orts and castles without their previous approbation of the persons to
be appointed; and he demurred to their proposal that both armies should
be disbanded, until he knew on what conditions he was to return to his
capital. They had limited the duration of the conference to twenty days; he
proposed a prolongation of[e]

[Footnote 1: Journals, 535. Rushworth, v. 100. Clarendon, ii, 136, 139.]

[Footnote 2: Journals, 463, 491, 594, Commons' Journals, Dec. 13. It was
imposed Nov. 29, 1642.]

[Sidenote a: A.D. 1643. Jan. 7.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1643. Jan. 30.]
[Sidenote c: A.D. 1643. Feb. 3.]
[Sidenote d: A.D. 1643. March 20.]
[Sidenote e: A.D. 1643. March 30.]

the term; they refused; and he offered, as his ultimatum, that, whenever he
should be reinstated in the possession of his revenues, magazines, ships,
and[a] forts, according to law; when all the members of parliament, with
the exception of the bishops, should be restored to their seats, as they
held them on the 1st of January, 1641; and when the two houses should be
secure from the influence of tumultuary assemblies, which could only be
effected by an adjournment to some place twenty miles distant from London,
he would consent to the immediate disbanding of both armies, and would meet
his parliament in person. The Commons instantly passed a vote to recall
the[b] commissioners from Oxford; the Lords, though at first they
dissented, were compelled to signify their concurrence; and an end was put
to the treaty, and to[c] the hopes which it had inspired.[1]

During this negotiation the houses left nothing to the discretion of their
commissioners, the earl of Northumberland, Pierrepoint, Armyn, Holland, and
Whitelock. They were permitted to propose and argue; they had no power to
concede.[2] Yet, while they acted in public according to the tenour of
their instructions, they privately gave the king to understand that he
might probably purchase the preservation, of the church by surrendering the
command of the militia,--a concession which his opponents deemed

[Footnote 1: See the whole proceedings relative to the treaty in the king's
works, 325-397; the Journals of the Lords, v. 659-718; and Rushworth,
v. 164-261.]

[Footnote 2: This was a most dilatory and inconvenient arrangement. Every
proposal, or demand, or suggestion front the king was sent to the
parliament, and its expediency debated. The houses generally disagreed.
Conferences were therefore held, and amendme