265 had a1; in tent to have cut of the English armie, who beleagucr'd Newark,' but that God changed their councclls and made them 1 It has alwflys been, and perhaps will al ways' remain a mystery, what were the cond itions or engagements on which the king relied in putting himself into the hamls of the Scots. In Clarendon's State Papers there are severa l letters from the French ambassador, persuading him to this measure, an d undertaking for the Scots to give him effectua1 su pporti and the king wrote very posit ively to Ormond a letter, which was intercepted, and is produced by Rnshworth, that the Scots had g iven him good security that they would join their forc P.s to those- of ~1ont rose and the king's fri ends . On the other side, the general and committee of estates res ident in the Scots army wrote, that " the king came grivately into th eir carnp, and t hat there had been no <( trtal 1J nor capitulation with him by them, nor any in thei r names, and that the H assertion of the king in hi s letter to OrmOnd wa~ a damnable untrut!t." H eylin in his }list..of Presbyter. says, "The commi ssioners residing with the Scotch army, u promi sed protect ion to the king and his friend s, but broke their promise and sold <(him for 200,000[. cl s they would have done ow· Saviow· fo r lw.lf tlte money." In another place he says, " Lowdon ranted to some tune about the disgrace of_se ll lng th e u king, but however the Presbyterians on both sides .concluded the sinful barga in. " Not to dwe1l upon what is elst!whe re said on either side ot the question, the symptoms of treachery di sce rned by CoL Hutchin son and others before and at the time of th e king's arrival give ample reason to conclude that the Scots were aware of hi s coming, nnd that either there were two parties, one of which was devoted to the king and the other not so, and that the latter was prevalent, or el_se tha t the whol e expected from the king conditions which he was unwilling to perfOrm, and principa11y the signing the covenant, the refusal of which they afterwards openly resented, and this might be that " change God is said to make in their counsels." There is much less doubt as to the justice of Mrs. Hutcbinso~'s reflection, that of all courses, that he took was the worst: she, who had a truly British heart, well knew what effect ingenuous confidence would have had on the parli amen t, with tbe virtues as well as vices of which she was well acquainted. The parliament had asl.;ed him to "come to them with a royal, not martial, il ttendance, and promi sed to receive him "well." The last message passed on Nlarch 23, and in a few days after he went to the Scots army. Quem Deus vult perdere prius dementat. , Those ~vhom God destines to destruction he deprives of their understanding. Artifice, which was Charles's greatest f~LU1t, was likewise hi s ruin, and he fell not like a conquered prince, as JU'ccda victoris, a noble prize for the victor, but 1)retimn' sce/.t'ris, the o~itct of a scandalous t raffic, apprehended and sul ci as a culprit and fugiti ve; and fOrfeited his last resource, that respect and pity which the generous rese rve for the unforlunate.
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