Charles:
It is my hope, devoutly.
Cromwell:
Parliament bends a little to my persuasion. If I could but induce Your Majesty to treat no longer directly with them, but to leave all to me.
Charles:
It is our Parliament still. We cannot slight them.
Cromwell:
But, sir, you confuse things daily. If the army were no longer intact, it would be another matter. But now it is the army that must be satisfied—in the end there is the real authority. Remember, sir, that these men are not merely soldiers. They are the heart and the conscience of the nation in arms. By their arms thay have prevailed, how bloodily Your Majesty knows. They stand now to see that the settlement is not against that conscience that armed them.
Charles:
But we must consider ourselves. It would be folly to anger the House.