HISTORY OF ENGLAND

42 CHARLES II AND CROMWELL IN SCOTLAND. XI. 3.A.D. I 649.Charles I1 was immediately proclaimed in Edinburgh asKing of Great Britain, and also of England, France, andIreland. They did not hesitate to send an embassy to him,and to invite him to return to his kingdom. But at the sametime they were fully resolved that he could not be admittedto the exercise of his authority, before he had recognised theexisting order of things in Church and State. They gavethe ambassador all the documents which expressed theirviews, bound together in a single volume-the original ScottishCovenant, that between the Scots and the English, andthe decrees of the Westminster Assembly as to doctrine andritual. Charles I1 was required to accept these beforehand.For in them were contained, they said, the true means ofconfirming throne and religion, and restoring the kingdomto its former happy state. When they requested PrinceWilliam of Orange to support their proposals, he madethem remark that his brother-in-law might pledge himselfso far as Scotland was concerned, but could not enter intoengagements which would make all non-Presbyterians inEngland and Ireland his enemies, and would alienate theCatholic powers. To this the minister, William Spang, whowas discussing the matter with the Prince, replied that itwas these very arguments which brought Charles I to hisruin. Charles I1 had only to place himself at the head ofthe Presbyterian league, and then Scotland would be on hisside as one man : in England he would assuredly defeatthe Independents, since for one Independent there threePresbyterians could be counted, and for the rest, no onewould side with the traitorous sectaries: only in this waycould he hope to become once more King of Great Britainand Ireland l.The young King's answer turned out to be just what thePrince had expressed. He reserved the right to lay theCovenant before the English Parliament, if he ever got sofar as to be able to summon one. The Scots regarded thisMay 23, June 2, 1649. Report of the Commissioners of the Church in Baillieiii. 519. In a letter to Queen Christina, Charles I1 mentions these negotiations.He stigmatises the demands as ' iniqua, indigne admodum a subditis a legitimc regesuo exigenda!XI, 3. CHARLES I1 AND CROMWELL IN SCOTLAND. 43A.D. 1650.as almost an affront, since both League and Covenant hadbeen accepted long before by the English Parliament.The truth was that Charles I1 dared not go further atthe time. A union with the Scots, agreeably to their extremeCovenanting views, would have for ever alienatedfrom him the Irish, whether Episcopalians or Catholics, towhom he was then chiefly looking for his restoration.But in 1650 Cromwell had already broken the power ofthe Irish. To save them from entire and complete destruition,those who before were strongly opposed to it l, nowadvised him to come to an agreement with the Scots. Nothing,it seemed, but a diversion from Scotland could sustainthe remaining Irish Royalists and revive the zeal of those inEngland. The same advice was given by the EnglishRoyalists, even by those who were known to be sober andcautious men. The claim made by the Scots on the strengthof old agreements for the execution of the Covenant was notdistasteful to them, since it afforded a legitimate pretext forthe expedition. The Queen-mother was decidedly in favourof the plan. With the advice which she had once given herconsort, namely to subscribe the Covenant as the only means ofregaining a strong position and an army, she now approachedher son : at the same time the Prince of Orange expressed asimilar opinion. The good understanding existing between theIndependents and the Spaniards, l~ho were now once more inalliance with the Fronde in Paris, rendered such a combinationdesirable from a European point of view 2. There is evidence,if not of a treaty, yet of a proposal for a treaty, with this object,which was negotiated between Mazarirl and the Prince, andwhich expressly stipulated for the restoration of Charles I1 3.' Secretary Long to the Marquis of Ormond, March 20, 1650. 'There apPears to me no imaginable way how His Majesty can make a diversion of therebels' forces from Ireland but by a conjunction with the Scots.' (Carte's Lettersii. 373.)"ispaccio Romano di Londra, 15 Giulio, 1650. 'I1 solo ambasciatore diSpagna tra tutti i ministri di ~rincipi e favorito e rispettato nella sua casa nei suoiPreti nelle sue lettere!Projet de trait&. Art 3. ' Que le roi et M. le Prince de Orange romperont enmame terns avec Cromwell, et tenteront par toutes sortes de voies de retablir le roid'Angleterre dans ses royaumes.'