Oh, Mr. Secretary, those
stratagems have given me more sad hours than all the misfortunes in war
which have befallen the king, and look like the effects of God's anger
towards us."--Clarendon Papers, ii. 337.
It appears that the king, even after he had been delivered by the Scots
to the parliament, still hoped to derive benefit from the exertions of
Glamorgan. About the beginning of June, 1647, Sir John Somerset, the
brother of that nobleman, arrived in Rome with a letter from Charles to
Innocent X. The letter is not probably in existence; but the answer of the
pontiff shows that the king had solicited pecuniary assistance, and, as an
inducement, had held out some hint of a disposition on his part to admit
the papal supremacy and the Catholic creed. Less than this cannot be
inferred from the language of Innocent. Literae illae praecipuam tuam
alacritatem ac propensionem ad obediendum Deo in nobis, qui ejus vices
gerimus, luculenter declarant ... a majestate tua enixe poscimus, ut
quod velle coepit, mox et facto perficiat ... ut aliquo id aggrediaris
argumento, quo te te ad Catholicam fidem recepisse intelligamus.
Undoubtedly Charles was making the same experiment with the pontiff which
he had just made with his Presbyterian subjects; and as, to propitiate
them, he had undertaken to study the Presbyterian doctrines, so he hoped
to draw money from Innocent by professing an inclination in favour of
the Catholic creed.
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