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 Jephson telling for the majority, and Major-General Whalley and Colonel Talbot for the minority; on the main question there was a majority of seventy-eight, with Admiral Montague and Sir John Hobart for tellers, against sixty-five, told by General Desborough and Colonel Hewson.  A Committee having then prepared a brief paper representing to his Highness the serious obligation he was under in such a matter, there was a second Conference of the whole House with his Highness (April 8).