he lord-general repaired in his
carriage from the palace to Westminster Hall,[a] through two lines of
military, composed of five regiments of foot and three of horse. The
procession formed at the door. Before him walked the aldermen, the judges,
two commissioners of the great seal, and the lord mayor; behind him the two
councils of state and of the army. They mounted to the court of Chancery,
where a chair of state with a cushion had been placed on a rich carpet.
Cromwell was dressed in a suit and cloak of black velvet, with long boots,
and a broad gold band round his hat. He took his place before the chair,
between the two commissioners; the judges stood in a half-circle behind it,
and the civic officers ranged themselves on the right, the military on the
left, side of the court.

[Footnote 1: Exact Relation, 26. True Narrative, 4. Ludlow, ii. 33.
Clarendon, iii. 484. Thurloe, i. 754. The author of this new constitution
is not known. Ludlow tells us that it was first communicated by Lambert to
a council of field officers. When some objections were made, he replied,
that the general was willing to consider any amendments which might be
proposed, but would not depart from the project itself. Some, therefore,
suggested that, after the death of the present lord-general, the civil and
military government should be kept separate, and that no protector should
be succeeded by any of his relatives. This gave so much offence, that, at a
second meeting, Lambert, having informed them that the lord-general would
take care of the civil administration, dismissed them to their respective
commands.--Ludlow, ii. 37. It is to this, perhaps, that the Dutch
ambassador alludes, when he says that Cromwell desisted from his project
of being declared king on account of the displeasure of the
officers.--Thurloe, i. 644.]

[Sidenote a: A.D. 1653. Dec. 16.]

Lambert now came forward to address the lord-general. He noticed the
dissolution of the late parliament, observed that the exigency of the time
required a strong and stable government, and prayed his excellency in the
name of the army and of the three nations to accept the office of protector
of the commonwealth. Cromwell, though it was impossible to conceal the
purpose for which he had come thither, could not yet put off the habit of
dissimulation; and if, after some demur, he expressed his consent, it was
with an appearance of reluctance which no one present could believe to be
real.