liberty of conscience, which had been hitherto little secured;' adding, That as they had voluntarily taken up arms for the liberty and defence of the nation, of which they were a part, before they laid them down again, they would see all those ends provided for.' This strenuous and timely declaration, delivered at the bar of the House by a Committee of the army-council, is generally regarded as having not only saved Cromwell from impeachment,* but laid the foundation of his future power.

He now by his influence with Fairfax, though a Presbyterian, engaged him to address a letter to the parliament in support of a petition from the army; in consequence of which, deputies were appointed to treat with a Committee of Officers. The political address, in other words, the duplicity of Cromwell. (who successively during these transactions deceived the army, the parliament, and the King, for the purpose of preventing that combination between them which would have been his ruin) did not escape the notice of the moderate and the sensible of all parties for while he secretly fomented discontent in the camp, in parliament he made the turbulence of the soldiery the theme of his invective, and even recommended the adoption of violent measures to suppress the increasing commotion. As it was well

known, however, that the chief mutineers were personally devoted to his interests, and the army had. now become alarmingly formidable, his enemies were advised to lay aside their project of impeaching him, In the mean time Cromwell, having received intelligence of their private meetings, resolved to expel

By Denzil Lord Holles.

them from the House; and an important event speedily furnished him with the means of carrying his design into execution.

In the beginning of the year 1647 the Scots, in consideration of the sum of 400,000l. claimed for army-arrears and various state-services, delivered up the King to Commissioners sent by the English parliament to receive him; a procedure, not only grossly contrary to their oath of allegiance, but involving also a direct violation of that article of the law of nations, which pronounces the person even of an Embassador, the mere representative of Majesty, sacred. Cromwell now resolved to hazard one bold stroke, in order to secure his fortune beyond the probability of a reversal. Perceiving a growing inclination in the two Houses to treat with their captive Sovereign, he engaged the army to present a dutiful address to his Majesty, offering to 'replace him on the throne independently of the concurrence of the parliament, and to make him the most powerful Prince in Europe.' Charles, unhappily for himself, lent an ear to this treacherous proposal, and still more certainly to seal his own ruin, was guilty of insincerity in his negotiation with Cromwell. To facilitate this negotiation however, Cromwell met Joyce with a military detachment, and a verbal order to seize his person * at Holdenby (commonly called Holmby) House in Northamptonshire : a violence, at which there is reason to suspect, from the good understanding subsisting between his Majesty and the army, and the high respect with which he had been treated by them, he secretly connived; as delivering him from the power of a body, who had

*This was effected June 4, 1647.

already given him great disgust by appointing Marshai and Caryl, two Presbyterian ministers, to be his domestic chaplains.

Cromwell now threw off the mask, set the House of Commons at defiance, and boasted among his friends, that by having the King in his hands, he had the parliament in his pocket.' His Majesty was removed to his palace at Newmarket, where he continued to be treated with due honour by the army: free access was granted to his person, his former chaplains and servants were replaced, he pursued his accustomed recreations, and he was overwhelmed by Cromwell with vehement professions of immutable attachment.

The parliament perceiving that their influence was on the decline, and that the army would speedily become their master, began too late to show a resolution and activity, which if it had been sooner exerted, would probably have stifled the ambition of Cromwell in it's birth. The city of London was put in a posture of defence, and the army was ordered to remove forty miles from it's walls. It was, likewise, resolved to send dutiful addresses to the King, with proposals for a reconciliation. The army however, instead of obeying the vote respecting their removal, delivered a representation to the House of Commons, desiring that it might be purged of seditious members, and that a period might be fixed for it's dissolution, as it had already sat beyond the limit assigned for it's existence by the constitution.' This representation producing no effect, they impeached Lord Holles, Sir William Waller, and nine other members, who had uniformly opposed their proceedings: and subsequently, to convince the two Houses of the little

interest which they possessed in the city, they excited an insurrection of the citizens, who tumultuously demanded that 'the King should be brought to London, and that they should put an end to their sitting.' Upon this, they adjourned in great confusion: the Speakers, Lenthal and the Earl of Manchester, with about fifty members, fled to the army for protection, and the eleven impeached members left the kingdom. Cromwell, who had raised the storm, beheld it raging with secret joy; and so fully convinced Charles, now at Hampton Court, of his power and of his fidelity, that when Fairfax tendered his services, his Majesty indiscreetly replied, to the great disgust of that General, "Sir, I have as good interest in the army as yourself."

The parliament, in their treaty with Charles, among other articles had stipulated, that Cromwell should only receive the title of Baron; but Charles, at the same time, privately engaged to create him Earl of Essex, to make him a Knight of the Garter,* and to advance his son Richard and General Ireton to posts of honour and emolument. When this compact, however, was on the point of ratification, they learnt from one of their spies (a member of the royal

* Lord Bolingbroke informed Mr. Pope and the Earl of Marchmont in 1742, that he had seen an original letter of Charles I. to his Queen, written in answer to one of hers (which had been intercepted, and subsequently forwarded to him), wherein she reproached him for having made those villains too great concessions.' In his reply, he desired her to leave the management to him, who was better informed of all circumstances than she could be; for that he should know in time how to deal with the rogues, who instead of a silken garter should have a hempen one.' This letter too was intercepted, and decided his fate. Lord Oxford offered 500l. for the original.

bed-chamber), that their final doom was that day fixed, as a letter was despatched to the Queen, then in France, sewed up in the skirt of a saddle.' This they intercepted, and from it's perusal discovered that his Majesty, notwithstanding his earnest professions, had determined to close with the overtures of their opponents. From this moment Cromwell's ambition took a larger scope, and under the additional impulse of personal resentment, he now resolved at once to attempt the King's destruction and his own elevation to supreme power.

In the mean time the remains of the parliament, recovered from their first consternation, met at Westminster and chose new Speakers, Lord Hunsdon for the Upper, and Mr. Henry Pelham for the Lower House. They next resolved to levy troops: the Trained Bands were ordered to guard the lines, and · nothing was to be heard in every direction but the din of military preparation. Upon the approach of the army however, a general dislike to the parliamentary service appeared, and the first detachment which presented itself before Southwark were readily admitted by those, who had been placed there for it's defence. The whole army speedily followed, and passing through the city to Westminster, replaced Lenthal and Manchester in their respective chairs: after which the parliament was 'new-modelled,' as the army had been some years before, by Cromwell and the Independents.

The King, informed of the detection of his treachery, and of the triumphant entry of the army into London, privately withdrew from Hampton Court to Titchfield, a seat belonging to the Earl of Southampton; whence he was unfortunately persuaded