of the
House of Commons for his distinguished services to the two kingdoms. Of his
sentiments with respect to the late proceedings no doubt was entertained.
If he had not suggested, he had at least been careful to applaud the
conduct of the officers, and in a letter to Fairfax he blasphemously
attributed it to the inspiration of the Almighty.[1]

The government of the kingdom had now devolved in reality on the army.
There were two military councils, the one select, consisting of the
grandees, or principal commanders, the other general, to which the inferior
officers, most of them men of levelling principles, were admitted. A
suspicion existed that the former aimed at the establishment of an
oligarchy: whence their advice was frequently received with jealousy and
distrust, and their resolutions were sometimes negatived by the greater
number of their inferiors. When any measure had received the approbation
of the general council, it was carried to the House of Commons, who were
expected to impart to it the sanction of their authority. With ready
obedience[a] they renewed the vote of non-addresses, resolved that
the re-admission of the eleven expelled members was dangerous in its
consequences, and contrary to the usages of the house, and declared that
the treaty in the Isle of Wight, and the approbation given to the[b] royal
concessions, were dishonourable to parliament, destructive of the common
good, and a breach of the public faith.[2] But these were only preparatory
measures:

[Footnote 1: Journals, Dec. 8. Whitelock, 362. Rushworth, vii. 1339.]

[Footnote 2: Journals, Dec. 3, 13, 14, 20. Whitelock, 362, 363. Clarendon
Papers, ii. App. xlix.]

[Sidenote a: A.D. 1648. Dec. 12.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1648. Dec. 13.]

they were soon called upon to pass a vote, the very mention of which a few
years before would have struck the boldest among them with astonishment and
terror.

It had long been the conviction of the officers that the life of the king
was incompatible with their safety. If he were restored, they would become
the objects of royal vengeance; if he were detained in prison, the public
tranquillity would be disturbed by a succession of plots in his favour. In
private assassination there was something base and cowardly from which the
majority revolted; but to bring him to public justice, was to act openly
and boldly; it was to proclaim their confidence in the goodness of their
cause; to give to the world a sple