ABSTRACT
In the spring of 1646 Charles I had fled to the Scotch camp, but the Scotch surrendered him to his adversaries in England in return for the payment of subsidies due to them. He was at first sent to the castle of Holdenby or Holmby, in Northamptonshire, whence he tried to play off Parliament and Army alternately one against the other. The “agitators” met and drew up a democratic republican manifesto, which they called “Agreement of the People, upon Grounds of Common Right, for uniting of all unprejudiced people therein”, and henceforth the watchword of all Levellers is the carrying out of an “agreement of the people”. The soldiers who sympathized with the Levellers were induced, on the plea of the need for unity against the common foe, to make their submission. The Presbyterians in and out of Parliament could not be held in check by an undisciplined Army.
