here had been a
Second House of Parliament, for example, would there have been that
indiscreet decision in the case of James Nayler, a decision that
might extend farther than Nayler, and leave no man safe?--Thus, with
the distinct information that Cromwell would not interfere with
Pack's project in its course through the House, had the Officers been
dismissed. It was probably in consequence of their remonstrance with
Cromwell, however, that the vote on the Kingship clause of the First
Article had been postponed from the 2nd of March to the 25th. The
delay had been useful. Though Lambert, Fleetwood, Desborough, and the
mass of the military men, still remained "contrariants," not a few of
them had been shaken by Cromwell's arguments, or at least by his
judgment. If _he_, whom it was their habit to trust, was
prepared to take the Kingship, and saw reasons for it, why should
they stand out? So, before the vote did come on, Major-Generals
Berry, Goffe, and Whalley, with others, had ceased to oppose, and the
Kingship clause, reserved to the last, as the keystone of the
otherwise completed arch, had been carried, as we have seen, by
two-thirds of the House.[1]

[Footnote 1: Godwin, IV. 349-353; Carlyle, III. 217.]

It was on Tuesday, March 31, in the Banqueting House in Whitehall,
that Speaker Widdrington, attended by the whole House, and by all the
high State-officers, formally presented to Cromwell, after a long
speech, the _Petition and Advice_, engrossed on vellum. The
understanding, by vote of the House, was that his Highness must
accept the whole, and that otherwise no part would be binding.
Cromwell's answer, in language very calm and somewhat sad
(_Speech_ VII.), was one of thanks, with a request for time to
consider. On the 3rd of April, a Committee of the House, appointed by
his request, waited on him for farther answer. It was still one of
thanks: e.g. "I should be very brutish did I not acknowledge the
exceeding high honour and respect you have had for me in this Paper";
but it was in effect a refusal, on the ground that, being shut up to
accept all or none, he could not see his way to accept (_Speech_
VIII.). Notwithstanding this answer, which could hardly be construed
as final, the House next day resolved, after two divisions, to adhere
to their _Petition and Advice_, and to make new application to
the Protector. On the previous question the division was
seventy-seven to sixty-five, Major-Generals Howard and J