was become familiar,
but one to which no custom or precedent could reconcile the nation.
Juries were found altogether unmanageable. The restless Lilburn, for new
offences, had been brought to a new trial; and had been acquitted with
new triumph and exultation. If no other method of conviction had been
devised during this illegal and unpopular government, all its enemies
were assured of entire impunity.

The protector had occasion to observe the prejudices entertained against
his government, by the disposition of the parliament, which he summoned
on the third of September, that day of the year on which he gained
his two great victories of Dunbar and Worcester, and which he always
regarded as fortunate for him. It must be confessed that, if we are left
to gather Cromwell's intentions from his instrument of government, it
is such a motley piece, that we cannot easily conjecture whether he
seriously meant to establish a tyranny or a republic. On one hand, a
first magistrate in so extensive a government seemed necessary both for
the dignity and tranquillity of the state; and the authority which he
assumed as protector was, in some respects, inferior to the prerogatives
which the laws intrusted and still intrust to the king. On the other
hand, the legislative power which he reserved to himself and council,
together with so great an army, independent of the parliament, were
bad prognostics of his intention to submit to a civil and legal
constitution. But if this were not his intention, the method in which he
distributed and conducted the elections, being so favorable to liberty,
form an inconsistency which is not easily accounted for. He deprived of
their right of election all the small boroughs, places the most exposed
to influence and corruption. Of four hundred members which represented
England, two hundred and seventy were chosen by the counties. The rest
were elected by London, and the more considerable corporations. The
lower populace too, so easily guided or deceived, were excluded from
the elections: an estate of two hundred pounds' value was necessary
to entitle any one to a vote. The elections of this parliament were
conducted with perfect freedom; and, excepting that such of the
royalists as had borne arms against the parliament and all their sons
were excluded, a more fair representation of the people could not be
desired or expected. Thirty members were returned from Scotland; as many
from Ireland.

The protect