to have made would have been that, whatever might have been the legality of the forms observed, the Assembly had had the nation behind it. This, however, was precisely what the Scottish Commissioners never thought of saying, and by leaving it unsaid they left the honours of the dispute with Charles.

1639

position.

A DEARTH OF MONEY.

39

What was wanting to the Scots in argument was amply made up to them by the presence of Leslie's army on Dunse Law. The military Whether the Scottish nation had the right to settle its own affairs in the teeth of Charles's opposition might be open to argument. It was clear enough now that it was strong enough to do so. Charles's own army was no more ready for battle than it had been before, and every day brought him worse news from the South. Without fresh supplies of money his army would soon dissolve from want of pay, and he had not much hope left that those supplies would be forthcoming.

June 7. The Lord

Mayor

before the Council.

Windebank's report of a fresh attempt to obtain a loan from the City was most discouraging. The Council, indeed, had been busily employed in forcing all Scotchmen resident in England to take an oath of Wentworth's invention, binding them to renounce the Covenant.' Oaths, however, brought no money into the exchequer. On the 7th the Lord Mayor, having been summoned by the Council, appeared with such a scanty following of aldermen, that he was ordered to go back and to return on the 10th with all his brothers. When the aldermen at last made their appearance, they were told that the King expected from them a loan of 100,000l. The war was even

June 10. A loan demanded.

more unpopular in London than in other parts of England. Trade was suffering, and the recent confiscation of the Londonderry charter was rankling in the minds of the aldermen. They replied that it was impossible to find the money. The Council told them that it must be done. Cottington said they ought to have sold their chains and gowns. before giving such a reply. They were ordered to appear once more on the 12th with a final answer.

Even within the Council there were signs of dissatisfaction at this high-handed course. Coventry and Manchester sat Windebank's silently by whilst threats were used. "The rest," advice. wrote Windebank, "are of opinion that either your Majesty should command the City to furnish 6,000 men at their own charge for the reinforcing your army, or else send

1 Council Register, June 5. Rossingham's News-Letter, June 18, Add. MSS. 11,045, fol. 29.