itself was at stake, and that the propositions of peace so often voted in parliament might in a few days be set aside.  A petition was presented[a] in opposition to the demand of the army; but the houses, now under the influence of the Independents, passed[b] the ordinance; and the city, on its part, determined[c] to resist both the army and the parliament.  Lord Lauderdale, the chief of the Scottish commissioners, hastened to the king to obtain his concurrence; a new covenant, devised in his favour, was exposed at Skinners’ Hall, and the citizens and soldiers, and probably the concealed royalists, hastened in crowds to subscribe their names.  By it they bound themselves, in the presence of God, and at the risk of their lives and fortunes, to bring the sovereign to Westminster, that he might confirm the concessions which he had made in his letter from Holmby, and

[Sidenote a:  A.D. 1647.  July 14.] [Sidenote b:  A.D. 1647.  July 23.] [Sidenote c:  A.D. 1647.  July 24.]

might confer with his parliament on the remaining propositions.  But the recent converts to the cause of the army hastened to prove the sincerity of their conversion.  Both Lords and Commons voted this engagement an act of treason against the kingdom; and the publication of the vote, instead of damping the zeal, inflamed the passions of the people.  The citizens petitioned a second time, and received a second refusal.  The moment the petitioners departed, a multitude of apprentices, supported by a crowd of military men, besieged the doors of the two houses; for eight hours they continued, by shouts and messages, to call for the repeal of the ordinance respecting the militia, and of the vote condemning the covenant; and the members, after a long resistance, worn out with fatigue, and overcome with terror, submitted to their demands.  Even after they had been suffered to retire, the multitude suddenly compelled the Commons to return, and, with the speaker in the chair, to pass a vote[a] that the king should be conducted without delay to his palace at Westminster.  Both houses adjourned for three days, and the two speakers, with most of the Independent party and their proselytes, amounting to eight peers and fifty-eight commoners, availed themselves of the opportunity to withdraw from the insults of the populace, and to seek an asylum in the army.[1]

In the mean while the council of officers had completed their plan “for the settlement of the nation,” which they submitted first to the consideration of Charles, and afterwards to that of the parliamentary commissioners.  In many points it was similar to the

[Footnote 1:  Whitelock, 260, 261.  Journals, ix. 377, 393.  Holles, 145.  Leicester’s Journal in the Sydney Papers, edited by Mr. Blencowe, p. 25.]

[Sidenote a:  A.D. 1647.  July 25.]