“If I had any other quarrel but the defence of my religion, crown and friends, you had full reason for your advice.” --King Charles I to Prince Rupert 1645. In 1648 after the failure of the Treaty of Newport, Charles still held these principles dear. The treaty had failed and talks broke down, but when Parliament recommenced talks, in a last ditch hope based on Charles’s moderate concessions, things looked very hopeful indeed. Out of a true wish for peace to his troubled people, he made further herculean concessions. For a man with beliefs as strong as Charles, they proved his sincerity: Parliament could name high officials for 10 years. Parliament could control the militia for 20 years (previous to the war, this was the King’s lawful right.) Presbyterianism could replace the Church of England as the exclusive religion for 3 years, the authority of Bishops being suspended while a commission looked for a permanent agreement. Withholding a pardon for Irish rebels. When asked to take the covenant himself and change his religion, or forcing it upon others, Charles honourably refused. It was while the King was heading to a promising conclusion with the commissioners, that the army under Fairfax, but mostly, Cromwell moved in. The army replaced Charles’s captor, moved him away from the commissioners and then struck intimidating close to Parliament. Parliament had voted 129 to 83, that the King’s recent concessions were sufficient grounds for settling the peace of the kingdom. An end to the troubles was in sight and was widely rejoiced at by all sections of the population. Next day, Thomas Pride, Henry Marten and Henry Ireton, all radical men, barred 140 MP’s and arrested 41, which were not militant enough, from entering Parliament. Many experts agree that because Ireton was involved, then his well-informed father-in-law, Cromwell would have been aware of this breach of privilege and encouraged it. Cromwell certainly used this experience of overrunning Parliament in the future and without doubt he knew what was going on. Needless to say, the leftovers in Parliament quickly voted that the settlement previously agreed with the King for a peace, was null and void. Thus in one night, the army had trashed the hopes of the kingdom for peace. How could the King now think of a settlement when he was faced with such an enemy -- God knows what they would do next? Back to Table of Contents -- King or Parliament #2 Back to King or Parliament List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2002 by Mark Turnbull. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com