"Bristol, under his hand, gives them a full assurance of so full a
liberty of their conscience as they could wish, inveighing withal against
the Scots' cruel invasion, and the tyranny of our presbytery, equal to the
Spanish inquisition."--Baillie, i. 428.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1644. March 9.]
remaining at Westminster, who had given their consent to the coming in of
the Scots, or the raising of forces under the earl of Essex, or the making
and using of a new great seal, had committed high treason, and ought to
be proceeded against as traitors to the king and kingdom.[1] Thus again
vanished the prospect of peace; and both parties, with additional
exasperation of mind, and keener desires of revenge, resolved once more to
stake their hope of safety on the uncertain fortune of war.
But the leaders at Westminster found it necessary to silence the murmurs of
many among their own adherents, whose anxiety for the restoration of peace
led them to attribute interested motives to the advocates of war. On the
first appearance of a rupture, a committee of safety had been appointed,
consisting of five lords and ten commoners, whose office it was to perform
the duties of the executive authority, subject to the approbation and
authority of the houses; now that the Scots had agreed to join in the war,
this committee, after a long resistance on the part of the Lords, was
dissolved,[a] and another established in its place, under the name of the
committee of the two kingdoms, composed of a few members from each house,
and of certain commissioners from the estates of Scotland.
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