"--Carte's Ormond, iii. 452.]
rewards and unlimited toleration; and at the same time sought to win the
Scots by professions of his willingness to accede to any terms compatible
with his honour and conscience. Their commissioners in London had already
made overtures for an accommodation to Queen Henrietta in Paris; and the
French monarch, at her suggestion, had intrusted[a] Montreuil with the
delicate office of negotiating secretly between them and their sovereign.
From Montreuil Charles understood that the Scots would afford him an asylum
in their army, and declare in his favour, if he would assent to the three
demands made of him during the treaty at Uxbridge; a proposal which both
Henrietta and the queen regent of France thought so moderate in existing
circumstances, that he would accept it with eagerness and gratitude.
But the king, in his own judgment, gave the preference to a project
of accommodation with the Independents, because they asked only for
toleration, while the Scots sought to force their own creed on the
consciences of others; nor did he seem to comprehend the important fact,
that the latter were willing at least to accept him for their king,
while the former aimed at nothing less than the entire subversion of his
throne.
Pages:
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194