Men could not understand the King’s promoting his adversaries and passing over his supporters, and bitter complaints were uttered against him. But it was not his choice: it was necessity arising from the weakness of his friends and himself. These last concessions, like the earlier ones, originated in his plans for England. He obtained a promise from the men whom he promoted, namely, Argyle, Loudon and Lesley, that they would not interfere with religious affairs in England, nor ever help the [A.D. 1641.] English therein: they pledged him their honour, as he asserted, that they would not[270]. He meant to separate the ambition of the dominant Covenanters from the interests of the parliamentary party in England. For his attention was devoted almost entirely to England, as everything depended on depriving the revolutionary leaders there of the support which they derived from their connexion with the Scots. The sequel must show whether he was not deceiving himself, whether his old enemies now in favour would at a later time keep their word: but the whole question did not depend on this uncertainty. The result of the King’s present dealings was that the Scots attained the independence which had been their object from the beginning, their leaders retained the posts which they had as it were conquered, the influence of the crown was virtually annulled. In comparison to this practical result all the King’s schemes were of minor importance. For in events once accomplished there is a strength, independent of the combinations which produced them, which causes further consequences and reactions. Through the disturbance of the universal order of things in the British islands, there was awakened a general and full consciousness of the elements of which they were composed, which found vent in movements that mocked at the union to which they had hitherto been subject. _The Irish Rebellion._ The government which Strafford had established in Ireland fell with him, the office of viceroy was entrusted to some of the judges, and shorn of the powers which gave it authority over the whole country. The Irish army, which had been formed with so much difficulty, and maintained in spite of so much opposition, was disbanded without any attention being vouchsafed to the King’s wish that it should be allowed to enter the Spanish service. Martial [A.D. 1641.] law, even for cases of rebellion, was virtually at an end; the High Commission in Ireland also was declared a general grievance and was abolished. Under the influence of events in England government based on prerogative, and on its connexion with the English hierarchy, as it had existed in Ireland since Elizabeth’s time, fell to the ground.