dangerous; thirty representatives were therefore summoned from each;
and, as the elections were conducted under the eyes of the

[Footnote 1: Burton's Diary, iii. 576. Thurloe, vol. vii. passim. Carte's
Letters, ii. 157-182, Londorp, viii. 635, 708. Dumont, vi. 244, 252, 260.]

[Sidenote a: A.D. 1658. Nov. 30.]

commanders of the forces, the members, with one solitary exception, proved
themselves the obsequious servants of government.[1]

It was, however, taken as no favourable omen, that when the protector, at
the opening of parliament, commanded the attendance of the Commons in the
House of Lords, nearly one-half of the members refused[a] to obey. They
were unwilling to sanction by their presence the existence of an authority,
the legality of which they intended to dispute; or to admit the superior
rank of the new peers, the representatives of the protector, over
themselves, the representatives of the people. As soon as the lower house
was constituted, it divided itself into three distinct parties. 1. The
protectorists formed about one-half of the members. They had received
instructions to adhere inviolably to the provisions of the "humble petition
and advice," and to consider the government by a single person, with the
aid of two houses, as the unalterable basis of the constitution. 2. The
republicans, who did not amount to fifty, but compensated for deficiency
in number by their energy and eloquence. Vane, Hazlerig, Lambert, Ludlow,
Nevil, Bradshaw, and Scot, were ready debaters, skilled in the forms of the
house, and always on the watch to take advantage of the want of knowledge
or of experience on the part of their adversaries. With them voted
Fairfax, who, after a long retirement, appeared once more on the stage. He
constantly sat by the side, and echoed the opinions of Hazlerig; and, so
artfully did he act his part, so firmly did he attach their confidence,
that, though a royalist at heart, he was designed by them

[Footnote 1: Thurloe, vii. 541, 550. Ludlow, ii. 170. Bethel, Brief
Narrative, 340. England's Confusion (p. 4), London, 1659.]

[Sidenote a: A.D. 1659. Jan. 27]

for the office of lord-general, in the event of the expulsion or the
abdication of Richard. 3. The "moderates or neuters" held in number the
medium between the protectorists and republicans. Of these, some wavered
between the two parties; but many were concealed Cavaliers, who, in
obedience to the command of Charles, had obtained seats i