ian; but it soon became plain that the continuance of a
purely Presbyterian system was impossible. "The generality of the
people," wrote Sharpe, a shrewd Scotch observer, from London, "are
doting after Prelacy and the Service-book." The Convention however still
hoped for some modified form of Episcopalian government which would
enable the bulk of the Puritan party to remain within the Church. A
large part of the existing clergy indeed were Independents, and for
these no compromise with Episcopacy was possible: but the greater number
were moderate Presbyterians who were ready "for fear of worse" not only
to submit to such a plan of Church government as Archbishop Usher had
proposed, a plan in which the bishop was only the president of a
diocesan board of presbyters, but to accept the Liturgy itself with a
few amendments and the omission of "superstitious practices." It was to
a compromise of this kind that the king himself leant at the beginning,
and a Royal declaration announced his approval of the Puritan demands,
limited the authority of the bishops by the counsel of their
presbyters, and promised a revision of the Book of Common Prayer. The
royal declaration was read at a conference of the two parties, and with
it a petition from the Independents praying for religious liberty. The
king proposed to grant the prayer of the petition, not for the
Independents only but for all Christians. Dexterous as the move was, it
at once spread alarm. The silence of the bishops, the protest of Baxter,
proved that on the point of tolerating the Catholics all were at one. In
itself however the declaration satisfied the Puritan party, and one of
their leaders, Dr. Reynolds, accepted a bishopric on the strength of it.
But the king's disappointment at the check given to his plans showed
itself in the new attitude of the government when a bill was introduced
into the House of Commons by Sir Matthew Hale to turn the declaration
into a law. The opposition of the Episcopalian party was secretly
encouraged by the Royalist section of the ministry, and the bill thrown
out by a small majority. A fresh conference was promised, but in the
absence of any Parliamentary action the Episcopal party boldly availed
themselves of their legal rights. The ejected clergy who still remained
alive entered again into their parsonages, the bishops returned to their
sees, and the dissolution of the Convention-Parliament destroyed the
last hope of an ecclesiastical c