[1]
Cromwell did not hesitate to wreak his revenge on Essex and Manchester,
though the blow would probably recoil upon himself.[b]He proposed in the
Commons what was afterwards called the "self-denying ordinance," that the
members of both houses should be excluded from all offices, whether civil
or military. He would not, he said, reflect on what was passed, but suggest
a remedy for the future. The nation was weary of the war; and he spoke
the language both of friends and foes, when he said that the blame of its
continuance rested with the two houses, who could not be expected to bring
it to a speedy termination as long as so many of their members derived from
military commands wealth and authority, and consideration. His real object
was open to every eye; still the motion met with the concurrence of his own
party,
[Footnote 1: Baillie, ii. 76, 77. Journals, Dec. 2, 4; Jan. 18. Lords'
Journals, 79, 80. Whitelock, 116, 117. Hollis, 18.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1644. Dec. 2.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1644. Dec. 9.]
and of all whose patience had been exhausted by the quarrels among
the commanders; and, when an exemption was suggested in favour of the
lord-general, it was lost on a division by seven voices, in a house of
one hundred and ninety-three members.
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