Their invectives were no longer pointed against the Independents; "the agreement" and its advocates became the objects of their fiercest attacks. He still hangs upon that twigg; and by the enquireys he made after his and Inchiquin's conjunction, I see he will not work at home beaten off it. Scotland, it was replied, might perhaps have no right to bring her sovereign to a public trial, but that circumstance could not affect the right of England. Hitherto the Irish had cherished the expectation that the young monarch would, as he had repeatedly promised, come to Ireland, and take the reins of government into his hands; they now, to their disappointment, learned that he had accepted the invitation of the Scots, their sworn and inveterate enemies. It was with visible reluctance that they voted the monthly tax of one hundred and twenty thousand pounds for the support of the military and naval establishments. 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. Thus the whole frame of the Scottish constitution was subverted: yet no one ventured to remonstrate or oppose. The conspiracies to which he had alluded in his speech had been generated by the impatience of the two opposite parties, the republicans and the royalists.
Its purport, however, was already known, or conjectured; several officers instantly started from their seats, and [Footnote 1: Burton's Diary, 362-366.