The Independents and other sectaries, enraged to find all their schemes
subverted by the Presbyterians, who had once been their associates,
exerted themselves to disappoint that party of the favor and indulgence
to which, from their recent merits in promoting the restoration, they
thought themselves justly entitled. By the Presbyterians, said they, the
war was raised; by them was the populace first incited to tumults; by
their zeal, interest, and riches, were the armies supported; by their
force was the king subdued; and if, in the sequel, they protested
against those extreme violences committed on his person by the military
leaders, their opposition came too late, after having supplied these
usurpers with the power and the pretences by which they maintained their
sanguinary measures. They had indeed concurred with the royalists in
recalling the king; but ought they to be esteemed, on that account, more
affectionate to the royal cause? Rage and animosity, from disappointed
ambition, were plainly their sole motives; and if the king should now
be so imprudent as to distinguish them by any particular indulgences, he
would soon experience from them the same hatred and opposition which had
proved so fatal to his father.
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