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HISTORY OF ENGLAND,

CHAP.

I.

Proceed-ingsagainstthe King

And now a design, to which, at the commencement of the- civil war, no man would have dared to allude, and which wasnot less inconsistent with the Solemn League and Covenant. than with the old law of England, began to take a distinct form.The austere warriors who ruled the nation had, during somemonths, meditated a fearful vengeance on the captive King.When and how the scheme originated; whether it spiread fromthe general to the ranks, or from the ranks to the general;whether it is to be ascribed to policy using fanaticism as a tool,or to fanaticism bearing down policy with headlong impulse,are questions which, even at this day, cannot be answered withperfect confidence. It seems, however, on the whole, pro-bable that he who seemed to lead was really forced to follow,and that, on this occasion, as on another great occasion a fewyears later, he sacrificed his own judgment and his own incli-nations to the wishes of the army. For the power which he hadcalled into existence was a power which even he could notalways control; and, that he might ordinarily command, it wasnecessary that he should sometimes obey. He publicly pro-tested that he was no mover in the matter, that the first stepshad been taken without his privity, that he could not advisethe Parliament to strike the blow, but that he submitted hisown feelings to the force of circumstances which seemed tohim to indicate the purposes of providence. It has been thefashion to consider those professions as instances of the hypo-crisy which is vulgarly imputed to him. But even those whopronounce him a hypocrite will scarcely venture to call him afool. They are therefore bound to show that he had some pur-pose to serve by secretly stimulating the army to take thatcourse which he did not venture openly to recommend. Itwould be absurd to suppose that he, who was never by hisrespectable enemies represented as wantonly cruel or im-placably vindictive, would have taken the most important stepof his life under the influence of mere malevolence. He was