he king to his wife, which they
intercepted; and they made up their minds to more decided courses. The
king was more closely guarded; the army marched to the immediate
vicinity of London; a committee of safety was named, and parliament
was intimidated into the passing of a resolution, by which the city of
London and the Tower were intrusted to Fairfax and Cromwell. The
Presbyterian party was forever depressed, its leading members fled to
France, and the army had every thing after its own way. Parliament
still was ostensibly the supreme power in the land; but it was
entirely controlled by the Independent leaders and generals.

[Sidenote: Triumph of the Independents.]

The victorious Independents then made their celebrated proposals to
the king, as the Presbyterians had done before them; only the
conditions which the former imposed were more liberal, and would have
granted to the king powers almost as great as are now exercised by the
sovereign. But he would not accept them, and continued to play his
game of kingcraft.

Shortly after, the king contrived to escape from Windsor to the Isle
of Wight, with the connivance of Cromwell. At Carisbrook Castle, where
he quartered himself, he was more closely guarded than before. Seeing
this, he renewed his negotiations with the Scots, and attempted to
escape. But escape was impossible. He was now in the hands of men who
aimed at his life. A strong party in the army, called the _Levellers_,
openly advocated his execution, and the establishment of a republic;
and parliament itself resolved to have no further treaty with him. His
only hope was now from the Scots, and they prepared to rescue him.

Although the government of the country was now virtually in the hands
of the Independents and of the army, the state of affairs was
extremely critical, and none other than Cromwell could have extricated
the dominant party from the difficulties. In one quarter was an
imprisoned and intriguing king in league with the Scots, while the
royalist party was waiting for the first reverse to rise up again with
new strength in various parts of the land. Indeed, there were several
insurrections, which required all the vigor of Cromwell to suppress.
The city of London, which held the purse-strings, was at heart
Presbyterian, and was extremely dissatisfied with the course affairs
were taking. Then, again, there was a large, headstrong, levelling,
mutineer party in the army, which clamored for violent