ABSTRACT
The Charles's strategy for the Scottish campaign of 1639 was based on the plan for a three-pronged assault devised by Nithsdale in 1638. Charles had very effectively exposed the revolutionary implications of the Covenanter's position, but this did not prevent the signing of the treaty. The meetings of the general assembly and the parliament were, from Charles's point of view, an exercise in damage limitation; but they were mismanaged by his representative Traquair and considerably strengthened the Covenanter's cause. Charles set out his agenda for the Short Parliament in the speech by the new lord keeper, Lord Finch, which opened proceedings on 13 April. Robert Sanderson, one of Charles's favourite preachers, warned Laud that the oath was causing such distaste among those 'otherwise every way conformable' that it must be abandoned. Conrad Russell has described Charles's blinkered belligerence through the period following Newburn as 'a flight from reality'.
