of the people.  The debate lasted several days,[c] during which the commonwealth party gradually increased in number.  That the executive power might be profitably delegated to a single individual, was not disputed; but it was contended that, of right, the legislative authority belonged exclusively to the parliament.  The officers and courtiers, finding that the sense of the house was against them, dropped[d] the question of right, and fled to that of expediency; in the existing circumstances, the public safety required a

[Footnote 1:  Journals, Sept. 8.  Many of those who voted in the majority did not object to the authority of the protector, but to the source from which it emanated,—­a written instrument, the author of which was unknown.  They wished it to be settled on him by act of parliament.—­Thurloe, ii. 606.]

[Sidenote a:  A.D. 1654.  Sept. 7.] [Sidenote b:  A.D. 1654.  Sept. 8.] [Sidenote c:  A.D. 1654.  Sept. 9.] [Sidenote d:  A.D. 1654.  Sept. 11.]

check on the otherwise unbounded power of parliament; that check could be no other than a co-ordinate authority, possessing a negative voice; and that authority was the protector, who had been pointed out to them by Providence, acknowledged by the people in their addresses, and confirmed by the conditions expressed in the indentures of the members.  It was replied, that the inconveniency of such a check had induced the nation to abolish the kingly government; that the addresses of the people expressed their joy for their deliverance from the incapacity of the little parliament, not their approbation of the new government; that Providence often permits what it disapproves; and that the indentures were an artifice of the court, which could not have force to bind the supreme power.  To reconcile the disputants, a compromise between the parties had been planned; but Cromwell would not suffer the experiment to be tried.[1] Having ordered[b] Harrison, whose partisans were collecting signatures to a petition, to be taken into custody, he despatched three regiments to occupy the principal posts in the city, and commanded the attendance of the house in the Painted Chamber.  There, laying aside that tone of modesty which he had hitherto assumed, he frankly told the members that his calling was from God, his testimony from the people; and that no one but God and the people should ever take his office from him.  It was not of his seeking; God knew that it was his utmost ambition to lead the life of a country gentleman; but imperious circumstances had imposed it upon him.  The long parliament brought their dissolution upon themselves by despotism, the little parliament

[Footnote 1:  See introduction to Burton’s Diary, xxiv.-xxxii.]

[Sidenote a:  A.D. 1654.  Sept. 12.]