On the 28th of January, the Commons, having completed the organisation of the army and the appointment of the officers, again sent the Ordinance up to the Peers who, seeing that they should be obliged to swallow it, moulded it into a more digestible shape, by insisting that all officers should be nominated by both Houses, and that no one should be capable of serving who did not take the Solemn League and Covenant within twenty days. But the Lords were struck with an apprehension that the Commons meant to do without them in the end, and they therefore exercised their rights in opposing the acts of the Lower House. They refused to sanction one-half of the officers appointed by Sir Thomas Fairfax, who had been introduced to the Commons on the 18th of February, thanked for his past services, and complimented on his appointment. To remove the suspicion of the Lords, the Commons assured them by message that they had bound themselves to be as tender of the honours and rights of the Peers as they were of their own. This pacified the Lords, and yielding to a necessity too strong for them, Essex, Manchester, Denbigh, and the rest resigned their commands, and on the 3rd of April the Self-denying Ordinance was passed by the Peers. Sir Thomas Fairfax proceeded to Windsor to remodel the army according to this Act. He did not find it an easy task; many, who were dismissed by the Act or for their past conduct, were unwilling to be cashiered; others would not serve under the new officers; and Dalbier, who had been one of the worst counsellors of Essex, lay apart with eight troops of horse, as if he contemplated going over to the king. At length, however, he came in, and the work was completed. CHAPTER II. THE GREAT REBELLION (_concluded_). The Assembly at Westminster--Trial and Death of Laud--Negotiations at Uxbridge--Meeting of the Commissioners--Impossibility of a Settlement--Prospect of Help to the King from the Continent--Charles agrees to the demands of the Irish Catholics--Discipline and Spirit of the Parliamentary Army--Campaign of the New-modelled Army--Hunting the King--Battle of Naseby--Fairfax in the West--Exploits of Montrose--Efforts of Charles to join Him--Battle of Kilsyth--Fall of Bristol--Battle of Philiphaugh--Last Efforts of the Royalists--Charles Offers to Treat--Discovery of his Correspondence with Glamorgan--Charles Intrigues with the Scots--Flight from Oxford--Surrender to the Scots at Newark--Consequent Negotiations--Proposals for Peace--Surrender of Charles to Parliament.