'Ihe HISTORy of the PuRITANS. Vot. n. K. Charles I. was fecured in the ijle if lVight, where the commi ilioners from the two ~ houfes waited on him, and tendered him the following bills, Decemb. z 4 • the firfl was for fettling the militia, as has been related; thefecond for calling in all his majefiy's declarations and proclamations againfi the two hou fes, and thofe that adhered to ·them ; the third to difqualify thole peers from fitting in the houfe, that had been created after the great feal had been conveyed to Oiford; the fourth to impower the two houfes to adjourn, as they fhould think fit. In matters of religion they infified peremptorily on the eflablifhment of the presbyterian cburch-goverment upon the ruins of the prelatical; upon the extirpation of all feClaries; and upon covenant· unfjormity i_n both nation&, as will appear more fully hereafter. But the king inflead of figning the preliminaries, infifl:ed fire– nuoufly on a perfonal treat-y, which it was hal'dly reafonable for him to expect, .when be had ·[o lately attempted to efcape out of their hands, and now refufed to yield any thing in a way of condefccnfion. Motiveofthe It had nDt been poilible to unriddle the myftery of this efcape, if it l:hzg's efcape had not appeared foon after, that the king was at that very time, throw- {;~:,~· ing himfelf into the hands of the ji:ots, who being offended with the L p!rliament (now under the inflLJence of the army) for not aCting in con– cert with them in the prefent treaty, acc·ording to their covenant, de– termined on a jeparate negotiation for themfelves; and accordingly, by the mediation of fome of their own nation, they concluded a fecret trea– ty with the king, which was begun before his majefiy left Hampton Court, b~t not figned till the 27th of December following, three days Vol. m. after his majefiy's refufal of the parliament's four bills. "This alliance (fays p.. 104, 105. " Lord C!arendon) was mofl: fcandalous, and derogatory to the honour and '' interefl: of the mglifh nation, and would have been abominated if known " and underfiood by all men." But Rapin thinks it not fo criminal on the part of the fi·ots as his lordfhip reprefents, fince they yielded to the efl:ablifhmen t of their beloved prefbytcry in England only for three years; however it laid the foundation of the king's ruin with the army. Private treaty witb the Scots. Rapin. p. ~f2· In the preamble his majef1y gives " a fav-0urable tefiimony to the· "Joiemn league and covenant, and to the good intentions of thofe that en– " tered into it." In the treaty " he obliges bimfelf to confirm the cove– " nant by act of parliament as foon as he can do it with honour and free– u dom in both ki>Jgd oms; with a provifo, that none that were unwil- " ling fhould be obliged to take it for the future. ·He engages further, to " confirm by a& of parliament the prefbyterial. government in England, "' the direCtory for public worfhip, and the aiTembly of divines for three "years only, with liberty for himfelf and his houfhold to ufe that form u of divine. fervice they had f0rmerly praCl:ifed; £.nd that during the !•· three Y.ears there !hould be a eonfultation with the aJfembly of divines, !<I'
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