rejected the overtures of the Presbyterians, who
were more or less openly alined with the Royalists.
The Presbyterians indeed by August had become
assiduous in their attentions to Lilburne. On
August 1 the House of Commons under Presby-
terian tutelage removed the restraint it had put him
under in January, and referred to a special commit-
tee the task of satisfying his Star-Chamber damages
and settling his arrears. Next day the Lords re-
voked their former sentence against him. ¹ But
Lilburne, not to be won over by his old enemies,
wrote Cromwell a letter pledging him the support
of the Levellers. As Cromwell received it at the
height of the rebellion of 1648 when he hardly knew
friend from foe, Lilburne's avowed support must
have been welcome. ²

Moreover, the army officers were inclined to favor
the decisive measures advocated by the Levellers
rather than the cautious policy of the city Inde-
pendents. Thus the Levellers on September 11th
presented a petition to the Commons that addressed
them as the supreme authority and urged them to
forbear treating with the king; and, although the
city Independents held aloof from the petition,
Cromwell, by Lilburne's account, heartily approved
it. ³

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