All called out Mr. Chute to the chair. Sir Walter Earle and -* led him to the chair. Sir Arthur Haslerigge was about to second the motion, but it needed not. Mr. Speaker,+ being in the chair, moved; Gentlemen, I am bound to obey your commands; and paused till the mace came, which was called for. Then he proceeded to make another apology. As the form is, gentlemen, you called me to this place for directions, so that I must not give ill examples by troubling you with a long speech. I never knew much said in long speeches. I never loved them. I desire that you would think of me as the motto on the sun-dial is, auspice me; ut te auspiciam. The best adage is, self do, self have; volenti non sit injuria. You have placed me here, and you must bear the burthen of my infirmities, &c. Mr. Speaker being thus placed, four Aldermen of the City of London came together into the House in scarlet gowns, and took their places.‡ Mr. Speaker moved that he would not hinder the business of settlement; but supposed the course to be, first, to read a bill.§ He had a bill touching the non-exportation of fish. He moved it might be read, and it was read. He presented it, as a bill which was of the last Parliament. Mr. Knightley. I move for a day for the second reading of it. Sir Walter Earle. It is not proper to recommend a bill, let it recommend itself; but if one will speak to the rejecting * Thus blank in the MS., but in the Journals " Mr. Charles Rich, brother to the Earl of Warwick." See vol. ii. pp. 315, ad fin. + "Mr. Chaloner Chute," says 66 Whitlock, was chosen Speaker of this Parliament, an excellent orator, a man of great parts and generosity, whom many doubted that he would not join with the Protector's party, but he did heartily." Memorials (1732), p. 676. This custom is still observed, on the meeting of every new Parliament, though the four members, as at present, are not, necessarily, Aldermen. Any liveryman is eligible. § Such is the modern practice, before the consideration of the King's speech, as if to assert for the Commons their independence of the crown. of it they may; otherwise, no one may speak to it upon the first reading. Mr. Speaker. I move to adjourn for two or three days. Mr. Weaver. Adjourn now, and call the House, for fear of intruders. Mr. Hungerford. It is too soon to call the House, till all returned come in. Colonel Thompson. You have two laws a-foot. You spoil the game if you run not one out first. Put this question off your hands, and I shall not be against adjourning. Mr. Hungerford, Captain Hatsell, Captain Baines, and Mr. Chaloner, moved the like. Mr. Knightley. Formerly all bills were read a second time between ten and eleven. Mr. Speaker. Formerly, no time was set down for the second reading; but the Speaker took a convenient time for it. Sir Walter Earle. I move to call the House, in case of intruders. The commissioners for swearing the members* have informed me that one borough, which had a right to choose but one burgess, had returned two, and that by an escape both were sworn and sat. I would have all those things examined. Colonel Mildmay. I move to choose your clerk. The person in place may be deserving, and haply none will be against him; but own your privilege in choosing; and the like, for all your officers. Mr. Onslow. Put your question upon the form. He served in the last Parliament; and, I suppose, is so deserving that none will be against it. The clerk, viz. Mr. Smythe, being commanded to withdraw, the question was put, and passed, nemine contradicente. Mr. Speaker moved the question, that the clerk be continued. Sir Arthur Haslerigge liked not the word continued; so it was changed, that he shall be clerk, &c. Sir Thomas Barnardiston and Mr. Weaver moved the like for the other officers, viz. Darnall, Clerk Assistant, and Serjeant Birkhead, and all resolved, nemine contradicente. * See infra, p. 11, note †. Colonel Mildmay. I would have the clerk cautioned for sitting without leave, before he was chosen by the House. The like may be imposed upon you hereafter. Part not with any of your privileges, &c. He was not seconded. Sir Arthur Haslerigge. I move that care be taken to make your House as full as you can; that, in case of double returns, by reason of the false dealings of Sheriffs and Mayors, these may be speedily considered. I would ever in all places, especially in this House, observe this rule,-do as I would be done by. A gentleman cried No. Sir Arthur took exceptions. If that gentleman that cries No, were without doors, and kept out as divers of your members are, he would not cry No. I move that, to-morrow, you appoint your Committee for privileges. Colonel Matthews, the like. Mr. Weaver. It is not proper to meddle with privileges till your House be called, to see if all that sit are members. Some said, name the Committee first, and some, have the House called first, and both said it was according to the orders of the House. Mr. Speaker. Well may I be ignorant of your orders, when I see both sides so confident, in different orders. Mr. James Ashe. I move for a Committee of privileges. Mr. Trenchard. I never knew a Speaker and a Committee appointed both in one day. Major Burton moved for a day of humiliation; but nobody seconded the motion. The House adjourned itself till eight next morning; but no question was put, for it need not, unless there was a day intervening. The house rose at four.* * The following is the commencement of the journal of this Parliament, kept by Mr. Guibon Goddard, Recorder of Lynn, and Member for Castle Rising, whose manuscript volume I have described in the preface. "Tuesday, 25th Jan, 1658-9. I set forward in a great storm of wind from Lynn for Westminster, in order to serve the Parliament, where, on Thursday morning, about nine of the clock, I arrived, and presently The Speech of his Highness the Lord Protector. I believe there are scarce any of you here, who expected some months since to have seen this great Assembly at this time, in this place, in peace; considering the great and unexpected change which it hath pleased the all-disposing hand of God to make in the midst of us. I can assure you, that if things had been according to your own fears, and the hopes of our enemies, it had not been thus with us: and, therefore, it will become both you and me, in the first place, as to reverence and adore the great God, possessor of heaven and earth, in whose hands our breath is, and whose are all our ways, because of his judgments; so to acknowledge him in his goodness to these lands, in that he hath not added sorrow to sorrow, and made the period of his late Highness's life, and that of the nation's peace, to have been in one day. Peace was one of the blessings of my Father's government; a mercy, after so long a civil war, and in the midst of so great shifted myself, and got down to Westminster that day (being the first day of the sitting of the Parliament) before the sermon was done, that being preached by Dr. Thomas Goodwin, upon the text of mercy and truth having met together, righteousness and peace having kissed each other. "Being at Westminster, I was informed I must take an oath, in the lobby before the Parliament door, where being, and demanding of the oath, I was told by Mr. Smythe, that there being a double return, I could not sit before the opinion of the House was therein agreed, and so I did forbear, at present, to go into the House, but I went into the Painted Chamber, and so to the other House. "Not long after, the sermon being ended, my Lord Protector came into the other House, where he first made a very sober and full discourse of the occasion of the calling of this Parliament. After whom, my Lord Fiennes, one of the keepers of the seal, enlarged upon the heads of the Protector's discourse; after which the Commons departed to their own House, and chose for their Speaker, Mr. Chaloner Chute, and appointed their officers, and read a Bill, according to their course, and ordered the next day to call over the House, and to appoint a Committee then of privileges, which being ended, they adjourned until next morning at eight of the clock." Goddard MS. division which that war bred, is not usually afforded by God unto a people in so great a measure. The cause of God, and these nations, which he was engaged in, met in all the parts of it, as you well know, with many enemies, and great opposition. The Archers, privily and openly, sorely grieved him, and shot at him, yet his bow abode in strength; and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob. As to himself, he died full of days, spent in great and sore travail; yet his eyes were not waxed dim, neither was his natural strength abated, as it was said of Moses. He was serviceable even to the last. As to these nations, he left them in great honour abroad, and in full peace at home; all England, Scotland and Ireland, dwelling safely, every man under his vine, and under his fig-tree, from Dan even to Beersheba. He is gone to rest, and we are entered into his labours; and if the Lord hath still a blessing for these lands (as I trust he hath), as our peace hath been lengthened out to this day, so shall we go on to reap the fruit, and gather the harvest of what his late Highness hath sown, and laid the foundation of. For my own part, being by the providence of God, and the disposition of the law, my Father's successor, and bearing that place in the government that I do, I thought it for the public good to call a parliament of the three nations, now united and conjoined together into one commonwealth, under one Government. It is agreeable, not only to my trust, but to my principles, to govern these nations by the advice of my two Houses of Parliament. I find it asserted in the humble Petition and Advice (which is the corner-stone of this building, and that which I shall adhere to), "that Parliaments are the great Council of the chief Magistrate, in whose advice both he and these nations may be most safe and happy." I can assure you I have that esteem of them: and, as I have made it the first act of my government to call you together, so I shall further let you see the value I have of you, by the answers |