l his calamities,
seemed again to smile upon him. The parliament, afraid of his forming
some accommodation with the army, addressed him in a more respectful
style than formerly; and invited him to reside at Richmond, and
contribute his assistance to the settlement of the nation. The chief
officers treated him with regard, and spake on all occasions of
restoring him to his just powers and prerogatives. In the public
declarations of the army, the settlement of his revenue and authority
was insisted on.[***] The royalists every where entertained hopes of the
restoration of monarchy; and the favor which they universally bore to
the army, contributed very much to discourage the parliament, and to
forward their submission.

* Clarendon, vol. i. p. 51, 52, 57.

** When the king applied to have his children, the
parliament always told him, that they could take as much
care at London, both of their bodies and souls, as could be
done at Oxford. Parl. Hist. vol. xiii. p. 127.

*** Rush. vol. vii. p. 590.

The king began to feel of what consequence he was. The more the national
confusions increased, the more was he confident that all parties would
at length have recourse to his lawful authority, as the only remedy for
the public disorders "You cannot be without me," said he, on several
occasions: "you cannot settle the nation but by my assistance." A people
without government and without liberty, a parliament without authority,
an army without a legal master; distractions every where, terrors,
oppressions, convulsions: from this scene of confusion, which could not
long continue, all men, he hoped, would be brought to reflect on that
ancient government under which they and their ancestors had so long
enjoyed happiness and tranquillity.

Though Charles kept his ears open to all proposals, and expected to hold
the balance between the opposite parties, he entertained more hopes of
accommodation with the army. He had experienced the extreme rigor of the
parliament. They pretended totally to annihilate his authority: they
had confined his person. In both these particulars, the army showed more
indulgence.[*] He had a free intercourse with his friends. And, in the
proposals which the council of officers sent for the settlement of the
nation, they insisted neither on the abolition of Episcopacy, nor on the
punishment of the royalists; the two points to which the king had the
most extreme reluctance: and