e Parliament. Thus every thing
was divided. The quarrel ramified to every hamlet and to every
fireside, and the peace and happiness of the realm were effectually
destroyed.

Both sides began to raise armies and to prepare for war. Before
commencing hostilities, however, the king was persuaded by his
counselors to send a messenger to London and propose some terms of
accommodation. He accordingly sent the Earl of Southampton to the
House of Peers, and two other persons to the House of Commons. He had
no expectation, probably, of making peace, but he wanted to gain time
to get his army together, and also to strengthen his cause among the
people by showing a disposition to do all in his power to avoid open
war. The messengers of the king went to London, and made their
appearance in the two houses of Parliament.

The House of Lords ordered the Earl of Southampton to withdraw, and to
send his communication in writing, and in the mean time to retire out
of London, and wait for their answer. The House of Commons, in the
same spirit of hostility and defiance, ordered the messengers which
had been sent to them to come to the bar, like humble petitioners or
criminals, and make their communication there.

The propositions of the king to the houses of Parliament were, that
they should appoint a certain number of commissioners, and he also the
same number, to meet and confer together in hope of agreeing upon some
conditions of peace. The houses passed a vote in reply, declaring that
they had been doing all in their power to preserve the peace of the
kingdom, while the king had been interrupting and disturbing it by his
military gatherings, and by proclamations, in which they were called
traitors; and that they could enter into no treaty with him until he
disbanded the armies which he had collected, and recalled his
proclamations.

To this the king replied that he had never intended to call them
traitors; and that when they would recall their declarations and votes
stigmatizing those who adhered to him as traitors, he would recall his
proclamations. Thus messages passed back and forth two or three times,
each party criminating the other, and neither willing to make the
concessions which the other required. At last all hope of an
accommodation was abandoned, and both sides prepared for war.

The nobility and gentry flocked to the king's standard. They brought
their plate, their jewels, and their money, to provide funds. Some of