England and of his majesty's subjects, and altering and subverting the fundamental laws and established government of this kingdom’ was reached. He had, it was said, declared that the king, if parliament failed to supply him, might use ‘his prerogative as he pleased to levy what he needed, and that he should be acquitted of God and man if he took some courses to supply himself, though it were against the will of his subjects.’ The elder Vane was brought forward as a witness that the words advocating the employment of the Irish army to ‘reduce this kingdom’ had been actually spoken. Strafford urged, in reply, that he had meant to use the Irish army in Scotland. The most probable explanation is that Strafford's intention had been to employ it in Scotland, but that he had hypothetically expressed his readiness to use it in England if the English nobility rose in support of the Scots. ‘In case of absolute necessity,’ he said, ‘and upon a foreign invasion of an enemy, when the enemy is either actually entered or ready to enter, and when all other ordinary means fail, in this case there is a trust left by Almighty God in the king to employ the best and uttermost of his means for the preserving of himself and his people, which, under favour, he cannot take away from himself.’ This view of the case, that of all fundamentals the kingship was the most fundamental, was in direct opposition to Pym's view that this was the position of parliament alone. To his constitutional argument Strafford, with the eye of a tactician, added an appeal to the interests of the peers. How would any of them venture to enter the king's service if he were liable to be condemned as a traitor for delivering an opinion which ought to have been kept secret? When the lawyers who followed had done their worst and the proceedings were adjourned, it was known that Strafford had gained considerable support among the lords who sat as his judges.
To Pym and his colleagues the event of an acquittal seemed to be a grave public calamity. They knew, what has now been placed beyond dispute, that Charles and the queen had been considering a plan for the bringing the influence of the English army in the north to beat down opposition in parliament. They knew, too, that the army itself was discontented for want of pay, and was ready to vent its displeasure on parliament. The leaders of the commons were more than ever convinced that Strafford must be got rid of as a public enemy. On 7 April fresh charges were brought against him. On the 8th the commons resolved to produce the copy taken by the younger Vane of his father's notes of the proceedings in the committee of eight. On the 10th there was a dispute as to Strafford's right to produce fresh evidence in reply to the fresh charges now brought forward by the commons, and the lords decided in Strafford's favour. The meeting broke up in confusion.
When the commons returned to their own house, it was resolved to proceed by a bill of attainder, which the lords must either accept or refuse. Pym objected to drop the constitutional pleadings, and, though he was obliged to submit to the first reading of the bill, he contrived on the 12th to regain the mastery. The house abandoned its claim to produce fresh charges. The lords, on the other hand, called on Strafford to proceed with his reply to his accusers, as if the lower house had manifested no intention of changing the procedure. On the 13th Strafford made a masterly defence, asking how a number of misdemeanours could be held to constitute treason. Pym argued, speaking from his notes, and not as Strafford with unassisted vehemence, that the prisoner was guilty of divorcing the king from his subjects, and that in this lay the treason he had committed. Whatever Pym might wish, the House of Commons insisted on proceeding with the attainder bill, and on the 15th asked the lords to postpone the trial. The lords took offence, and ordered the lawyers to go on with their arguments. On the 19th the commons declared Strafford to be a traitor, and on the 21st, by a majority of 204 to 59, it passed the attainder bill. It was no secret that the lords were likely to take offence at the distrust in their judicial character revealed by this new procedure.
It is evident that much depended on Charles's skill in carrying the lords with him in the constitutional struggle. ‘The misfortune that is fallen upon you,’ he wrote to Strafford, ‘being such that I must lay by the thought of employing you hereafter in my affairs, yet I cannot satisfy myself in honour or conscience without assuring you now, in the midst of your troubles, that, upon the word of a king, you shall not suffer in life, honour, or fortune.’ For a time he played his cards well. He entered into communication with the parliamentary leaders, Bedford, Saye, and Pym, offering to admit them to office, probably on the understanding that some lesser punishment than death was to be inflicted on Strafford; while the lords on 27 April gave a second reading to the bill, which committed them to nothing. Whether the negotiation broke
