s it had fallen from the
hands of the first Charles, unchanged in line or letter, or should
he seek by judicious alterations and timely concessions to win
back for the national Church the good-will and loyalty of those
who, eighteen years before, had broken down her hedge? The situation
may be described as triangular.

The king's secret and personal sympathies were probably all along
with the Roman Church; his official allegiance was plainly due to
the Church of England; and yet, at the same time, he owed much
to the forbearance of the men who had been dominant under the
Commonwealth. The mind of the nation had, indeed, reacted toward
monarchy, but not with such an absolute and hardy renunciation of
the doctrines of popular sovereignty as to make it safe for the
returning king to do precisely as he chose. The glorious Revolution
that was destined so soon to follow upon the heels of the gracious
Restoration gave evidence, when it came, that there were some
things the people of England prized even more highly than an
hereditary throne. Misgivings as to the amount there might still
be of this sort of electricity in the atmosphere suggested to the
king and his counsellors the expediency of holding a conference,
at which the leaders on either side might bring forward their strong
reasons in favor of this or that method of dealing with the
ecclesiastical question in general, and more especially with the
vexed problem of worship.

Accordingly, early in the spring of 1661 the King issued a
royal warrant summoning to meet at the Savoy Palace in the
Strand an equal number of representatives of both parties--namely,
one-and-twenty Churchmen and one-and-twenty Presbyterians.

The Episcopal deputation consisted of twelve bishops and nine other
divines called coadjutors. The Presbyterians had also their twelve
principal men and their nine coadjutors.

Conspicuous among the Episcopalians for weight of learning were
Bishops Sanderson, Cosin, and Walton, and Doctors Pearson, Sparrow,
and Heylin. Baxter, Reynolds, Calamy, and Lightfoot were the most
notable of the Presbyterians.

The conference, which has ever since been known from its place of
meeting (an old palace of the Piedmontese Ambassadors) as the Savoy
Conference, convened on April 15, 1661. For various reasons, it
was evident from the outset that the Churchmen were in a position
of great advantage. In the first place, signs and tokens of a
renewed confidence in monarchy