anxious for a "settlement." He knew
that for such a settlement a new Parliament was necessary, and that
England would never consent to be ruled against her will by the mere
rump of members gathered at Westminster. Yet every day made it plainer
that it was their purpose to continue to rule her. The general amnesty
claimed by Ireton and the bill for the Parliament's dissolution still
hung on hand; the reform of the courts of justice, which had been
pressed by the army, failed before the obstacles thrown in its way by
the lawyers in the Commons. "Relieve the oppressed," Cromwell wrote from
Dunbar, "hear the groans of poor prisoners. Be pleased to reform the
abuses of all professions. If there be any one that makes many poor to
make a few rich, that suits not a Commonwealth." But the House was
seeking to turn the current of public opinion in favour of its own
continuance by a great diplomatic triumph. It resolved secretly on the
wild project of bringing about a union between England and Holland, and
it took advantage of Cromwell's victory to despatch Oliver St. John with
a stately embassy to the Hague. His rejection of an alliance and Treaty
of Commerce which the Dutch offered was followed by the disclosure of
the English proposal of union. The proposal was at once refused by the
States; and the envoys, who returned angrily to the Parliament,
attributed their failure to the posture of affairs in Scotland. Charles
was preparing there for a new campaign. Humiliation after humiliation
had been heaped on the young king since he landed in his northern realm.
He had subscribed to the Covenant; he had listened to sermons and
scoldings from the ministers; he was called on at last to sign a
declaration that acknowledged the tyranny of his father and the idolatry
of his mother. Hardened and shameless as he was, the young king for a
moment recoiled. "I could never look my mother in the face again," he
cried, "after signing such a paper"; but he signed. He was still however
a king only in name, shut out from the Council and the army, with his
friends excluded from all part in government or the war. But he was
freed by the victory of Dunbar. "I believe that the king will set up on
his own score now," Cromwell wrote after his victory, as he advanced to
occupy Edinburgh while the royal forces fell back upon Stirling and
Perth. With the overthrow of Leslie in fact the power of Argyle and the
narrow Presbyterians whom he led came to an end.