not unwilling to do so. The part of mediator between the throne and
the nation was, of all parts, that for which he was best qualified, and
of which he was most ambitious. How the negotiation with him was broken
off is not known: but it is not improbable that the question of the
dispensing power was the insurmountable difficulty. His hostility to
that power had caused his disgrace three years before; and nothing that
had since happened had been of a nature to change his views. James,
on the other hand, was fully determined to make no concession on that
point. [484] As to other matters he was less pertinacious. He put forth
a proclamation in which he solemnly promised to protect the Church
of England and to maintain the Act of Uniformity. He declared himself
willing to make great sacrifices for the sake of concord. He would no
longer insist that Roman Catholics should be admitted into the House of
Commons; and he trusted that his people would justly appreciate such
a proof of his disposition to meet their wishes. Three days later
he notified his intention to replace all the magistrates and Deputy
Lieutenants who had been dismissed for refusing to support his
policy. On the day after the appearance of this notification Compton's
suspension was taken off. [485]

At the same time the King gave an audience to all the Bishops who were
then in London. They had requested admittance to his presence for the
purpose of tendering their counsel in this emergency. The Primate was
spokesman. He respectfully asked that the administration might be put
into the hands of persons duly qualified, that all acts done
under pretence of the dispensing power might be revoked, that the
Ecclesiastical Commission might be annulled, that the wrongs of
Magdalene College might be redressed, and that the old franchises of the
municipal corporations might be restored. He hinted very intelligibly
that there was one most desirable event which would completely secure
the throne and quiet the distracted realm. If His Majesty would
reconsider the points in dispute between the Churches of Rome and
England, perhaps, by the divine blessing on the arguments which the
Bishops wished to lay before him, he might be convinced that it was his
duty to return to the religion of his father and of his grandfather.
Thus far, Sancroft said, he had spoken the sense of his brethren. There
remained a subject on which he had not taken counsel with them, but to
which he thought