ithful men," he
urged, "true to the great things of the Government. And though it really
is no part of their goodness to be unwilling to submit to what a
Parliament shall settle over them, yet it is my duty and conscience to
beg of you that there may be no hard things put upon them which they
cannot swallow. I cannot think God would bless an undertaking of
anything which would justly and with cause grieve them."

[Sidenote: Inauguration of the Protector.]

The temper of the army was soon shown. Its leaders, with Lambert,
Fleetwood, and Desborough at their head, placed their commands in
Cromwell's hands. A petition from the officers to Parliament demanded
the withdrawal of the proposal to restore the Monarchy, "in the name of
the old cause for which they had bled"; and on the eighth of May
Cromwell anticipated the coming debate on this petition, a debate which
might have led to an open breach between the Army and the Commons, by a
refusal of the crown. "I cannot undertake this Government," he said,
"with that title of king; and that is my answer to this great and
weighty business." Disappointed as it was, the Parliament with singular
self-restraint turned to other modes of bringing about its purpose. The
offer of the crown had been coupled with the condition of accepting a
constitution, which was a modification of the Instrument of Government
adopted by the Parliament of 1654, and this Constitution Cromwell
emphatically approved. "The things provided by this Act of Government,"
he owned, "do secure the liberties of the people of God as they never
before have had them." With a change of the title of king into that of
Protector, the Act of Government now became law: and the solemn
inauguration of the Protector by the Parliament on the twenty-sixth of
June was a practical acknowledgement on the part of Cromwell of the
illegality of his former rule. In the name of the Commons the Speaker
invested him with a mantle of State, placed the sceptre in his hand, and
girt the sword of justice by his side. By the new Act of Government
Cromwell was allowed to name his own successor, but in all after cases
the office was to be an elective one. In every other respect the forms
of the older Constitution were carefully restored. Parliament was again
to consist of two Houses, the seventy members of "the other House" being
named by the Protector. The Commons regained their old right of
exclusively deciding on the qualification of their mem