518-596. Whitelock, 251-256. Holles, 104.
Journals, 249, 257, 260, 263, 275, 277, 284, 289, 291, 298. Commons', June
7, 11, 12, 15, 18, 25, 26, 28. On divisions in general, the Presbyterians
had a majority of forty; but on the 28th, the first day after the departure
of their leaders, they were left in a minority of eighty-five to one
hundred and twenty-one.--Ibid.]
[Footnote 2: "I returned with instructions to endeavour by the best means
imaginable such a compliance between his majesty and the army, as might
have influence, and beget a right understanding between his majesty and the
parliament"--Ashburnham's Letter, in 1648, p. 5.]
given to some of his chaplains, who read the service in his presence
publicly and without molestation. Several of the officers openly professed
to admire his piety, and to compassionate his misfortunes; even Cromwell,
though at first he affected the distance and reserve of an enemy, sent him
secret assurances of his attachment; and successive addresses were made to
him in the name of the military, expressive of the general wish to effect
an accommodation, which should reconcile the rights of the throne with
those of the people. A secret negotiation followed through the agency of
Berkeley and Ashburnham; and Fairfax, to[a] prepare the public for the
result, in a letter to the two houses, spurned the imputation cast upon
the army, as if it were hostile to monarchical government, justified the
respect and indulgence with which he had treated the royal captive, and
maintained that "tender, equitable, and moderate dealing towards him, his
family, and his former adherents," was the most hopeful course to lull
asleep the feuds which divided the nation.
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