Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 18.djvu/441

 that he had invited the Scots, and Strafford was about to accuse him of treason when he was himself impeached (ib. p. 231;, Rebellion, iii. 10). At the opening of the Long parliament Saye held a great position in the House of Lords. He had at once, says Clarendon, ‘very great authority with the discontented party throughout the kingdom, and a good reputation with many who were not, who believed him to be a wise man, and of a very useful temper in an age of license, and one who would still adhere to the law’ (Rebellion, iii. 26). The king strove to win him over by office, and appointed him a privy councillor (19 Feb. 1641), master of the court of wards (17 May 1641), and one of the commissioners of the treasury 21 May 1641 (, Official Baronage, iii. 271). According to Clarendon, Saye, in the hope of obtaining the treasurership, promised the king to save Strafford's life, but Lord Savile appears to have been the person really engaged in this intrigue (Rebellion, iii. 193;, History of England, ix. 345). Saye's zeal did not diminish in consequence of his preferment. On 24 May 1641 he made a long speech in answer to the Bishop of Lincoln on the bill for restraining bishops and persons in holy orders from intermeddling with secular affairs (Old Parliamentary History, ix. 314). Another speech, in answer to the charge of being a separatist, is printed in ‘Diurnal Occurrences,’ 1641, p. 423. During the king's absence in Scotland Saye was one of the commissioners of regency, 9 Aug. to 25 Nov. 1641 (, iii. 271). He also signed the protests of 9 Sept., 24 Dec. 1641, and 24 Jan. 1642, and acted throughout in concert with the popular leaders in the commons (, Protests of the Lords, i. 6, 7, 10). Parliament nominated him lord-lieutenant of Oxfordshire, Cheshire, and Gloucestershire, and he was one of the committee of safety appointed 4 July 1642 (, x. 209). His speech to the Londoners after the battle of Edgehill, and his protest against the lenient treatment of delinquent peers, show that the first failures of the war only strengthened his resolution (Old Parliamentary History, xi. 484;, p. 13). For these reasons he was excepted from pardon by the king's proclamation of 3 Nov. 1642, and Charles refused to receive him as one of the commissioners of the parliament in the treaty of March 1643 (Old Parliamentary History, xii. 178, 186). Saye raised a regiment for the parliament, occupied Oxford, and garrisoned his house at Broughton, which surrendered to the king immediately after Edgehill (, History of Banbury, p. 326;, Memorials, f. 63). He sat in the assembly of divines, and was reckoned a supporter of the independents in it (, Letters, ii. 146, 240, 344). He was held the only adherent of that party in the House of Lords (, viii. 260). Saye thus formed a link between the popular leaders in the lower house and the lords. On 1 Feb. 1644 he introduced the first ordinance for the establishment of the committee of both kingdoms, and was naturally one of the leading members of that body when it was actually appointed (, History of the Great Civil War, i. 358). Still more important was Saye's influence in the passing of the self-denying ordinance. He held the proxy of the Earl of Mulgrave, and by its means turned the scale in favour of the measure on two important divisions. Twice also during the debates he used his right to protest against the amendments by which the presbyterians sought to hamper the ordinance (Old Parliamentary History, xiii. 424, 433–5, 443). When the parliament finally triumphed the court of wards was abolished, and Saye was granted 10,000l. in lieu of the mastership. According to Holles he obtained in satisfaction for 4,000l. of that sum Cottington's estate of Hanworth, worth really 14,000l. (‘Memoirs of Denzil Holles,’, Tracts, i. 269). In the struggle between army and parliament Saye took part with the army, and signed the engagement of 4 Aug. 1647 (RUSHWORTH, vii. 755). From that period he began to change his policy, and became prominent among those who strove to patch up a peace with the king in the summer of 1648. Saye ‘had not the least thought of dissolving the monarchy, and less of levelling the ranks and distinctions of men … he was as proud of his quality, and of being distinguished from other men by his title, as any man alive,’ and he ‘well foresaw what would become of his peerage if the treaty proved ineffectual, and the army should make their own model of the government’ (, Rebellion, vi. 409, xi. 155). An appeal to him to use his influence for peace was published in 1648, entitled ‘A Letter from a Nobleman of this Kingdom, now in arms for his King and Country, to the Lord Saye, seriously inviting him to his Allegiance.’ As one of the commissioners at the treaty of Newport, Saye, ‘with more passion than was natural to his constitution,’ urged the king to agree with the parliament (ib. xi. 160). On his return to London he seems to have done his best to obtain the acceptance of the king's concessions (, History of Independency, ed. 1661, pt. ii. p. 11).

After the king's death Saye took no part in public affairs. Tradition represents him