Commons after the victory of Worcester, he
called the battle a "crowning mercy." Some of the republicans in that
body took alarm at this phrase, and thought that Cromwell used it to
foreshadow a design to place the crown on his own head. For this
reason, perhaps, they hesitated to dissolve.

But at last they could not withstand the pressure, and a bill was
introduced (1653) for summoning a new Parliament of four hundred
members, but with the provision that all members of the present House
were to keep their seats, and have the right to reject newly elected
members.

Cromwell, with the army, believed this provision a trick on the part
of the "Rump" (S450) to keep themselves in perpetual power.

Sir Harry Vane, who was a leading member of the House of Commons, and
who had been governor of the colony of Massachusetts, feared that the
country was in danger of falling into the hands of Cromwell as
military dictator. He therefore urged the immediate passage of the
bill as it stood. Cromwell heard that a vote was about to be taken.
Putting himself at the head of a squad of soldiers, he suddenly
entered the House (1653). After listening to the debate for some
time, he rose from his seat and charged the Commons with injustice and
misgovernment. A member remonstrated. Cromwell grew excited, saying:
"You are no Parliament! I say you are no Parliament!" Then he called
in the musketeers. They dragged the Speaker from his chair, and drove
the members after him.

As they passed out, Cromwell shouted "drunkard," "glutton,"
"extortioner," with other opprobrious names. When all were gone, he
locked the door and put the key in his pocket. During the night some
Royalist wag nailed a placard on the door, bearing the inscription in
large letters, "The House to let, unfurnished!"

455. Cromwell becomes Protector; the "Instrument of Government"
(1653).

Cromwell summoned a new Parliament, which was practically of his own
choosing. It consisted of one hundred and thirty-nine members, and
was known as the "Little Parliament."[1] The Royalists nicknamed it
"Barebone's Parliament" from one of its members, a London leather
dealer named Praise-God Barebone. Notwithstanding the irregularity of
its organization and the ridicule cast upon it, the "Barebone's
Parliament" proposed several reforms of great value, which the country
afterwards adopted.

[1] A regularly summoned Parliament, elected by the people, would have
been much