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 (identified on the first day of the Putney Debates as 'Buff Coat') and another New Agent from Col. Whalley's Regiment only identified as 'Bedfordshire Man' (this was possibly Trooper Matthew Weale, a signatory of the "Case of the Armie" and the "Agreement of the People"). Other members of the Army present were Colonel Thomas Rainsborough (MP for Droitwich), 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.