299.

** Rush. vol. vii. p. 614, 515. Clarendon, vol. v. p. 47.

Fairfax himself was no less surprised at the king's arrival. That bold
measure, executed by Joyce, had never been communicated to the general.
The orders were entirely verbal, and nobody avowed them. And while every
one affected astonishment at the enterprise, Cromwell, by whose counsel
it had been directed, arrived from London, and put an end to their
deliberations.

This artful and audacious conspirator had conducted himself in
the parliament with such profound dissimulation, with such refined
hypocrisy, that he had long deceived those who, being themselves
very dexterous practitioners in the same arts, should naturally have
entertained the more suspicion against others. At every intelligence of
disorders in the army, he was moved to the highest pitch of grief and of
anger. He wept bitterly: he lamented the misfortunes of his country: he
advised every violent measure for suppressing the mutiny; and by these
precipitate counsels at once seemed to evince his own sincerity, and
inflamed those discontents of which he intended to make advantage. He
obtested heaven and earth, that his devoted attachment to the parliament
had rendered him so odious in the army, that his life, while among them,
was in the utmost danger; and he had very narrowly escaped a conspiracy
formed to assassinate him. But information being brought that the
most active officers and agitators were entirely his creatures, the
parliamentary leaders secretly resolved, that, next day, when he should
come to the house, an accusation should be entered against him, and he
should be sent to the Tower.[*] Cromwell, who, in the conduct of his
desperate enterprises, frequently approached to the very brink of
destruction, knew how to make the requisite turn with proper dexterity
and boldness. Being informed of this design, he hastened to the camp;
where he was received with acclamations, and was instantly invested with
the supreme command both of general and army.

* Clarendon, vol. v. p. 46.

Fairfax, having neither talents himself for cabal, nor penetration
to discover the cabals of others, had given his entire confidence to
Cromwell; who, by the best colored pretences, and by the appearance
of an open sincerity and a scrupulous conscience, imposed on the easy
nature of this brave and virtuous man. The council of officers and the
agitators were moved altogether by Cromwell's direction