Constitutional History of England, Henry VII to George II. Volume 2 of 3Hallam, Henry
History
Constitutional History of England, Henry VII to George II. Volume 2 of 3
Hallam, Henry
Constitutional history -- Great Britain
On the 25th of April, the Commons met and elected Grimston, a moderate
presbyterian, as their speaker, somewhat against the secret wish of
the cavaliers, who, elated by their success in the elections, were
beginning to aim at superiority, and to show a jealousy of their late
allies.[516] On the same day, the doors of the House of Lords were
found open; and ten peers, all of whom had sat in 1648, took their
places as if nothing more than a common adjournment had passed in the
interval.[517] There was, however, a very delicate and embarrassing
question, that had been much discussed in their private meetings. The
object of these, as I have mentioned, was to impose terms on the king,
and maintain the presbyterian ascendancy. But the peers of this party
were far from numerous, and must be outvoted, if all the other lawful
members of the house should be admitted to their privileges. Of these
there were three classes. The first was of the peers who had come to
their titles since the commencement of the civil war, and whom there
was no colour of justice, nor any vote of the house to exclude. To
some of these accordingly they caused letters to be directed; and the
others took their seats without objection on the 26th and 27th of
April, on the latter of which days thirty-eight peers were
present.[518] The second class was of those who had joined Charles the
First, and had been excluded from sitting in the house by votes of the
long parliament. These it had been in contemplation among the
presbyterian junto to keep out; but the glaring inconsistency of such
a measure with the popular sentiment, and the strength that the first
class had given to the royalist interest among the aristocracy,
prevented them from insisting on it. A third class consisted of those
who had been created since the great seal was taken to York in 1642;
some by the late king, others by the present in exile; and these,
according to the fundamental principle of the parliamentary side, were
incapable of sitting in the house. It was probably one of the
conditions on which some meant to insist, conformably to the articles
of the treaty of Newport, that the new peers should be perpetually
incapable; or even that none should in future have the right of
voting, without the concurrence of both houses of parliament. An order
was made therefore on May 4 that no lords created since 1642 should
sit. This was vacated by a subsequent resolution of May 31.
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