[112] The Nineteen Propositions fairly express the views of Pym and Hampden at this time on the supremacy of the Commons. The main proposals were the authority of parliament: in the _sole_ choice of the ministers of the crown, in the regulation of state policy, in the management of the militia, in the education of the royal children, in the remodeling of the discipline of the Church of England; and the guardianship by parliament of all forts and castles. It was of first importance in Pym’s mind that parliament should have the control in military matters. Without the power of the sword the House of Commons could not ensure the personal safety of its members or the privileges of free debate against the enmity of the king. To command the army was to govern the country. [113] See G. P. Gooch, _History of Democratic Ideas in the Seventeenth Century_. [114] “By its injudicious treatment of the most popular man in England, parliament was arraying against itself a force which only awaited an opportunity to sweep it away.”--G. P. Gooch, _History of Democratic Ideas in the Seventeenth Century_. [115] “Advocating direct government by a democratic Parliament and the fullest development of individual liberty, the Levellers looked with suspicion on the Council of State as a body which might possibly be converted into an executive authority independent of parliament, and thoroughly distrusted Cromwell as aiming at military despotism. Well-intentioned and patriotic as they were, they were absolutely destitute of political tact, and had no sense of the real difficulties of the situation, and, above all, of the impossibility of rousing the popular sympathy on behalf of abstract reasonings.”--S. R. Gardiner, _History of the Commonwealth and Protectorate_. [116] S. R. Gardiner. [117] The movement “had sprung into existence in response to a widely spread apprehension that the victory of the people might be rendered fruitless. Its call had found an echo in the ranks of the army, and by its admirable organization it had insisted that the leaders should hear what it had to say. It had powerfully influenced their conduct and had introduced a radical element into their programme. When this had been done, the soldiers felt that its _raison d’être_ as a separate party had come to an end. The battle had been fought, and the victory, at least for the time, had fallen to Ireton.”--G. P. Gooch, _History of Democratic Ideas in the Seventeenth Century_. [118] “In other words, not only Cromwell and Ireton, but also Fairfax, who had recently been elected a member of the House, were to be summarily cashiered.”--S. R. Gardiner, _History of the Commonwealth_. [119] See the pamphlet “A Petition of Well-affected Women,” 1649. There is something curiously familiar in the exhortation to the women.