mmons; and that still, whenever they should declare the safety of the
kingdom to be concerned, all bills passed by them respecting the forces by
sea or land should be deemed acts of parliament, even though the king for
the time being should refuse his assent; the second declared all oaths,
proclamations, and proceedings against the parliament during the war, void
and of no effect: the third annulled all titles of honour granted since the
20th of May, 1642, and deprived all peers to be created hereafter of the
right of sitting in parliament, without the consent of the two houses; and
the fourth gave to the houses themselves the power of adjourning from place
to place at their discretion.[2][b] The Scots, to delay the proceedings,
asked

[Footnote 1: Memoirs of Hamiltons, 325-333. Ludlow, i. 195-201. Berkeley,
383.]

[Footnote 2: Journals, ix. 575. Charles's Works, 590-593. Now let the
reader turn to Clarendon, History, iii. 88. He tells us, that by one, the
king was to have confessed himself the author of the war, and guilty of
all the blood which had been spilt; by another, he was to dissolve the
government of the church, and grant all lands belonging to the church to
other uses; by a third, to settle the militia, without reserving so much
power to himself as any subject was capable of; and in the last place, he
was in effect to sacrifice all those who had served him, or adhered to him,
to the mercy of the parliament. When this statement is compared with the
real bills, it may be judged how little credit is due to the assertions of
Clarendon, unless they are supported by other authorities.]

[Sidenote a: A.D. 1647. Dec. 14.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1647. Dec. 15.]

for a copy of the bills, and remonstrated against the alterations which
had been made in the propositions of peace. Their language was bold and
irritating; they characterized the conduct of the parliament as a violation
of the league and covenant; and they openly charged the houses with
suffering themselves to be controlled by a body, which owed its origin and
its subsistence to their authority. But the Independents were not to be
awed by the clamour of men whom they knew to be enemies under the name of
allies; they voted[a] the interference of any foreign nation in acts of
parliament a denial of the independence of the kingdom, and ordered[b] the
four bills to be laid before the king for his assent without further delay.
The Scots hastened to Carisbrook, in app