[Sidenote d: A.D. 1649. March 29.]

however, were so numerous, the preparations to be made so extensive, that
it was necessary to have recourse in the interval to other expedients
for the preservation of the forces and places which still admitted the
authority of the parliament. One of these was to allure to the cause of
the Independents the Catholics of the two kingdoms; for which purpose, the
sentiments of Sir Kenelm Digby and Sir John Winter were sounded,[a] and
conferences were held, through the agency of the Spanish ambassador,
with O'Reilly and Quin, two Irish ecclesiastics.[b] It was proposed that
toleration should be granted for the exercise of the Catholic worship,
without any penal disqualifications, and that the Catholics in return
should disclaim the temporal pretensions of the pope, and maintain ten
thousand men for the service of the commonwealth.

In aid of this project, Digby, Winter, and the Abbé Montague were suffered
to come to England under the pretence of compounding for their estates; and
the celebrated Thomas White, a secular clergyman, published a work entitled
"The Grounds of Obedience and Government," to show that the people may be
released from their obedience to the civil magistrate by his misconduct;
and that, when he is once deposed (whether justly or unjustly makes no
difference), it may be for the common interest to acquiesce in his removal,
rather than attempt his restoration.

That this doctrine was satisfactory to the men in power, cannot be doubted;
but they had so often reproached the late king with a coalition with the
papists, that they dared not to make the experiment, and after some time,
to blind perhaps the eyes of the people, severe votes were passed against

[Sidenote a: A.D. 1649. March.]