would ruin it all. The Commons were for Presbytery,
and would never agree the bishops should be restored. The king was
willinger to comply with anything than this, and we foresaw it would
be so; from whence we used to say among ourselves, "That the clergy
was resolved if there should be no bishop there should be no king."

This treaty at Uxbridge was a perfect war between the men of the gown,
ours was between those of the sword; and I cannot but take notice
how the lawyers, statesmen, and the clergy of every side bestirred
themselves, rather to hinder than promote the peace.

There had been a treaty at Oxford some time before, where the
Parliament insisting that the king should pass a bill to abolish
Episcopacy, quit the militia, abandon several of his faithful servants
to be exempted from pardon, and making several other most extravagant
demands, nothing was done, but the treaty broke off, both parties
being rather farther exasperated, than inclined to hearken to
conditions.

However, soon after the success in the west, his Majesty, to let them
see that victory had not puffed him up so as to make him reject the
peace, sends a message to the Parliament, to put them in mind of
messages of like nature which they had slighted; and to let them know,
that notwithstanding he had beaten their forces, he was yet willing to
hearken to a reasonable proposal for putting an end to the war.

The Parliament pretended the king, in his message, did not treat with
them as a legal Parliament, and so made hesitations; but after long
debates and delays they agreed to draw up propositions for peace to be
sent to the king. As this message was sent to the Houses about August,
I think they made it the middle of November before they brought the
propositions for peace; and, when they brought them, they had no
power to enter either upon a treaty, or so much as preliminaries for a
treaty, only to deliver the letter, and receive an answer.

However, such were the circumstances of affairs at this time, that the
king was uneasy to see himself thus treated, and take no notice of it:
the king returned an answer to the propositions, and proposed a treaty
by commissioners which the Parliament appointed.

Three months more were spent in naming commissioners. There was much
time spent in this treaty, but little done; the commissioners debated
chiefly the article of religion, and of the militia; in the latter
they were very likely to agree, in the fo