DANGEROUS POSITION OF THE KING 187 themselves trembling; Strafford and Laud were im- peached. Mr. Secretary Windebank and Lord Keeper Finch were soon to take flight, the Star Chamber and the Court of High Commission were doomed. The king at length confessed to the governor of the Company " that Mr. Porter had nothing to do in the business, his name only being used; that what was done was his Majesty's act." The petition, therefore, must not go forward. The governor feared it was too late: the petition had been delivered to the House on Friday night. The king astutely replied that it was not too late, as the petition had not yet been read; and that he had in view a very fine thing for the Company, but that " without him they could never get a penny.' 9 With a spark of the royal spirit which flickered up in his worst distresses, Charles declared that if the petition were pressed he would publicly own that Porter was only a screen for himself. In the end the governor sent round to the House of Commons, recovered the petition, and begged the Company to believe he had acted for the best, although " as yet he durst not divulge the reasons thereof." Charles was grateful for his escape. His thanks to the Company, and those of his groom of the bedcham- ber, were the prelude to a real effort to afford it redress. Courten supposed, however, that he still had the king secretly on his side, and insisted* on terms which put an end to the negotiations. The Company now gave up further hopes from Charles. In June, 1641, it peti-
