said question, leave was asked for entering Protestations; which was granted. : very extraordinary. There was never the like against the religion of the nation. We ought "Dissentient; Because that in all ages it hath been an undoubted right of the commons to impeach before the lords any subject for treasons, or any crime whatsoever; and the reason is, because great offences, that influence the government, are most effectually determined in parliament. We cannot reject the Impeachinent of the commons, because that suit or complaint can be determined no where else; for if the party impeached should be indicted in the King's-bench, or in any other court, for the same offence, yet it is not the same suit; for an Impeachment is at the suit of the peo-will certainly change the government. This is ple, and they have an interest in it; but an indictment is at the suit of the king for one and the same offence may entitle several persons to several suits; as, if a murder be committed, the king may indict at his suit; or the heir, or the wife of the party murdered, may bring an Appeal, and the king cannot release that appeal, nor his Indictment prevent the proceedings in the appeal, because the appeal is the suit of the party, and he hath an interest in it.--It is, as we conceive, an absolute denial of justice, in regard (as it is said before) the same suit can be tried no where else: the house of peers, as to Impeachments, proceed by virtue of the judicial power, and not by their legislative; and as to that act, as a court of record, and can deny suitors (especially the commons of England) that bring legal complaints before them, no more than the justices of Westminster-Hall, or other courts, can deny any suit or criminal cause that is regularly commenced before them. Our law saith, in the person of the king, Nulli negabimus jus- Mr. Bennet. Jenkins has moved to throw titiam,' We will deny justice to no single per- out this bill, and that he might be heard patison; yet here, as we apprehend, justice is de-ently. Nobody, it seems, secouds him; therenied to the whole body of the people. And this may be interpreted an exercising of an arbitrary power, and will, we fear, have influence upon the constitution of the English government, and be an encouragement to all inferior courts to exercise the same arbitrary power, by denying the presentments of grand juries, &c. for which at this time the chief justice stands impeached in the house of peers. This proceeding may misrepresent the house of peers to the king and people, especially at this time, and the more in the particular case of Edw. Fitzharris, who is publickly known to be concerned in vile and horrid treasons against his majesty, and a great conspirator in the Popish Plot to murder the king, and destroy and subvert the Protestant Religion. (Signed,) Kent, Shaftsbury, Macclesfield, Herbert, Sunderland, Essex, Crewe, Bedford, Stanford, Westmorland, Salisbury, P. Wharton, Mordaunt, Grey, Paget, Cornwallis, Huntingdon, Clare, Monmouth, J. Lovelace." Debate on the first Reading of the Bill of Exclusion.] March 28, The Bill for excluding the duke of York, &c. was read the first time. Sir Leoline Jenkins. This Bill before you is fore pray let him go on, and second himself. The Bill was ordered to be read a second time next day, in a full house. Sir Wm. Jones. As to the Votes you passed on Saturday, upon occasion of the lords rejecting your Impeachment against Fitzharris, because there has been discourse of them in the town, and I believe will be, in time, in the nation, though what has been done will be made good, let us give all men satisfaction that we are in the right. Amongst our other misfortunes, in this place we are far from Records and Books, and so it will not be easy to prepare ourselves to argue this. But according to the little I have looked into this matter, I find that it is the undeniable right of the commons to bring Impeachments in parliament not only against lords but commoners; and Magna Charta says not only that Subjects shall be tried per judicium parium suorum,' but 'per legem terræ.' And Trial in Parliament is lex terræ. I have heard of a Record of 4. Ed. iii. where when a lord, the earl of March The Black-Rod knocked at the door, and gave notice that the king commanded the attendance of the house immediately in the house of lords. The Parliament suddenly dissolved.] The house went up accordingly; where his majesty made a short Speech to this effect: "My lords and gentlemen; That all the world may see to what a point we are come, that we are not like to have a good end, when the divisions at the beginning are such: there fore, my Lord Chancellor, do as I have commanded you." Then the Lord Chancellor said; "My lords and gentlemen; His majesty has commanded me to say, That it is his royal pleasure and will, that this parliament be dissolved: and this parliament is dissolved"." "By the steps which the commons had al ready made, the king saw what might be expected from them; so, very suddenly, and not very decently, he came to the house of lords, the crown being carried between his feet in a sedan: and he put on his robes in haste, without any previous notice, and called up the commons, and dissolved the parliament; and went with such haste to Windsor, that it looked as if he was afraid of the crowds that this meeting had brought to Oxford." Burnet. Ferguson asserts "That the Conspirators (meaning the Court) having received intelligence that Fitzharris's wife and maid were come to Oxford, in order to discover what they knew, resolved to put a stop to the career of the commons early on Monday morning by a dissolution; which was resolved on late the night before, in the cabinet-council at ChristChurch." Growth of Popery, part ii. p. 194. And Mr. North gives the following detail both of the cause and manner of this extraor dinary event: "The commons complained, that the Convocation-House was too strait for them to sit and transact in; and, at their desire, orders were given for the immediate itting up the Theatre for their use. The king concerned himself much about the disposition of it, viewed the design, gave his judgment, and came in person among the workmen; and particularly, on Saturday, March 26, 1631, I bad the honour of seeing him there, and observed his taking notice of every thing. On Sunday next his maj. was pleased, especially towards the evening, to entertain himself and his court with discourse of the wonderful accommodations the house of commons would find in that place; and by his observations and descriptions showed how it was to be. All this while the spies and eves-droppers could find no symptom of a dissolution, but rather of the contrary, that the parliament was likely to make a long session of it. The next morning, which was Monday, the king came to the house of lords, as he was wont, in a chair, and another chair followed with the curtains drawn; but instead of a lord, as was thought to be in it, there were only the king's robes. Thus they went and sat down in a withdrawing room. When the robe-chair was opened, a gross inistake appeared, for the garter robes were put up instead of the robes of state! so the chair SUMMARY OF THE REMAINING PART OF KING CHARLES II.'S REIGN.] This was the last Parliament called by Charles II.; though in a Declaration which be published, on the 8th of April, for satisfying his people, after reckoning up all the hard things that had been done in the three last parliaments, and setting forth their undutiful behaviour to himself in many instances, in conclusion, he assured them The That nothing should ever alter his affection to the Protestant religion as established by law, nor his love to parliaments: for he would still have frequent parliaments*"-Sir Francis Pemberton having succeeded Scroggs as Chief Justice, Fitzharris's Trial came on in Easter term. His Impeachment in parliament was over-ruled, the lords having thrown it out, and the proof was so full, that he was condemned. Upon this, seeing there was no hope, he charged ford Howard with being the author of the Libel, who was immediately sent to the Tower, and lay there till Michaelmas term, and then was discharged by the Habeas Corpus act; Fitzharris's wife and maid, who were the two witnesses against him, being so evidently forsworn, that the attorney-general withdrew the bill. Fitzharris was executed, and soon after College, a joiner, charged, by Dugdale, Turberville, and others, with being concerned in a Protestant Plot to kill the king at Oxford. grand jury at London refused to find the bill. Upon which he was carried to Oxford, and there was tried, condemned, and executed, denying to the last all that was sworn against him. In like manner, the earl of Shaftesbury, upon the evidence of the Irish witnesses, being sent to the Tower, the grand jury, to the great chagrin of the court, rejected the bill. A few days after, Turberville, being seized with the small pox, persisted in his last moments in avowing the truth of all that he had sworn both against lord Shaftsbury and lord Stafford ; so that the last words of dying men being opposed to the last words of those that suffered, must leave the impartial ever in the dark.-In Scotland, in 1682, the earl of Argyle, for refusing to take the Tests there enacted, without his own explanation, which he did not scruple unguardedly to avow, was immediately com mitted to Edinburgh castle, tried, and condemned, and had he not made his escape, would probably have suffered. The duke of York was now permitted to return to court, and seemed to have overcome all difficulties. And to remove all fears of future parliaments, the cities and boroughs of England were premust go back with an officer to bring the right. A lord happened to be in the room, who, upon this discovery, was stepping out (as they thought) to give the alarm: upon which, those with the king prevailed to continue his lordship in the room till the chair returned, and matters were fixed, and then he had his liberty." Examen. p. 104, 105. * For an Answer to this Declaration, written by sir Wm. Jones, see Appendix No. XV. secretary vailed on to surrender their charters, and take JAMES II. James II. proclaimed.] Immediately after the death of Charles II. such of the lords of the privy-council, together with such other of the lords spiritual and temporal as were in town, assembled together, to the number of above forty; and without hesitation signed an Instrument for proclaiming the duke of York and Albany king, by the name of James II. In In the Appendix to the present volume, No. XVI. will be found a valuable Paper entitled "The Earl of Anglesey's State of the Government and Kingdom, prepared and intended for his majesty, King Charles ii. in the year 1632." which were these words; "We, the lords spiritual and temporal, assisted with those of his late majesty's privy-council, with numbers of other principal gentlemen of quality, with the lord-mayor, aldermen and citizens of London, do now, hereby, with one full voice and consent of tongue and heart, publish and proclaim, That the high and mighty prince James ii, is now, by the death of our late sovereign of happy memory, become our lawful, lineal, and rightful liege lord, &c. To whom we do acknowledge all faith and constant obedience, with all hearty and humble affection; beseeching God, by whom kings do reign,' to bless the royal king James ii. with a long and happy reign over us." The King's first Speech in Council.] The same day, the new king made the following Speech to his privy-council, at whose request it was made public. "My lords; Before I enter upon any other business, I think fit to say something to you. Since it hath pleased Almighty God to place me in this station, and I am now to succeed so good and gracious a king, as well as so kind a brother, I think it fit to declare to you, that I will endeavour to follow his example, and most especially in that of his great clemency and tenderness to his people. I have been reported to be a man for arbitrary power, but that is not the only story that has been made of me; and I shall make it my endeavour to preserve this government both in Church and State, as it is now by law established. I know the principles of the Church of England are for Monarchy, and the members of it have shewed themselves good and loyal subjects; therefore I shall always take care to defend and support it. I know too, that the laws of England are suffi cient to make the king as great a monarch as I can wish; and as I shall never depart from the just right and prerogative of the crown, so I shall never invade any man's property. I have often heretofore ventured my life in defence of the nation, and I shall still go as far as any man in preserving it in all its just rights and liberties." He likewise set forth a Proclamation signifying, “That all persons, who at the decease of the late King, were lawfully possessed of any office, whether civil or military, within the realms of England and Ireland, or any other of his dominions thereunto belonging, particularly all presidents, lieutenants, vice-presidents, justices of the peace, sheriffs, &c. should be continued in the said places and offices, as formerly they held and enjoyed the same, until the king's pleasure shall be further known. That all persons then in offices, of whatsoever degree or condition, shall not fail, every one according to his place, office, or charge, to proceed in the performance and execution of all duties thereunto belonging, as formerly appertained to them while the late king was living; and that all the king's subjects should be aiding and assisting to the command of the said officers and ministers in the performance of Sir John Maynard, their respective offices and places, upon pain Sir Henry Goodrick. John Mountsteven. Sir Richard Wenman, After which, the late king was no sooner THE FIRST AND ONLY PARLIAMENT HELD List of the House of Commons.] May 19, 1685. This day the Parliament met. The following is a List of the Members of the House of Commons: A LIST OF KING JAMES'S PARLIAMENT, AND DISSOLVED Abington, Sir John Stonehouse. Agmondesham, Sir Michael Wentworth. Sir John Collins, Visc. Bulkley. Sackvil Tufton, Philip Musgrave. William Garroway, Sir William Egerton, Sir A. Chichester, Sir Villiers Charnock, Bedford Town, Sir Humphry Forster, Philip Bickerstaffe, Sir MarmadukeGresham. Sir Thomas Bludworth, Brecon County, M. of Worcester, waved Brecon Town, Lord Vaughan. Sir Thomas Grosvenor Richard Kent. of Worcester, waved Sharring. Talbot (dead) Sir Richard Crump, Sir William Whitmore. Calne, Sir Levinus Bennet, Chipping Wycombe, Sir Walter Clarges, Sir Nathan Napier, Lord Bodmyn,(remoord Coventry, Sir Roger Care, Derbyshire, Sir Robert Coke, Walter Grub. Devonshire, Sir Bouchier Wrey, Thomas Strangeways, Arthur Herbert, Samuel Sandys, jun. Roger North, Thomas Knyvett. Sir Thomas Harvey, Sir John Rous, Sir Thomas Thompson, Glamorgan, Grampound, Sir Joseph Tredenham. John Thorold. Sir Edward Ayscough, Sir Anthony Deane, Sir George Vernon, Sir Dennis Ashburnham, Haverford West, Hertford Town, Sir Lewis Palmer. Wm. Shaw. Ilchester, Sir Edward Wyndham, Sir Nich: Bacon. Ives, (St.) Kent, Sir William Twysden, Kingston, Sir Willoughby Hickman, Lancaster Town, Roger Kirkby, Lanceston, Leicester Town, Lincolnshire, Sir Richard Atherton, Sir John More, Sir Edw. Herbert, Wm. Charlton, (dead) Sir Winston Churchill. Archibald Clincard. Malden, Sir Thomas Darcy, George Willoughby. Sir Humphrey Wynch. Mawes, (St.) Sir J. Tredenham, waved Middlesex, Sir Charles Gerrard, Milbourn, Monmouthshire, Sir Henry Puckering, Newark, Newcastle, (Staffordsh.} Newport, (Hants) Win. Blathwaite. |