Selected quad for the lemma: act_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
act_n	day_n	parliament_n	session_n	3,425	5	10.6408	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A77544	Britains triumphs, or, A brief history of the warres and other state-affairs of Great Britain from the death of the king, to the third year of the government of the Lord Protector.		1656 (1656)	Wing B4813; ESTC R212596	68,460	193

go out nor come in nor get together in any one Port whereby to unite and get to a head in which condition I shal for the present leave them Gen. Cromwell and his Councell of Officers having finished their consultations and resolutions about those Persons to whom the Legislative Power of the Nation was to be committed Warrants were issued out to each person so chosen in the three Nations to appear at the Councel-Chamber at Whitehall July 4. 1653. a Copy whereof followes FOr as much as upon the dissolution of the late Parliament it became necessary that the peace safety and good government of this Commonwealth should be provided for and in order thereunto divers persons searing God and of approved fidelity and honesty are by my self with the advice of my Councel of Officers nominated to whom the great charge and trust of so weighty affairs is to be committed And having good assurance of your love to and courage for God and the Interest of his Cause and the good people of this Commonwealth I Oliver Cromwell Captain Generall and Commander in chief of all the Armies and Forces raised and to be raised within this Commonwealth do hereby summon and require you being of the Persons nominated personally to be and appear at the Councel-chamber commonly known or called by the name of the Councel-chamber at White-Hall within the City of Westminster upon the 4 day of July next ensuing the date hereof and then and there to take upon you the said trust unto which you are hereby called and appointed to serve as a Member for the County of _____ And hereof you are not to faile Given under my hand and Seal the _____ day of June 1653. O. Cromwell July 4. The severall Members met accordingly in the Councel-Chamber where was the Lord Gen. Cromwell and many of his Officers about him who standing up made an excellent usefull and seasonable Speech unto them recounting the many wonderfull mercies of God towards this Nation and the continued series of providences by which he had appeared in carrying on this Cause and bringing affairs into the present condition He set forth likewise the progresse of affairs since the famous victory at Worcester as also the actings of the Army thereupon after divers applications to the Parliament and much waiting upon them with the grounds and necessity of their dissolving the late Parliament which he declared to be for the preservation of this Cause and the interest of all honest men who have been engaged therein He in like manner held forth the cleernesse of the call given to the Members then present to take upon them the supreme Authority and from the Scriptures exhorted them to their duties and encouraged them therein He further defired them that a tendernesse might be used towards all conscientious persons of what judgement soever Which having ended his Excellency produced an Instrument under his own hand and Seal whereby he did with the advice of his Officers devolve and intrust the Supreme Authority and Government of this Commonwealth into the hands of the Persons there met Who or any forty of them are to be held and acknowledged the Supreme Authority of the Nation unto whom all persons within the same and the territories thereunto belonging are to yeeld obedience and subjection And that they sit no longer then the 3d. of Novemb. 1654. And three moneths before thein dissolution they were to make choice of other Persons to succeed them who were not to sit above a twelvemoneth and then to take care for a succession in Government Which Instrument being delivered to the Members his Lordship commended them to God and with his Officers withdrew From thence the Members adjourned forthwith to the old Parliament House and there sate de die in diem About this time John Lilburne of whom I have already made mention being a few moneths before banished the Land by an Act of the foregoing Parliament for certain crimes laid to his charge took occasion upon this change of Government to come into England and cast himself upon his Excellency the Lord Generall Cromwell craving his protection in several publick addresses who unwilling to interpose or meddle with affairs of that nature left him to the Law in somuch that he was commited to Newgate and the next Sessions or Gaol-delivery John Lilburn tried at the Sessions in the Old Baily he was brought to triall in the Old-Baily July 13. but nothing was done that day save that Councell was assigned him according to his demand July 14. he was again brought to the Barre but refused to put in his Plea unless he might have a copy of his Indictment which was at length granted him July 15. he appeared at the Barre again but little was done that day July 16. he appeared and delivered in divers Exceptions to the Bill of Indictment which were signed by his Councel and received by the Court which day the Sessions ended so that the businesse was put off to the next Sessions Aug. 13. he appeared before the Bench again and put in an Exception demanding an Oyer of the Judgement given against him in Parliament as well as of the Act grounded thereupon Aug. 16. he appeared again the Point argued on both sides but nothing more was done that day Aug. 20. he was again brought before the Court where he joyned issue and pleaded not guilty whereupon a Jury was impannel'd and Witnesses examined to make good the Charge as also Witnesses on the behalf of the Prisoner who in making his defence held the Court severall hours and in answer thereunto the Councel for the Common-wealth were also heard The Jury having the Charge after hearing the whole businesse withdrew Is quitted by the Jury and about twelve of the clock that night delivered up their Verdict That they found him Not guilty whereupon he was sent back to Newgate and soon after was from thence sent to the Tower where he yet remains Thus you see what endeavours were used to rid the Nation of this inconsiderable fellow by Tryals Banishment and what not but hitherto in vain when as many a gallant Heart farre transcending him in birth and parts have fallen by the sword of Justice in the twinkling of an eye But it may be God hath reserved him to be a greater plague to this Nation whose heart I fear is the seed-plot of sedition and division True it is he is a man of a penetrating judgement quick wit and voluble tongue bold and confident in all his undertakings he is likewise peevish and passionate out of measure affects popularity and is of an implacable spirit not to be appeased but with the bloud of his adversaries Nor can I deny but some of those things he aimed at were honest and usefull for the people but he steered not the right course to attain those ends The condition of the English affairs in Scotland was now much after this sort The state of Scotland although the

at a time and having her main-Mast and misen-Mast shot away and being overpowered with number was taken The Levant-Merchant was first boarded by one of the enemies Ships of 36 Guns and after two hours fight by another as big the first of which sunk presently after yet was she also possest by the Dutch The Sampson was boarded by young Trump Rear Amirall of the Dutch on one side and by a fire-Ship on the other so that she was quickly fired Some there were that did not stick to traduce Capt. Badiley and those with him as if he had been wanting in point of duty toward the relief of the Ships aforesaid when as they were all well nigh destroyed before he could possibly come up Where when he had done what in him lay and seeing his Fleet in such a hazardous condition like a wise Commander made all the sail he could away for preservation of that part of the Fleet and this he hath so clearly proved that he is wholly acquitted from having any hand in that miscarriage The Relation wherein this Commonwealth stood with the Neighbouring Nations was in this sort The King of Portugall and the State of England conclude a peace The King of Portugall not able to resist so powerfull a State as this having more then enough to do to grapple with the wealthy Spaniard sent over an Ambassadour extraordinary with a sumptuous train of followers to conclude a Peace with the English who after many conferences frequent addresses and large offers made obtained the same yet to this day he hath not fully fiuished his Negotiations so as to satisfie the Merchants for their great losses From France the English were courted by two Parties A French Agent arrives at London by an Agent from the King of France desiring a release of his Ships taken as aforesaid going to the relief of Dunkirk as also that there might be a right understanding between the two Nations And by four Deputies from the Prince of Conde 4 Deputies from Bourdeaux arive at London also craving aid against the Cardinall and his creatures who had straightly besieged the City of Bourdeaux all which Negotiations were ineffectuall for alas the breach was too high between the two Nations to be easily cemented Other Nations by Letters and otherwise endeavoured to be mediators and composers of those mortal jarres that were between England and Holland as the Queen of Sweden the Cantons of Switzerland the Imperiall Cities of Lubeck and Hamburgh c. This was the posture of the Civill and Military affairs of this Nation when his Excellency the Lord General Cromwell a man as it were by Divine appointment set apart for great enterprizes perceiving the notorious corruptions dilatory proceedings pernicious and arbitrary actings of the Parliament to perpetuate their session and to inthrall the people by defrauding and disfranchising them of their antient and undoubted Liberties of equall and successive Representatives entred the Parliament House attended with some of his principall Officers and there delivered certain reasons why a period ought to be put to that Parliament The Parliament is dissolved which was presently done the Speaker with the rest of the Members some by force some through fear and some murmuring departed the House For which dysaster no man moved either tongue or hand in their behalf it being generally beleeved that though the Nation possibly might not be bettered by this change yet a worse could not befall it And thus was this mighty Councell dissolved their Powers transferred into the hands of the Souldiery and their Names reproacht and vilified with the scorns and dirigies of the common people who being well pleased with the doing thereof enquired not into the reasons or causes why it was done But to satisfie the wiser sort and those that were more curious enquirers into the true and genuine causes of things Generall Cromwell and his Councell of Officers published a Declaration the substance whereof was as follows THat after God was pleased marvellously to appear for his people The Declaration of Gen. Cromwell and his Councel of Officers in reducing Ireland and Scotland to so great a degree of peace and England to perfect quiet whereby the Parliament had opportunity to give the people the harvest of all their labour bloud and treasure and to settle a due Liberty in reference to Civil and Spirituall things whereunto they were obliged by their duty engagements and those great and wonderful things God hath wrought for them But they made so little progresse therein that it was matter of much grief to the good people of the Land who thereupon applyed themselves to the Army expecting redresse by their means who though unwilling to meddle with the Civill Authority agreed that such Officers as were Members of Parliament should move them to proceed vigorously in reforming what was amisse in the Commonwealth and in setling it upon a foundation of Justice and Righteousnesse which being done it was hoped the Parliament would have answered their expectations But finding the contrary they renewed their desires by an humble Petition in Aug. 1652. which produced no considerable effect nor was any such progresse made therein as might imply their reall intentions to accomplish what was petitioned for but rather an aversnesse to the things themselves with much bitternesse and opposition to the people of God and his Spirit acting in them in so much that the godly Party in Parliament were rendred of no further use then to countenance the ends of a corrupt Party for effecting their desires of perpetuating themselves in the supreame Government For obviating these evils the Officers of the Army obtained severall meetings with some of the Parliament to consider what remedy might be applyed to prevent the same but such endeavours proving ineffectuall it became evident that this Parliament through the corruption of some the jealousie of others the non-attendance of many would never answer those ends which God his People and the whole Nation expected from them But that this cause which God had so greatly blessed must needs languish under their hands and by degrees be lost and the Lives Liberties and Comforts of his people be delivered into their enemies hands All which being sadly and seriously considered by the honest people of the Nation as well as by the Army it seemed a duty incumbent upon us who had seen so much of the power and presence of God to consider of some effectuall means whereby to establish righteousnesse and peace in these Nations And after much debate it was judged necessary that the supreame Government should be by the Parliament devolved upon known persons fearing God and of approved integrity for a time as the most hopefull way to countenance all Gods people reform the Law and administer Justice impartially hoping thereby the people might forget Monarchy and understand their true interest in the election of successive Parliaments that so the Government might be setled upon a right Basis