Meanwhile, Charles, informed of the result of the rendezvous at Ware, had hastened to despatch Berkeley to the generals, to remind them of their promises. On arriving, Berkeley felt some uneasiness. The trial of the king was spoken of. He was, however, introduced to the council of the officers; and he delivered his letters. "We are the army of Parliament," said Fairfax, in a severe tone. "We have nothing to reply to the proposals of his Majesty. It is for him to decide." Berkeley, in astonishment, eyed Cromwell and Ireton; they remained impassive. The letters of the king intended for them were handed them; no answer was given. "I will do my best to continue to serve the king," was the only message sent, "but let him not expect me to undo myself for love of him." Trustworthy advices counselled the king to fly to the Continent if possible. A vessel sent by the queen was cruising about, it was said, in the vicinity of the island, but a fresh intrigue revived the king's hopes. Parliament voted four propositions or bills. If the king should accept them, he was to be admitted to negotiate in person with the Houses. These bills were a justification of the war which had brought Charles to imprisonment. On his part, they involved a veritable abdication. He was determined not to accept them, but he did not say so, for the proposals of Parliament would be of use to him, he thought, in the secret relations which he had renewed with the Scotch commissioners. "We must wait," he said to Berkeley, on his return; "I wish to conclude with the Scotch before quitting the kingdom. If they were to see me out of the hands of the army, they would be much more exacting."
A few days subsequently. Lords Lauderdale, Lowden, and Lanark, having arrived at Carisbrooke at the same time as the commissioners of Parliament, the treaty with Scotland was concluded, signed, and buried in a garden. The king, about to fly from the Isle of Wight, in order to take refuge upon the borders of Scotland, definitively refused the proposals of Parliament, demanding to negotiate in person without being pledged to accept anything. The commissioners made no effort to induce him to alter his mind; they departed, and a few hours after their departure, as the king was conferring with his confidants upon the means of escape for the following night, the gates of the castle were closed, the guards were doubled, and the servants of the king received orders to quit the island. The wrath and reproaches of the king were powerless to move Hammond. All hope of flight was at an end.
In Parliament, Ireton bluntly proposed to settle public affairs without the king. "The king," he said, "has denied safety and protection to his people; it is for us to settle the kingdom without him." The Presbyterians rose against the measure. "Mr. Speaker," said Cromwell, "the king is a man of great parts, but so false that no one can trust him. While he protests his love of peace, he is engaged in secret treaties with the Scotch commissioners to embroil the nation into a new war. The time has arrived for Parliament to govern and defend the kingdom by its own power and resolution. The men who have defended Parliament from so many dangers with the expense of their blood, will defend it herein with fidelity and courage against all opposition. Teach them not by neglecting your own and the kingdom's safety to think themselves betrayed, lest despair teach them to seek their safety by some other means than adhering to you who will not stick to yourselves: and how destructive such a resolution in them will be to you all I tremble to say, and I leave you to judge!" He resumed his seat, with his hand upon his sword. The motion was voted without further opposition. After some hesitation, it passed on the 15th of January, 1648, in the House of Lords. Warwick and Manchester alone protested against the measure.
Violent indignation burst forth in all parts of the kingdom; a multitude of voices, up to this time uncertain, now united to those of the cavaliers in cursing this detestable treason. Never had so many rumors of royalist plots, never had so many or such violent pamphlets threatened Westminster. The Presbyterians, vanquished in Parliament as well as in the army, raised their heads again at these tokens of public wrath. Cromwell, always prudent and sensible, endeavored to unite himself with this party, urging them at least to postpone their quarrels and to face in concert the new perils which it was easy to foresee. They would agree to nothing. Cromwell encountered the same resistance among the republican party which had manifested itself in the House. Ludlow, Vane, Hutchinson, Sydney, Haselrig loudly declared themselves opposed to the continuance of the monarchy, which was condemned, they said, by the Bible. Ardent in their fanaticism, they troubled themselves little about the external dangers which menaced their cause. Hamilton was in the ascendant in Scotland. The Parliament at Edinburgh voted the raising of an army of forty thousand men for the defence of the country, it was said; while in the north of England, in the west, in Wales, and even as far as the counties of Kent and Essex, the cavaliers openly set up the royal standard, boldly recruiting for the king, with the support, in various places, of almost the entire population. The Presbyterians took advantage of the breeze which was blowing, and obtained a vote of the House of Commons, on the 28th of April, 1641, that they would not change the form of government by a king, lords, and commons. Notwithstanding the vote which prohibited any address to the king, every member was to be at liberty to propose what the interest of the country should appear to him to require. A few days later, Cromwell, weary of inaction and the perplexity of affairs, suspected by some for his attempts to bring about an arrangement, by others for the hastiness of his measures, resolved to fight the insurgents in the west and to seize once more by the sword the ascendancy which was slipping from him. He had scarcely set out for Wales when the insurrection burst forth in all parts, and Fairfax and Lambert were also taking the field, the former to defend the environs of London, the latter to march towards the north.
The Scotch were hastening, being forewarned by the heedless ardor of the cavaliers. Hamilton had only been able to gather together fourteen thousand men when he crossed the border on the 8th of July. The news of the invasion caused great commotion at Westminster. Fairfax promptly reduced the insurgents of the south, but they took refuge in Colchester, and the general was detained before the town by their courageous resistance. Cromwell in the same manner besieged Pembroke Castle, the bulwark of the royalists in the west. Lambert had great difficulty in holding in check the cavaliers of Langdale and Musgrave in the north; he could not struggle alone against so many enemies. Alarm was taken; it was resolved to press forward the new negotiations opened up with the king. This time, the Commons abandoned the three bills, the condition of which they had wished to make the preliminary of any negotiation. Meanwhile, the committee of war, sitting at Derby House, where the Independents prevailed, sent money and reinforcements to Lambert, urging Cromwell to join him, secretly writing him to fear nothing, to act with vigor, and to count upon his friends, whatever distrust he might formerly have encountered from them.
Cromwell waited neither for orders nor promises. Being well informed of the movements of the Scotch army, he had written a month before to Lambert to fall back as soon as it should appear necessary, and to avoid any engagement until he should be able to join him. "Send me some shoes for my poor tired soldiers," he wrote to the committee of Derby House; "they have a long march to make." Pembroke Castle capitulated, and Cromwell set out for the north with extraordinary rapidity. On the 7th of August, Langdale, who marched with the English cavaliers in front of the Scotch army, caused the Duke of Hamilton to be advised of the approach of Cromwell. Everything indicated upon his part an intention of beginning the attack. "Impossible," replied the duke; "he has not had time to be here. If Cromwell be near, of a certainty it is with a small army; he will be very careful not to attack us;" and he transferred his headquarters to Preston. But the cavaliers of Langdale were already fighting with the enemy; reinforcements were asked for; the duke promised them, but did not send them. After a desperate resistance, Langdale was compelled to fly, and Cromwell marched direct towards Hamilton, whom he defeated without difficulty. Three battles and three successive defeats soon cooled the ardor of the Scotch. A tumultuous despair took possession of the army; the infantry surrendered in its entirety. Hamilton, at the head of the cavalry, altered his course and proceeded towards the north-east, endeavoring to reach Scotland. He was pursued; his troops mutinied; he surrendered, accepting the conditions imposed by Lambert. After a campaign of five days, Cromwell in his turn entered Scotland, determined to wrest from the royalist Presbyterians all means of action and salvation. Scarcely had he arrived when an insurrection took place in his favor, against the influence of the vanquished Hamilton. Argyle and his friends, borne back into power, received Cromwell in Edinburgh with the greatest honors. He left there Lambert and two regiments to protect their government; then he set out for London, where the great game was being played. The negotiations with the king had begun; fifteen commissioners of Parliament had set out to treat with Charles in the Isle of Wight.
The king disputed the ground step by step; he was urged to accept everything by those who assured him that the treaty being once concluded, Satan himself could not dissolve it. "Consider if you call this a treaty," said Charles, "whether it be not like the fray in the comedy, where the man comes out and says, 'There has been a fray and no fray;' and being asked how that could be, 'Why,' says he, 'there hath been three blows given, and I had them all.' Look, therefore, whether this be not a parallel case. Observe whether I have not granted absolutely most of your propositions, and with great moderation limited only some few of them: nay, consider whether you have made me any one concession." The concessions of the king were more apparent than real. He wrote to Ormond, "Obey my wife's orders, not mine, until I shall let you know I am free from all restraint; nor trouble yourself about my concessions as to Ireland; they will lead to nothing;" and to Sir William Hopkins, after consigning to the Houses for twenty years the command of the forces, "But for the hope of an early escape never would I have yielded in such a way. My captivity at present would break my heart, for I have done what my escape alone can justify."