the pretended
instrument of government, and of that authority which Cromwell, by the
title of protector, had assumed over the nation.

* Thurloe, vol. ii. p. 588.

The greatest liberty was used in arraigning this new dignity; and even
the personal character and conduct of Cromwell escaped not without
censure. The utmost that could be obtained by the officers and by the
court party,---for so they were called,--was to protract the debate
by arguments and long speeches, and prevent the decision of a question
which, they were sensible, would be carried against them by a great
majority. The protector, surprised and enraged at this refractory spirit
in the parliament, which, however, he had so much reason to expect,
sent for them to the painted chamber, and with an air of great authority
inveighed against their conduct. He told them, that nothing could
be more absurd than for them to dispute his title; since the same
instrument of government which made them a parliament, had invested him
with the protectorship: that some points in the new constitution were
supposed to be fundamentals, and were not, on any pretence, to be
altered or disputed: that among these were the government of the nation
by a single person and a parliament, their joint authority over the
army and militia, the succession of new parliaments, and liberty of
conscience: and that, with regard to these particulars, there was
reserved to him a negative voice; to which, in the other circumstances
of government, he confessed himself nowise entitled.

The protector now found the necessity of exacting a security, which,
had he foreseen the spirit of the house, he would with better grace have
required at their first meeting.[*]

* Thurloe, vol ii. p. 620.

He obliged the members to sign a recognition of his authority, and
an engagement not to propose or consent to any alteration in the
government, as it was settled in a single person and a parliament;
and he placed guards at the door of the house, who allowed none but
subscribers to enter. Most of the members, after some hesitation,
submitted to this condition; but retained the same refractory spirit
which they had discovered in their first debates. The instrument of
government was taken in pieces, and examined, article by article, with
the most scrupulous accuracy: very free topics were advanced with the
general approbation of the house: and during the whole course of their
proceedings, they neither