Upon the unexpected receipt of this message, a council of war was
called, and the letter read; no man offered to speak a word; the
general moved it, but every one was loth to begin.

At last an old colonel starts up, and asked the general what he
thought might occasion the writing this letter? The general told him,
he could not tell; but he could tell, he was sure, of one thing, that
he knew what was not the occasion of it, viz., that is, not any want
of force in their army to oblige us to other terms. Then a doubt was
started, whether the king and Parliament were not in any treaty, which
this agreement might be prejudicial to.

This occasioned a letter to my Lord Fairfax, wherein our general
returning the civilities, and neither accepting nor refusing his
proposal, put it upon his honour, whether there was not some agreement
or concession between his Majesty and the Parliament, in order to a
general peace, which this treaty might be prejudicial to, or thereby
be prejudicial to us.

The Lord Fairfax ingenuously declared, he had heard the king had made
some concessions, and he heartily wished he would make such as would
settle the kingdom in peace, that Englishmen might not wound and
destroy one another; but that he declared he knew of no treaty
commenced, nor anything passed which could give us the least shadow
of hope for any advantage in not accepting his conditions; at last
telling us, that though he did not insult over our circumstances, yet
if we thought fit, upon any such supposition, to refuse his offers, he
was not to seek in his measures.

And it appeared so, for he immediately advanced his forlorns, and