f February 1641, supporting Stafford's
attainder, and being appointed to the committee of defence on the 12th
of August 1641. He separated, however, from the popular party on the
Church question, owing to political rather than religious objections,
fearing the effect of the revolutionary changes which were now
contemplated. He opposed the London petition for the abolition of
episcopacy, the project of religious union with the Scots, and the Root
and Branch Bill, and on the 1st of September he moved a resolution in
defence of the prayer-book. In the following session he opposed the
militia bill and the Grand Remonstrance, and finally on the 2nd of
January 1642 he joined the king's party, taking office as chancellor of
the exchequer. He highly disapproved of the attempt upon the five
members, which was made without his knowledge, but advised the
enterprise against Hull. On the 25th of August 1642 he appeared at the
bar of the House of Commons to deliver the king's final proposals for
peace, and was afterwards present at Edgehill, where he took part in
Prince Rupert's charge and opposed the retreat of the king's forces from
the battlefield. In December he was made by Charles master of the rolls.
He was a leading member of the Oxford Parliament, and was said, in
opposition to the general opinion, to have counselled considerable
concessions to secure peace. His influence in military affairs caused
him to be much disliked by Prince Rupert and the army, and the general
animosity against him was increased by his advancement to the peerage on
the 21st of October 1644 by the title of Baron Colepeper of Thoresway in
Lincolnshire.

He was despatched with Hyde in charge of the prince of Wales to the West
in March 1645, and on the 2nd of March 1646, after Charles's final
defeat, embarked with the prince for Scilly, and thence to France. He
strongly advocated the gaining over of the Scots by religious
concessions, a policy supported by the queen and Mazarin, but opposed by
Hyde and other leading royalists, and constantly urged this course upon
the king, at the same time deprecating any yielding on the subject of
the militia. He promoted the mission of Sir John Berkeley in 1647 to
secure an understanding between Charles and the army. In 1648 he
accompanied the prince in his unsuccessful naval expedition, and
returned with him to the Hague, where violent altercations broke out
among the royalist leaders, Colepeper going so far, on one o