66 sage to him. His answer was, that he would pay "all the duty and service to his majesty that was in "his power, and if he pleased to come thither, he "would receive and entertain him as well as he could; "but that he was an inferior officer, and must obey "his superiors, in whatsoever they thought fit to com"mand him. After some time spent in debates, in "which Hammond expressed his desire to do any "service to his majesty, they were contented that "he should go with them, and Ashburnham said "he would conduct him to the place where the king was; and so, he commanding three or four ser

vants or soldiers to wait on him, they went to"gether to Titchfield. Ashburnham went up to "the king's chamber, when he acquainted his

majesty with all that had passed, and that Ham"mond was in the house: the king broke out in a "passionate exclamation, and said, "O, Jack, thou "hast undone me." On which the other, falling "into a great passion of weeping, offered to go "down and to kill Hammond, to which his majesty "would not consent, and sent for him up, in order "to endeavour to persuade him to make the same "promise which had before been proposed, and to "which he made the same answer, but with many

σε

professions of doing all the offices he could for "his majesty, and seemed to believe that the army "would do well for him. The king thought that "there was no possible way to get from him, as he "had the command of the country, and so went " with him into the Isle of Wight, and was lodged "in Carisbrook castle, where, though received "with all demonstrations of respect and duty, he "was in reality a prisoner, under the power of "Cromwell and the strict guard of Hammond, "who himself had been sent, two or three days "only before the king's remove to the Isle of "Wight, at a season where there was no apparent

"occasion, to draw him thither, and when the agi "tators in the army were at the highest."

By this account, faithfully extracted from Clarendon's History of the Revolution, it evidently appears that the king's escaping from Hampton Court, and his retreating to the Isle of Wight, was nothing but the complete execution of Cromwell's scheme, for which Ashburnham, the king's most confidential secretary, was his only employer, either treacherously, as it might be easily evinced from all the circumstances of this fatal event, or innocently, according to the king's opinion, who never entertained the least jealousy or suspicion of it, and was convinced that Ashburnham had been outwitted and grossly imposed upon by Cromwell and Ireton, who had persuaded him by great promises that the scheme should prove very beneficial for his majesty, whose opinion on that respect is strongly supported by Clarendon.

The king's sudden withdrawing made a great impression upon the minds of all men. The parlia

ment was convinced that he was concealed in the city, and would lurk there until some conspiracy should be ripe, and all his party ready to second it: they therefore immediately passed an act, by which they declared "that it should be confiscation of "estate and loss of life to any man who presumed "to harbour and conceal the king's person in his t house, without revealing it to the parliament." Some of the most notorious presbyterians' houses were searched; orders were sent to all ports of the kingdom that they should be shut, and no person suffered to embark, lest the king, in disguise, would attempt it. A proclamation was issued for banishing out of London, or any place within twenty miles of it, all persons who had ever borne arms for the king'; and all those of that description, who, upon strict search, were found, were confined in several

prisons, with circumstances of the utmost severity. But these doubts and anxieties were cleared in two days by a letter from Cromwell, informing the house of commons of the king's escape to the Isle of Wight, that he was confined there in the castle of Carisbrook, under the custody of colonel Hammond, till the parliament's pleasure was known. He assured them that colonel Hammond was so honest a man, and so devoted to their service, that they need not have any jealousy that he might be corrupted by any body.

Cromwell being entirely master of the parliament, and without any anxiety about the custody of the king's person, seriously applied himself to quell those disorders in the army which he had artfully raised to oppose the parliament. He issued orders for discontinuing the meetings of the agitators, and pretended to pay entire obedience to the parliament, whom he had now fully reduced to subjection, and proposed to make, for the future, the instruments of his authority. But the levellers (for so that party in the army was called) wanting to introduce an equality into all conditions, would not so easily be deprived of the sweets of dominion of which they had so pleasant a relish. They did not only meet against the express commands of their officers, but drew considerable parties of the army to join them in the opinion, that there was as great need to reform their officers as any other part of the church or state; and persuaded them to enter into such engagements as would, in a short time, have dissolved the government of the army. But this distemper was soon cured by Cromwell's energy and dexterity. Being informed of the place and house of their meeting, he unexpectedly went to them, with an ordinary guard, asked some questions of those whom he observed to be the most seditious, and, receiving insolent answers, he knocked two or

three of them on the head with his own hand, charg ed the rest with his troop, and took such a number of them as he thought fit; caused some to be presently hanged, and sent others to London to a more formal trial. By two or three such encounters, for the obstinacy continued long, he totally subdued that obstinate, rebellious spirit which prevailed in the army; and they thenceforth returned to their wonted discipline and obedience.

A few days after the king's withdrawing from Hampton-Court, there was a meeting of the general officers of the army at Windsor, where Cromwell and Ireton were present, to consult what should now be done with the king. At this conference, the preliminaries of which were fastings and prayers made at the very council, by Cromwell or Ireton, or some other inspired person, as most of the officers were, it was resolved that the king should be prosecuted for his life as a criminal. The king was speedily informed of this resolution, by Watson, quarter master general of the army who was present. Charles would hardly give any credit to the information; though he expected, and thought it very probable, that they would murder him, he did not believe they would attempt it with that formality.

When Charles left Hampton Court, a letter was found in his room, addressed to both houses, by which he informed them that the rigours of his confinement and a natural desire of recovering his liberty, had been the motives of his resolution; that his disposition towards peace was always the same; that as far as it could depend on him, it might be settled to the satisfaction of all parties; and that he would quit the place of his concealment as soon as the safety of his person and of his communications with them, should be honourably secured.

In a second letter, or message, addressed to the parliament from Carisbrook, the king subjoined his proposals for peace the most moderate and satisfactory on almost all the contested points. In order to remove these fears and jealousies, which were perpetually pleaded as reasons for every invasion of the constitution, he offered to resign during his own life, the power of the militia and the nomination to all the great offices, provided that, after his demise, these prerogatives should revert to the crown. As to the abolition of episcopacy however, he most positively declared, that he could neither as a christian, nor as a king, ever consent to it.

The parliament pays no attention to the king's offers. His majesty sends them a new message for the same purpose, December 6th. At last the commons adopt four proposals, framed in the upper house, and send them as preliminaries to the king, December 14th, demanding his positive assent to all of them, before they would condescend to treat. By one he was required to invest the parliament with the military power for twenty years, and particularly respecting the militia, reserving a right for their resuming the same authority after that period whenever they should declare the safety of the kingdom to require it. By the second, he was to recall all proclamations and declarations he had issued against the parliament and their adherents. By the third, he was to annul all the acts and patents of peerage which had passed the great seal since it had been carried in London. By the fourth, he was to give the two houses power to adjourn as they thought proper, a demand seemingly of no great importance, but contrived by the independents, that they might be able to remove the parliament to places where it should remain in perpetual subjec tion to the army.

The commissioners who were sent with these pro