elating to this question; in the first the majority was 94 to 60, in the
second 125 to 58.]

[Sidenote a: A.D. 1648. Nov. 18.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1648. Nov. 20.]
[Sidenote c: A.D. 1648. Nov. 25.]
[Sidenote d: A.D. 1648. Nov. 26.]

the charge from the parliament, and would not suffer the interference of
any other authority. Eure departed; but Charles could no longer conceal
from himself the danger which stared him in the face; his constancy or
obstinacy relented; and he agreed,[a] after a most painful struggle, and
when the time was run to the last minute, to remit the compositions of his
followers to the mercy of parliament; to consent to the trial of the seven
individuals excepted from pardon, provided they were allowed the benefit of
the ancient laws; and to suspend the functions and vest in the crown the
lands of the bishops, till religion should be settled, and the support of
its ministers determined by common consent of the king and the two houses.
By this last expedient it was hoped that both parties would be satisfied;
the monarch, because the order was not abolished, nor its lands alienated
_for ever_; the parliament, because neither one nor the other could be
restored without its previous consent.[1]

[Footnote 1: Clarendon Papers, 449-454. Journals, x. 620-622. The royalists
excepted from mercy were the marquess of Newcastle, Sir Marmaduke Langdale,
Lord Digby, Sir Richard Grenville, Mr. Justice Jenkins, Sir Francis
Dorrington, and Lord Byron. It appears to me difficult to read the letters
written by Charles during the treaty to his son the prince of Wales
(Clarendon Papers, ii. 425-454), and yet believe that he acted with
insincerity. But how then, asks Mr. Laing (Hist. of Scotland, iii. 411),
are we to account for his assertion to Ormond, that the treaty would come
to nothing, and for his anxiety to escape manifested by his correspondence
with Hopkins?--Wagstaff's Vindication of the Royal Martyr, 142-161. 1.
Charles knew that, besides the parliament, there was the army, which had
both the will and the power to set aside any agreement which might be made
between him and the parliament; and hence arose his conviction that "the
treaty would come to nothing." 2. He was acquainted with all that passed
in the private councils of his enemies; with their design to bring him to
trial and to the scaffold; and he had also received a letter, informing him
of an intention to assassinate him during the treaty.--Herbert,