Much of the time was spent in
debates respecting the comparative merits of the episcopal and presbyterian
forms of church government, and in charges and recriminations as to the
real authors of the distress and necessity which had led to the cessation
in Ireland. On the twentieth day nothing had been concluded. A proposal
to prolong the negotiation was rejected by the two houses, and the
commissioners returned to London and Oxford.[a] The royalists had, however,
discovered that Vane, St. John, and Prideaux had come to Uxbridge not
so much to treat, as to act the part of spies on the conduct of their
colleagues; and that there existed an irreconcilable difference of opinion
between the two parties, the Presbyterians seeking the restoration
of royalty, provided it could be accomplished with perfect safety to
themselves, and with the legal establishment of their religious worship,
while the Independents sought nothing less than the total downfall of the
throne, and the extinction of the privileges of the nobility.[1]
Both parties again appealed to the sword, but with very different prospects
before them; on the side of the royalists all was lowering and gloomy, on
that of the parliament bright and cheering. The king had
[Footnote 1: See Journals, vii.
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