Not, of course, that they were other than sound Commonwealth's men; but that oaths were becoming frightfully frequent, and this one would be "a confining of Providence," &c.! The first reading of the Bill was carried only by a majority of twenty-four (Neville and Garland tellers) against fifteen (Colonel Hutchinson and Colonel Fagg tellers).

The effect was that, after a second reading, the Bill went into Committee and remained there, the members meanwhile sitting on without any engagement.

About a half of those nominated to the Council of State, including Fairfax, St.John, Morley, Weaver, and Fagg, remained out of the Council rather than submit to the qualification made essential in _their_ case.

This was symptomatic enough; but it was also evident that, on such important questions as Tithes, an Established Church, and Liberty of Conscience, the House was in no disposition to persevere in what had hitherto been believed to be radical and necessary articles of the Republican policy.

The instructions given to a Committee on the 21st of January indicate very comprehensively the prevalence of a conservative temper in the House on these and other questions.