--Thurloe, i. 644.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1653. Dec. 16.]
Lambert now came forward to address the lord-general. He noticed the
dissolution of the late parliament, observed that the exigency of the time
required a strong and stable government, and prayed his excellency in the
name of the army and of the three nations to accept the office of protector
of the commonwealth. Cromwell, though it was impossible to conceal the
purpose for which he had come thither, could not yet put off the habit of
dissimulation; and if, after some demur, he expressed his consent, it was
with an appearance of reluctance which no one present could believe to be
real.
Jessop, one of the clerks of the council, was next ordered to read the
"instrument of government," consisting of forty-two articles. 1. By it the
legislative power was invested in a lord-protector and parliament, but with
a provision that every act passed by the parliament should become law at
the expiration of twenty days, even without the consent of the protector;
unless he could persuade the house of the reasonableness of his objections.
The parliament was not to be adjourned, prorogued, or dissolved, without
its own consent, within the first five months after its meeting; and a new
parliament was to be called within three years after the dissolution of the
last.
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