Yet when it met the
next morning the leading members of Parliament were absent, Vane among
them. Their absence was suspicious. Were they pushing the bill through
the House in defiance of the army?
Cromwell was present,--"in plain black clothes, and gray worsted
stockings,"--a plain man, but one not safe to trifle with. The officers
waited a while for the members. They did not come. Instead there came
word that they were in their seats in the House, busily debating the
bill that was to make them rulers of the nation without consent of the
people, hurrying it rapidly through its several stages. If left alone
they would soon make it a law.
Then the man who had hurled Charles I. from his throne lost his
patience. This, in his opinion, had gone far enough. Since it had come
to a question whether a self-elected Parliament, or the army to which
England owed her freedom, should hold the balance of power, Cromwell was
not likely to hesitate.
"It is contrary to common honesty!" he broke out, angrily.
Leaving Whitehall, he set out for the House of Parliament, bidding a
company of musketeers to follow him. He entered quietly, leaving his
soldiers outside. The House now contained no more than fifty-three
members.
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