Charles Sumner: his complete works, volume 16 (of 20)Sumner, Charles
History
Charles Sumner: his complete works, volume 16 (of 20)
Sumner, Charles
Slavery -- United States; Speeches, addresses, etc., American
Then came the period of Civil War, when one Great Seal was with the
King and another was with Parliament. Meanwhile the Earl of Manchester
was appointed Speaker of the upper House, and as such took his place on
the woolsack. As a peer he had all the privileges of a member of the
House over which he presided. Charles the Second, during his exile,
appointed Hyde, afterward Earl of Clarendon, as Chancellor; but the
monarch was for the time without a Court and without a Parliament. On
the Restoration, in 1660, the Chancellor at once entered upon all his
duties, judicial and parliamentary; and it is recorded, that, “though
still a commoner, holding the Great Seal, he took his place on the
woolsack as Speaker by prescription.”[118] A year later the commoner
was raised to the peerage, thus becoming more than presiding officer.
During illness from the gout the place of the Chancellor as presiding
officer was sometimes supplied by Sir Orlando Bridgeman, Chief Justice
of the Common Pleas, who on these occasions was presiding officer,
and nothing more. Lord Campbell says he “frequently sat Speaker in the
House of Lords,”[119]--meaning that he presided.
On the disgrace of Lord Clarendon, the disposal of the Great Seal was
the occasion of perplexity. The historian informs us, that, “after many
doubts and conflicting plans among the King’s male and female advisers,
it was put into the hands of a grave Common-Law judge,”[120] being
none other than the Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, who had already
presided in the absence of Lord Clarendon; but he was never raised to
the peerage. Then comes another explanation of the precise relation
of such an official to the House. Lord Campbell expressly remarks,
that, “never being created a peer, his only duty in the House of Lords
was to put the question, and to address the two Houses in explanation
of the royal will on the assembling of Parliament.”[121] Here is the
constantly recurring definition of the term _preside_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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