-440 The HIS T 0 R Y oJ the PuRITANs. Vcn. n. P Oiiver " TECTOR, fo that if you difpute the one, you mull: difown the other· 1oteEior. " H dd d l h . • :ro 54 . e a e , t 1at e was a gentleman by birth, and had been called to fe- ~ ::vera! employm~n.ts in parliament, a~d in ~he wars, which being at an end, he was w!llmg to retae to a private ltfe, and prayed to be difmif– " fed, but could no~ obtain-it. That he had prelfed the long parliament, ·« as a member, to di!folve themfelves; but finding they intended to conti– " nue their feffions, he thought himfelf obliged to difmifs them, and to call " fame perfons together from the fe,eral parts of the nation, to fee if they " could ~all up01: a better fettlement. Accord!ngly he religned up all his " power mto their hands, but they after fome time returned it back to him. " After this (fays he) divers gentlemen having confultedtogether, framed " the preftnt mode/without my privity, and told me, that unlefs I would " undertake the fame, blood and confufion would break in upon them ; " but I refufed again and again, till conlidering that it did not put me into " an higher capacity than I was in before, I confented; fince which time " I have had the thanks of the army, the fleet, the city qfLondon, and of " great numbers of gentry in the three nations. Now the government " being thus fettled, I apprehend there are four fundamentals which may " not be examined into, or altered. (I.) That the government be in a " fingle perfon and a parliament. (2.) That parliaments be not perpetual. "(3.) The article relating to the militia. And (4.) A due liberty of con– " fcience in matters of religion. Other things in the government may be " changed as occafion requires. For as much therefore as you have gone " about to fubvert the fundamentals of this gO\·ernment, and throw all " things back into confufion, to prevent the like for the future I am necef- 'Ibe recogni- "fitated to appoint you a tefl, or recognition of the government, by which tion. "you are made a parliament, before you go any me>re into the houfe." Accordingly at their return, they found a guard at the door denying entrance to any who would not firfl: fign the following engagement, I A. B. do hereby freely promije and engage, to be true andfaithfid to the lord proteelor if the commonwealth if England, Scotland, and Ireland, and will not propoje or give my confent to alter thegovernment, as it is.(ettledin one jingle perfon and a parliament. About three hundred of the members figned the recognition, and _having taken their places in the ho.ufe-, witbf~me difficulty confirmed the mjlrument if government almofl: m every thmg, but the right of nominating a fucceifor to the prefent proteCtor; which they referved to the parliament. They voted the prefent lord proteCtor to continue for life. They continued the ftanding army often thoufand horfe and twenty thoufand foot, and fixty thoufand pounds a month for their maintenance. They gave the proteelor two hundred thoufand pounds a year for his civillifi, and afiigned Whitehall, St. James's, and the refi of the late king's houfes, for his ufe; but they were out of humour, and 2 were
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