Abstract
The single tendency most apparent throughout the early years of the civil wars is the general inclination toward neutrality, and there can be little doubt that the vast majority of Englishmen would have been content to remain impartial in the quarrel between king and parliament. Among the gentry there was dismay at the prospect of being forced to take sides, and strenuous efforts were made to avoid being embroiled in a struggle hazardous to both life and property. Nonintervention likewise commended itself to men who were never satisfied in their consciences as to the justice of either faction, and who were torn between allegiance to the king and resistance to personal government. Their dilemma is clearly expressed in a letter of a Birmingham gentleman.
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References
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Hardacre, P.H. (1956). The Royalist Party, 1642–1643. In: The Royalists during the Puritan Revolution. International Scholars Forum, vol 6. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-4726-4_1
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