Earlier that summer Oliver Cromwell, Henry Ireton and other officers, known as the Grandees, attempted to negotiate a settlement with Charles I of England in the aftermath of the First Civil War. Their proposals, termed the Heads of Proposals, included provisions for social justice, but the monarchy and House of Lords would have retained a power of veto over the House of Commons. A further Head was that the king would be restored before the issues of the soldiers' indemnity and arrears were entrenched in law. This clear compromise position was contrary to the New Model Army's Declaration on 14 June and consequently the Heads lost the support of those seeking social reform. Sometime before October 1647, five of the most radical cavalry regiments elected new Agitators - known as the New Agents - to represent their views. The New Agents issued a political manifesto: The Case of the Armie Truly Stated. The fundamental ideas of the Case of the Armie came to be reflected in a written constitutional draft: the Agreement of the People. The Putney Debates came about as a result of the publication of the Case of the Armie. According to the author of a book called A Call to all the Soldiers of the Armie, Ireton was so incensed by the Case of the Armie that the New Agents were invited to debate the Case of the Armie before the General Council of the Army.
Debates
The radicals wanted a constitution based upon manhood suffrage, biennial Parliaments and a reorganisation of parliamentary constituencies. Authority was to be vested in the House of Commons rather than the King and Lords. Certain "native rights" were declared sacrosanct for all Englishmen: freedom of conscience, freedom from impressment into the armed forces and equality before the law. Commander-in-chief Fairfax was unwell and could not be present, so Cromwell sat in the chair. Cromwell flatly refused to accept any compromise in which the King was overthrown, while Henry Ireton pressed the case that his own The Heads of the Proposals covered all of the concerns raised by the New Agents in The Case of the Armie. The New Agents accepted the meeting, sending Robert Everard and another New Agent from Col. Whalley's Regiment only identified as 'Bedfordshire Man'. Other members of the Army present were Colonel Thomas Rainsborough, his brother Major William Rainsborough, and the Agitators Edward Sexby and William Allen. The New Agents also brought John Wildman and Maximillian Petty, two civilian advisors who had been involved with Army affairs since at least July 1647. The debates opened on 28 October and were transcribed by secretary William Clarke and a team of stenographers. From 2 November however, all recording ceased. The debates were not reported and Clarke's minutes were not published at the time. They were lost until 1890 when they were rediscovered at the library of Worcester College, Oxford, and subsequently published as part of the Clarke Papers. Cromwell and Ireton's main complaint about the Agreement was that it included terms for near universal male suffrage, which Ireton considered to be anarchy. Instead they suggested suffrage should be limited only to landholders. The Agitators, on the other hand, felt they deserved the rights in payment for their service during the war. Thus Thomas Rainsborough argued: And Ireton, for the Grandees:
Conclusion
The debates concluded with the understanding that a modified version of the Agreement, approved by a committee chosen mainly from the ranks of the Army's officers would be the basis of any future constitutional settlement, and that it would be presented to the Army itself at a mass meeting. However, the Agitators wanted to discuss the future of the king, leading the Grandees, fearing a complete breakdown of discipline in the Army, to propose on 8 November that the Agitators and New Agents return at once to their regiments to restore order, thereby suspending the meetings. This was reinforced on 11 November when King Charles escaped from Hampton Court Palace, apparently fearing that the Grandees could easily lose control of the more radical elements in the Army. Charles I's flight brought all debate to an end as the New Model Army were faced with a more immediate threat. On the same day the General Council drafted a new manifesto to be presented at the mass meeting which, among other provisions, contained a clause in which the members of the army would sign a declaration of loyalty to Lord Fairfax and the General Council. The presentation itself was split from one mass meeting to three smaller ones. Those regiments invited to the first meeting on 15 November agreed with the manifesto, but two regiments arrived uninvited and objected, sparking the Corkbush Field mutiny. Cromwell suppressed the mutiny and at the other two meetings the other regiments agreed to the terms in the manifesto. On 7 December 1647, at a meeting in Windsor, the General Council drew up a non-political petition to present to Parliament called the Humble Representation of the General Council of the Army, and a month later, on 8 January 1648, the General Council voted to terminate itself.
