Neither should the death of Charles be attributed to the vengeance of the people.  They, for the most part, declared themselves satisfied with their victory; they sought not the blood of the captive monarch; they were even, willing to replace him on the throne, under those limitations which they deemed necessary for the preservation of their rights.  The men who hurried him to the scaffold were a small faction of bold and ambitious spirits, who had the address to guide the passions and fanaticism of their followers, and were enabled through them to control the real sentiments of the nation.  Even of the commissioners appointed to sit in judgment on the king, scarcely one-half could be induced to attend at his trial; and many of those who concurred in his condemnation subscribed the sentence with feelings of shame and remorse.  But so it always happens in revolutions:  the most violent put themselves forward; their vigilance and activity seem to multiply their number; and the daring of the few wins the ascendancy over the indolence or the pusillanimity of the many.

CHAPTER IV.

THE COMMONWEALTH.

Establishment Of The Commonwealth—­Punishment Of The Royalists—­Mutiny And
Suppression Of The Levellers—­Charles Ii Proclaimed In Scotland—­Ascendancy
Of His Adherents In Ireland—­Their Defeat At Rathmines—­Success Of Cromwell
In Ireland—­Defeat Of Montrose, And Landing Of Charles In Scotland-Cromwell
Is Sent Against Him—­He Gains A Victory At Dunbar—­The King Marches Into
England—­Loses The Battle Of Worcester—­His Subsequent Adventures And
Escape.

When the two houses first placed themselves in opposition to the sovereign, their demands were limited to the redress of existing grievances; now that the struggle was over, the triumphant party refused to be content with anything less than the abolition of the old, and the establishment of a new and more popular form of government.  Some, indeed, still ventured to raise their voices in favour of monarchy, on the plea that it was an institution the most congenial to the habits and feelings of Englishmen.  By these it was proposed that the two elder sons of Charles should be passed by, because their notions were already formed, and their resentments already kindled; that the young duke of Gloucester, or his sister Elizabeth, should be placed on the throne; and that, under the infant sovereign, the royal prerogative should be circumscribed by law, so as to secure from future encroachment the just liberties of the people.  But the majority warmly contended for the establishment of a commonwealth.  Why, they asked, should they spontaneously set up again the idol which it had cost them so much blood and treasure to pull down?  Laws would prove but feeble restraints on the passions of a proud and powerful monarch.  If they sought an insuperable barrier to the restoration of despotism, it could be found