HAMPTON COURT CONFERENCE, a conference which took place at Hampton court, shortly afteithe accession of James I. to the throne of England, in order to the settle ment of ecclesiastical disputes. The king presided and took a principal part in the conference. Ile was attended by some of the nobility and highest officers of state, but no one seems to have been permitted to take any part in the proceedings except the king himself and the divines whom he had summoned. Of these, the representatives of the Episcopalian party were more numerous than the Puritans; and the Puritans, although men of known worth and learning, were among the least extreme of their party. Archbishop Whitgift, with eight bishops, six deans, and an archdeacon, appeared on the Episcopalian side; two Oxford professors of divinity, two divines from Cam bridge, and along with them Mr, Patrick Galloway, minister of Perth, in Scotland, maintained the Puritan cause. On the king's accession, the Puritans, entertaining great hopes of release from the rigid enforcement of ceremonies which galled their consciences, and of the reformation of Ames in the church, had addressed a petition to the king, known as the ifillena•y Petition, because it was signed by nearly 1000 ministers in all parts of the country. But the king's intention was not to comply with their wishes, and
the Hampton court conference seems to have been merely a device for making it appear that their demands had been considered and found unreasonable. On the first day of the conference, Jan. 12, 1604, the Episcopalians alone were admitted to the presence of the king, who demanded their opinion, which they gave, on the third day after, in favor of system in all the parts complained of. The king debated with them on some points; and in the end, decided against them in a few minor particulars, thus maintaining the assertion of his own ecclesiastical supremacy, as well as finding an opportunity for the display of his attainments in theology, although in all that was most important, his verdict was in their favor. On Jan. 16, the Puritans were called to the king's presence, but along with them some of the Episcopalians, when James debated keenly against the Puritans, using language very unworthy of a king or of a Christian, and according to his own account of the matter, " peppered them soundly." On Jan, 18, both parties were called in, and the royal judgment intimated, which was afterwards. announced in a proclamation very adverse to the Puritans.