ABSTRACT
Charles had been contented enough when the Army sent him to Hampton Court palace, where he was able to play tennis and billiards and hunt in the park. Evidendy Oliver derived from what he heard in these debates in the Army Council a belief that some of those participating in them, who had put forward a republican and democratic constitutional scheme which would have brought the monarchy to an end, were even prepared to assassinate Charles. The reason why Charles refused to go abroad and preferred to stay in what he believed was a safe place in his dominions was that at Hampton Court he had been negotiating with Scottish commissioners in the hope that they would undertake to send an army into England in order to enforce his restoration to his throne. The period of negotiations was twice extended but, as Charles foresaw, nothing came of them in the end.
