d tyrannical.--Burton's Diary, iii. 503, note.]

[Footnote 2: See England's New Chains Discovered, and the Hunting of the
Foxes, passim; the King's Pamphlets, No. 411, xxi.; 414, xii. xvi.]

agreement of the people," had been sanctioned by the council of officers,
and presented[a] by Fairfax to the House of Commons, that it might be
transmitted to the several counties, and there receive the approbation of
the inhabitants. As a sop to shut the mouth of Cerberus, the sum of three
thousand pounds, to be raised from the estates of delinquents in the county
of Durham, had been voted[b] to Lilburne; but the moment he returned from
the north, he appeared at the bar of the house, and petitioned against "the
agreement," objecting in particular to one of the provisions by which the
parliament was to sit but six months, every two years, and the government
of the nation during the other eighteen months was to be intrusted to the
council of state. His example was quickly followed; and the table was
covered with a succession of petitions from officers and soldiers, and "the
well-affected" in different counties, who demanded that a new parliament
should be holden every year; that during the intervals the supreme power
should be exercised by a committee of the house; that no member of the last
should sit in the succeeding parliament; that the self-denying ordinance
should be enforced; that no officer should retain his command in the army
for more than a certain period; that the High Court of Justice should be
abolished as contrary to law, and the council of state, as likely to become
an engine of tyranny; that the proceedings in the courts should be in the
English language, the number of lawyers diminished, and their fees reduced;
that the excise and customs should be taken away, and the lands of
delinquents sold for compensation to the well-affected; that religion
should be "reformed according to the mind of God;" that no one should be
molested or incapacitated

[Sidenote a: A.D. 1649. Jan. 20.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1649. Feb. 26.]

on account of conscience; that tithes should be abolished; and that the
income of each minister should be fixed at one hundred pounds per annum, to
be raised by a rate on his parishioners.[1]

Aware of the necessity of crushing the spirit of opposition in the
military, general orders were issued[a] by Fairfax, prohibiting private
meetings of officers or soldiers "to the disturbance of the army;" and on
th