objects for which they had fought, and which
they now claimed as the fruit of their victory. Of these the principal
were, that the supremacy of the people should be established against the
negative voice of the king and of the lords; that to prevent civil wars,
the office of the king and the privileges of the peers should be clearly
defined; that a new parliament, to be elected of course and without writs,
should assemble every year, but never for a longer time than forty or fifty
days; that religious belief and worship should be free from restraint

[Footnote 1: The papers given in during this treaty may be seen in the
Lords' Journals, x. 474-618. The best account is that composed by order of
the king himself, for the use of the prince of Wales.--Clarendon Papers,
ii. 425-449. I should add, that a new subject of discussion arose
incidentally during the conferences. The lord Inchiquin had abandoned the
cause of the parliament in Ireland, and, at his request, Ormond had been
sent from Paris by the queen and the prince, to resume the government, with
a commission to make peace with the Catholic party. Charles wrote to him
two letters (Oct. 10, 28.--Carte, ii. App. xxxi. xxxii.), ordering him to
follow the queen's instructions, to obey no commands from himself as long
as he should be under restraint, and not to be startled at his concessions
respecting Ireland, for they would come to nothing. Of these letters the
houses were ignorant; but they got possession of one from Ormond to the
Irish Catholics, and insisted that Charles should order the lord lieutenant
to desist. This he eluded for some time, alleging that if the treaty took
effect, their desire was already granted by his previous concessions; if it
did not, no order of his would be obeyed. At last he consented, and wrote
the letter required.--Journals, x. 576-578, 597, 618. Clarendon Papers, ii.
441, 445, 452.]

[Sidenote a: A.D. 1648. Nov. 5.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1648. Sept. 11.]

or compulsion; that the proceedings in law should be shortened, and the
charges ascertained; that tithes for the support of the clergy, and
perpetual imprisonment for debt, should be abolished; and that the
parliament "should lay to heart the blood spilt, and the rapine perpetrated
by commission from the king, and consider whether the justice of God could
be satisfied, or his wrath be appeased, by an act of oblivion." This
instrument is the more deserving of attention, because it points o