Selected quad for the lemma: act_n
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A37771
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A narrative of the cause and manner of the imprisonment of the lords now close prisoners in the Tower of London.
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J. E.
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1677
(1677)
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Wing E15; ESTC R874
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13,864
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24
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have been willing it should have been accounted an offence in them that had maintained that it was not For if so they did thereby allow that a Nevv Parliament might question them for their Opinions tho they had now the Major Vote and yet the reason will be the same if not greâ—â—er than for the punishing these great Lords For if we are in an Error we have assumed a Power Illegal that was not in us of Right But they have only Doubted that they and we want that Authority which in our Opinion we have But said he 〈◊〉 is not what their Opinion was or what they said is to be considered but Whether we do not Violate our own Priviledges in the highest measure in the World by Questioning these Lords And whether if they should be forced to with-draw by the Major part of the House we do not at the same time Vote our own Priviledge of Speech out of doors And whether if we loose this Priviledge of Speech we shall not thereby become Useless and Insignificant And whether by Judging those four Lords and only four when divers others were in the same Condition with them as having maintained the same thing we shall not shew our selves Partial and Unjust And whether this kind of Proceeding will not reflect much upon the Honour of the House and subject us to Censure both at home and abroad where ever the story of it shall be related These things said he are worthy your Consideration before you Question these Lords But this and much more which was said by his Lordship and a great many other of the Protestant Temporal Lords could not prevail with the Court-Lords Bishops and Papists For these last seeing their great Head so set upon it were resolved to follow him though contrary to their sences This is not strang in them whose Religion teaches them to believe and act against sence their Promises and their Declarations before they came into the House The two former knew who had the disposal of Preferments and Rewards and therefore minded not what was said but who spake and had learnt the Wisdom my lord Chancellor mentioned in his Speech Viz. To enjoy vvhat they could at present vvithout regard to to the future And yet they durst not Venture to execute their design upon those Lords that night because they knew not with what Spirit the Commons might be moved next morning upon the Debate Whether it was a Prorogation or an Adjournment which they had appointed then to be considered And therefore they move to Adjourn the Debate of Questioning those Lords till the next morning This was opposed by the Four Lords and many other Noble Peers but they were all answered by the Vote This Sir was all the Transaction of that day saving that the Lord Shaftsbury willing it should appear upon their Books what their Accusation was and that they might know what to Answer to the next morning Desired their Charge might be written which was done accordingly in these Words VIZ. For Proposing to the House and Asserting and Maintaining that this Parliament is Dissolved The next morning being Friday the 16 about too a Clock the Debate was again Resumed and was raised high and continued about three hours in which time 't was urged in the behalf of the four Lords that three several times Viz. 1. Hen. 7. 1 Q. Mary 1 Q. Eliz. the very same debate was in Parliament It was then doubted whether the Writs were good in form by which they were summoned and yet no man questioned for moving and debating it The Religion establisht had been several times altered by Parliament yet none ever questioned for proposing and debating it And the â—arliament being Re-assumed before the day to which 't was prorogued in the year 1666 It was moved to consider whether they could Act as a Parliament and the proposer never questioned And nothing could be more proper then such debats for should there be a doubt whether they had Authority to Act as a Parliament and yet Acts be made and the Question undetermind those that doubted might dispute those Acts and overthrow them if it should happen that the Judges should be of opinion that they had not a Legal Authority And therefore 't was a great hardship that the Judges were not suffered to give their opinion in the poynt when the Duke of Bucks required it It was likewise said That those that had sate and made Acts as a Parliament had after ward been declared no Parliament in futrue parliaments and their Acts nulled as 39. Hen. 6. And then it was not thought a crime to propose the consideration of their Authority tho the King had summoned and jontly acted with them as a Parliament yet that was a greater questioning of the Kings Prerogative then this For as yet the King had not joyned with them to Act as a Parliament Now the debate had ended much sooner then it did as most men think by a Vote against the Lords the only way of Answering their unanswerable Arguments but for two Reasons one was the same that had occasioned it to be adjorned the night before They were willing to see what was done by the Commons And here by the way of digression let me acquaint you how the matter was managed amongst them The first day it was moved in the House of Commons that they could not Act by vertue of the last prorogation and of that opinion were many of the best and wisest amongst them But the Speaker Indigents Courtiers and some Contry Gentle-men as thay have higher to pretended to be were Impatient at it and used all their Art to avoid the debate as fore-seeing should a fayrer debate be admitted they could not answer the Arguments might be urged therefore as I told you they run it off upon a strang senseless Question Whether it vvere a Prorogation or an Adjornment the House generally agreeing that it could not be a Prorogation and legal which question they also adjorned till the next morning and from thence till the Monday following And when it came then to be debated the same party that had put off the debate by that trick before spoiled even that debate too by moving to have Liberty of speech to debate it And after this had been long disputed and 168 that were for a Vote to pass that they should have Liberty of Speech and were also of opinion That the last prorogation was illegall could not get the Speaker to put the Question but the major part of the House joyned with him And put another Question by which they concluded themselves to be a House and to sit by virtue of the Prorogation The Question was Whether they should appoint Nevv Committes which was carried in the Affirmative But to return to the Lords I am next to tell you the other Reason that they suffered the Debate of questioning those Four Lords to continue so long since it seems as if they were resolved not to be
A NARRATIVE OF THE Cause and Manner OF THE Imprisonment OF THE LORDS NOW Close Prisoners in the Tower Of LONDON PSAL. 37 Fret not thy self because of him vvho prospereth in his vvay because of the man vvho bringeth vvicked devices to pass For yet a little vvhile and the vvicked shall not be yea thou shalt diligently consider his place and it shall not be Amsterdam 1677. A NARRATIVE OF THE Cause and Manner of the Imprisonment of the LORDS Now Close Prisoners in the Tower of London c SIR IN your last you commanded me to give you an enact account of the opening and proceeding of the Parliament You knovv you may freely command me to serve you in any thing I am able but you likevise knovv that I am no Courtier nor Member of Parliament and therefore I Wonder you should apply your self to me on this occasion since you have so many Friends as vvell at White-Hall as in both Houses vvhich could give you a more particular Relation But lest you should think I say this to excuse my self from serving you I shall as vvell as I can give you an account both of vvhat I my self have observed in this matter and vvhat I have received from common Fame ON Thursday the 15th of February the Parliament as they call themselves or the Convention as I hear others generally call them Met And at the same time a vast number of People filled Westminster Hall the Court of Requests the Painted Chamber the Lobbies and all places near the Parliament House that the like was never before seen upon the Meeting of This or any Other Parliament in our Memory I being one of the Number was more than ordinarily curious to find out and observe the temper of that great Body of People and what it was they did desire or expect and upon the strictest Enquiry I could make I found that except a few Persons who were engaged thereto by their Interest or Dependance they did earnestly desire and expect they should declare themselves to be No Parliament When the King was come the Commons were sent for up to the Lords House Where I made a shift to crowd in and hear The King and my Lord Chancellour made each of them a Speech worthy your Consideration Copies whereof I have hear sent you As soon as the Speeches were made and the Commons withdrawn a Bill was offered to be Read But the Duke of Buckingham desired to be heard first who after a most ingenious and modest Preface told their Lordships That in his Opinion the Question before their Lordships was not what they were to do but Whether they could do any thing as a Parliament It being very clear to him that the Parliament was Dissolved For which Opinion he gave his Reasons which because they are the Sum of all that was said to prove the Dissolution I shall give you as good and as brief an account of them as I can He spake to this purpose Viz. That the last Prorogation being for 15 Months was contrary to two Printed Statutes the 4th and 36th of Ed. 3 which he proved to be in force at this time that require Annual Parliaments and being so was illegal and that they could not meet by virtue of an illegal Prorogation and therefore were Dissolved For there being no legal Day for their Meeting they could never Meet unless it were by chance and an accidental Meeting of the King Lords and 500 Commons could not make a Parliament nor could the Kings Proclamation help the matter For a Proclamation was not of more force than a Prorogation and if a thing were illegal when first commanded it could not be made legal by a second Command And he said No body could pretend that the Kings Proclamation could make that a legal Parliament which was not so before And having answered all Objections of the Kings power to dispence with some Laws and such other as seemed to carry any colour of making the Prorogation legal and having shew'd the great Inconveniencies that did arise from the long Sitting of Parliaments how the very Nature of this House of Commons was changed for now they did not look upon themselves as a Assembly that are to return to their own Homes and become private men again as by the Laws of the Land and the antient Constitution of Parliaments they ought to be but they look upon themselves as a standing Senate and a number of men pickt out to be Legislators for the rest of their whole Lives He told their Lordships The matter was now brought to this Dilemma Either the Kings of England were bound by those Statutes mentioned of Ed. 3. Or else the whole Government of England by Parliaments and by Law is absolutely at an End For if the kings of England have Power by an Order of theirs to invalidate an Act made for the Maintainance of Magna Charta they have also Power by another Order of theirs to invalidate Magna Charta it self And if they have Power by an Order of theirs to invalidate an Act made for the maintainance of the Statute De tallagio non concedendo they have Power also when they please by an Order of theirs to invalidate the Statute it self De Tallagio non concedendo and then they may not only without the help of a Parliament raise what Money they please but also take away any man's Estate when they please deprive every one of his Liberty or Life as they please This he told their Lordships was a Power which no Judge nor Lawyer will pretend the kings of England have and yet this Power must be allowed them or else they that were met there that day could not act as a Parliament For they were then met by virtue of the last Prorogation and that prorogation is an Order of the king's point blank contrary to the two Acts of Edvv. 3. for the Acts say That a Parliament shall be holden once vvithin a year And the Prorogation sayes A Parliament shall not be held within a year but some months after And this I conceive is a plain contradiction and consequently the Prorogation is void He further added That noting could be more dangerous to a king or a people than that Laws should be made by an Assembly of which there can be a doubt whether they have power to make Laws or no And said It would be unexcusable in them because there is for it so easie a Remedy a Remedy which the Law requiers and the Nation longs for The Calling of a Nevv Parliament And he shew'd the great Advantages that would acrue to the King their Lordships and the People by frequent and successive Nevv Parliaments That without this all they could do would be in vain the Nation might languish a while but must perish at last they should become a burthen to themselves and a prey to their neighbours and therefore mov'd That their Lordships would humbly address themselves to the king to Call a Nevv