Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 3.djvu/220

200 and it was waged immediately in full fury in both Houses of Parliament—in both Houses of Convocation. There were conferences and counter-conferences. Cromwell, perhaps knowing that direct opposition was useless, was inclined to accept in words resolutions which he had determined to neutralize; Cranmer, more frank, if less sagacious, spoke fearlessly for three days in opposition; and the King himself took part in the debate, and argued with the rest. The settlement was long protracted. There were prorogations for further consideration, and intervals of other business, when Acts were passed which at any other moment would have seemed of immeasurable importance. The Romans, in periods of emergency, suspended their liberties and created a dictator. The English Parliament, frightened at the confusion of the country, and the peril of interests which they valued even more than liberty, extended the powers of the Crown. The preamble of the eighth of the thirty-first of Henry VIII. states that—