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 to have an influence upon Williams's committee. On 24 May Williams, who again aspired to a high political position, spoke against the bishops' exclusion bill in committee in the House of Lords (Parl. Hist. ii. 794). On 1 July he brought in his own bill for the regulation of bishops, proposing that no bishop should abstain from preaching or should be justice of the peace unless he happened, as in his own case, to be dean of Westminster. Bishops, too, were to have twelve assistants for jurisdiction and ordination. In case of an episcopal vacancy the bishops were to present three names to the king, from which he might choose one. The remaining clauses provided for certain reforms good enough in themselves, but not likely to be admitted by those who were crying out for the abolition of episcopacy (Lords' Journals, iv. 296, 298, 308;, Church History, ed. 1845, vi. 208). The bill was read twice and referred to a committee, from which it never emerged. Williams combined a belief that the church would only be strengthened by a reform of abuses with a keen sense of the importance of personal conciliation, and did not fail to urge Charles to do his best to win over Essex and Manchester to his side (, ii. 163). Charles, who in his soberer moments desired conciliation in a general way, though he chafed against it when it was translated into detail, resolved to appoint bishops whose names would give satisfaction to his more moderate opponents, and on 4 Dec. translated Williams to the archbishopric of York.

Soon after the last-named event took place Williams's political life came, at least temporarily, to an end. Being, on 27 Dec. 1641, insulted by a mob on his way to the House of Lords, he was sufficiently ill-advised to present to the king on the 29th a protest signed by himself and eleven other bishops, declaring that as they could not attend the house without danger to their lives, all its ‘laws, orders, votes,’ &c., ‘made in their absence were null and void’ (Lords' Journals, iv. 496). On the 30th the commons at once impeached the twelve bishops of high treason, with the object of getting rid of their votes, and Williams, like the rest, was committed to the Tower (ib. iv. 497, 498). On 5 May 1642 he was released on bail on condition that he would ‘not go into Yorkshire during the distractions there’ (ib. v. 44, 45). He preferred, however, forfeiting his bail to carrying out this condition, and, escaping to York, where the king was, was enthroned as archbishop on 27 June 1642 (, p. 13).

When the civil war broke out Williams fortified his house at Cawood, but on 4 Oct. fled from it at the approach of the younger Hotham (, ii. 186). Having taken leave of the king, he made for his native Conway, where he did his best to advance the king's cause, fortifying Conway Castle at his own charge and organising the militia (ib. ii. 207–10). On or before 22 Nov. 1643 he opened communications with Ormonde. On 18 Dec. he wrote to Ormonde welcoming the arrival at Mostyn of a portion of the army which had been released from service in Ireland by the cessation with the Irish confederates. On 19 June Williams showed that he had no love for Sir John Mennes [q. v.], appointed governor of three counties in North Wales by Rupert on his way to Marston Moor. On 20 April 1645 he mentions the appointment of Sir John Owen—no friend of his—to the government of Conway (The Unpublished Correspondence between Archbishop Williams and the Marquis of Ormond, ed. Beedham, 1869). Personages hostile to Williams made their influence felt at court. He was summoned to Oxford on 16 Dec. 1644, reaching the city in January 1645, when the royalist parliament was in its second session, though as a bishop he had no longer a seat in it. He is said to have told the king that Cromwell was his most dangerous enemy, and had ‘the properties of all evil beasts’ (, ii. 212).

After Williams's return to Wales, on 9 May Sir John Owen, on the ground of a letter from the king dated 1 Aug. 1643, seized Conway Castle and took possession of the property which Welshmen had deposited in it, in the belief that it was safe in the hands of Williams (ib. ii. 218). Getting no redress from the king, his countrymen put him forward as their leader after the disaster at Naseby. Williams made terms with the parliamentary commander Mytton, on condition that he would restore the plundered goods to the owners and help him to take the castle, which surrendered on 10 Nov. 1646 (Mytton to Lenthall, 10–11 Nov. in Notices of Archbishop Williams, p. 69; see Tanner MS. lix. 575, 580. The dates of 18 Dec. in  Great Civil War, iii. 139, and of 18 Nov. under, are both incorrect).

That Williams's action should be regarded as treacherous by royalist tradition (, p. 69) is only natural, but it is difficult to see that his conduct was other than justifiable at the time when the king was already in the hands of the Scots, and resistance by isolated posts as useless as it was hopeless. Williams himself continued to live in comfort, as he was possessed of a