'However,' he says, 'it has pleased God so far to bless my sincere endeavours, as that I have brought the building to a conclusion so far as is in my power, and I think nothing can be said now to remain unperfected, but the iron fence round the Church, and painting the Cupola, the directing whereof is taken out of my hands, and therefore I hope I am not answerable for them, nor that the said suspending clause can, or ought, to affect me any further on that account. As for painting the Cupola, your Lordships know that it has been long under consideration; that I have no power left me concerning it; and that it is not yet resolved in what manner to do it, or whether at all. And as for the iron fence, it is so remarkable and so fresh in memory, by whose influence and importunity it was wrested from me, and the doing of it carried in a way which I venture to say will ever be condemned. I have just this to observe further, that your Lordships had no hand in it; and consequently ought not share in the blame that may attend it.' He then asks them for their warrant for the payment of the arrears, amounting to more than 1,300_l._, which were due to him, and says he will ever be ready in the future, to give his advice and assistance in anything about the said Cathedral. Archbishop Tenison and Bishop Compton laid Wren's petition before the Attorney-General, Sir Edward Northey, who pronounced 'that Sir Christopher Wren's case was very hard, but that the terms of the Act were so positive that it could not be overridden, but the Commissioners ought in justice to find some remedy.' Wren then addressed the House of Commons in a petition in which he repeats that his 'measures for completing the Cathedral are wholly over-ruled and frustrated.' [_A REMEDY FOUND._] The House considered the matter, and cut the knot by declaring the Cathedral to be finished, and directing the payment of all the arrears of the architect's salary. Their prompt decision gratified Sir Christopher, who contrasts it with the conduct of the Commission, 'which was such as gave him reason enough to think that they intended him none of the suspended salary if it had been left in their power to defeat him of it.' The attacks on Jennings, whom Wren firmly defended, fell to the ground: they probably had as little foundation as the 'Screw Plot,' by which at a Thanksgiving, by one man's moving a few of the bolts and screws, the whole dome was to fall in.[238] The bell-founder Phelps, who had removed the faulty bell put up by Wightman under the direction of the Commissioners, also triumphed: he offered to give a bond to the Dean and Chapter to recast the bell at his own expense if, after a year's trial, they were dissatisfied with it: as this offer was never claimed, Wren justly says that they were either content with the bell or else showed great neglect. Until the last few years it was the only bell possessed by the Cathedral.