difabled from

fubfcribing the

Impediment were difabled from fubfcribing the Declaration Anno 15. Car. in the Act of Uniformity, an Explanation of Part of the faid II. 1663-4 A&t; wherein the Committee made fome Alterations and Amendments, and have added a Clause; which are offered to the Confideration of this House: The Amendments and Declaration in Alterations were read twice, and agreed to; and then the the Act of ConClause was read as follows: formity, agreed And be it enacted and declared by the Authority afore. to. faid, That the Declaration and Sufpicion of Affent and Confent, in the said A&t mentioned, fhall be understood only as to the Practice and Obedience to the said Act, and not otherwife.

And the Question being put, whether to agree with the Committee in this Claufe?

It was refolved in the Affirmative. Memorandum, Before the putting of the aforefaid Quef tion, divers Lords defired Leave to enter their Proteftation if the Queftion was refolved in the Affirmative; which the House granted, and accordingly this Proteftation was made by thefe Lords following:

In regard, we conceive, that this Clause in the Act, viz. (And be it enacted and declared by the Authority aforefaid, That the Declaration and Subscription of Affent and Con, fent, in the faid Act and not otherwise) is deftructive to the Church of England as now establish'd, we therefore have enter'd our Proteftation against that Clause.

James, D. of York, Cha. Gerrard, J. Bridgewater, W. May nard, Berkshire, Dorfet, T. Culpeper, Derby, Fo. Berkeley, Cornwallis, Mordaunt, J. Lucas, Peterborough, Northampton.

FOURTH SESSION of the Second Parliament.

W

*

AS open'd March the 16th, 1663-4. with a most gracious Speech from the Throne, as ufual, warmly recommending the Repeal of the Triennial A&; which the Parliament had the extraordinary Complaisance to do with all poffible Dispatch, and to introduce with the following as extraordinary Preamble.

Proteft thereon.

Triennial Act.

Whereas the Alt made, &c. is in Derogation of his Majefty's Preamble to the juft Rights and the Prerogative inherent to the Imperial Crown Repeal of the of this Realm, for calling and affembling of Parliaments, and may be an Occafion of manifold Mifchiefs and Inconveniencies, and much endanger the Peace and Safety of his Majefty, and all his Liege People of this Realm.

I 2

The

The joint Proceedings of both Houfes against the Dutch, (with whom we were then upon the Point of breaking, and the fevere Bill against Conventicles, which was not completed till after feveral Conferences, were the principal Transactions of this Seffion; and of which a more explicit Account is given in Chand. Hift. Anno 16. 1664. Car. II. Page 75, 76, 77,78,79, as likewife, the King's Speech at the Prorogation,

It must not, however, be forgot, that the Earl of * Briftol preferr'd his Charge a fecond Time against the Lord Chan

cellor

* A remarkable Incident, likewife, brought the faid Earl before the House of Commons, of which the best Account is to be found in his own Speech as follows:

Mr. SPEAKER,

Were I to be wrought upon by the Arts and Menaces of my Enemies, or by the Alarms of my Friends in my Behalf, contrary to the firmneís and affurance which a clean Heart and a good Confcience does always up: hold in a Man of Honour, I fhould have appear'd in this Place with fuch fear and trembling, as could not chufe but diforder any Man's Reafon and Elocution: The nicenefs of the Subject upon which I am brought hither, were enough to difcompofe one; but over and above that, I am not ignorant what perfonal Prejudices I am under, and how industriously they have been improv'd among you. But when I look round this Illuftrious Affembly, and fee three Parts of it compofed of Men who wear, as I do, a Sword by their Sides, and who have drawn it to often for the King's Service, Gentlemen of Birth, Integrity, Fortune, all Apprehenfions vanish from a Man, who hath ferv'd and fuffer'd for the King as I have done. Mr. Speaker, I know the time of this House, upon whofe prudent Deliberations the Happiness of the King and Kingdom depends, is too precious to have any part of it spent in vindication of me: But, fince not only the Reputation and Innocence of one of your Members depends upon what I fhall fay, but even his Majesty's Honour may in fome fort be concern'd in the right apprehenfion of it, I hope it will be thought no Presumption in me to beg of you, as I do, in all Humility, one quarter of an Hour's Patience and Attention.- -Mr. Speaker, I am here expofed as the Bearer of a Meffage to his Majesty from Sir Richard Temple, which he hath thought worthy to be complained of to this Houfe, and which Sir Richard Temple affirms he never fent. Lay your Hands upon your Hearts, Gentlemen, and fay truly, does not your innate Candour pity my Condition, brought into a ftreight, in all appearance fo inextricable? For, on the one fide, if I avow to have carried from Sir Richard Temple the Meffage, which his Majefty has been pleas'd to make fo high and fo unusual an Expreffion of his being offended at, and which Sir Richard Temple denies to have fent, how can Men of Honour forgive me fo ungentlemanly a Proceeding towards a Perfon who hath trufted me, as a Friend, to do him (as he thought) a good Office with his Majefty? On the other fide, Mr. Speaker, fhould I difavow the having deliver'd the Meffage from Sir Richard Temple, which his Majefty hath thought fit to affirm, that he received from him and by me, what Subject can be strong enough not to fink for ever under the weight of fuch a Contradiction to his Sovereign? I ask you again, Gentlemen, does not the Condition you fee me brought into, by the Arts of my Enemies, move you at the fame time to Pity and Indignation? Mr. Speaker, when David was put to his Choice of one of the

three

cellor Clarendon, tho' with no better Sccefs than before: The Anno 15, Car.
Peers feeming to think it had no other Foundation than the
II. 1664.
Spleen of an enraged and difappointed Enemy.

The only Protelt of this Seffion to be met with was as follows:

Die Martis 29° Novembris, 1664.

The Question being put, whether thefe Words, As it fall appear to him to be on either Part, notwithstanding there be not any Precedent in the Cafe, fhall be added to the Order made yesterday in the Cale of Robert Roberts, Efq; and his Wife and Son?

It

three Calamities, he made Election of the Plague. And why? that he
might fall into the Hands of God, and not of Men.
In like manner,
Mr. Speaker, if one of the two Extremes, with which I am threatned,
be, as it appears, unavoidable, let me fall into the Hands of God's Vice-
gerent the King: The World will never pardon me an unworthy
Action; his Goodness, I am fure, would in time pardon a generous
Fault. But when you have heard me out, Gentlemen, I am confident you
will find, that I shall need neither the World's Pardon nor the King's,
but only yours.
In the first place, Mr. Speaker, I am bound to clear
Sir Richard Temple, which I here do upon my Honour, that he never
fent by me a Meffage to the King, that had in it the leaft tincture of an
Undertaking of his; which I conceive could be the only Part that could
give Offence to his Majefty, or be a Ground for the Complaint made
against him.In the next place, if the King, who, the Law fays,
can do no wrong, hath thought fit to affirm, that I brought him that
undertaking. Message from Sir Richard Temple, it must needs be true,
and I do with all Submiffion avow whatever his Majefty is pleafed to
affirm of me; but, having discharg'd that Duty towards my Sovereign, I
hope I may be allowed to lay the Fault home upon myself, and to tell
you, that my Tongue, I know not by what Diftemper, delivered that
which, I proteft to God, was never in my Thoughts; I was so far
from thinking to deliver fuch a Meffage from Sir Richard Temple, that
I did not think myself charg'd with any thing by way of Meflage. It
is true, Mr. Speaker, that, being full of Indignation at ill Offices done
him, I made a warm Addrefs to his Majefty in Sir Richard Temple's be-
half, wherein I expreffed his Grief, that his Majefty fhould be offended-
with him, and having join'd thereunto fome Reafonings of his to justify
his Conduct, in relation to his Majesty's Service, very agreeable to my
own Sentiments, I purfu'd his Expreffions with fuch of my own, as (all
Circumftances confidered) the moft unattentive Perfon, and the moft
biafs'd with Paffion against Sir Richard Temple, might have easily un-
derstood it to be no Undertaking of his, but only a warm Difcourfe, and
confident Undertaking of my own.- -Sir Richard Temple being thus
clear'd, without the leaft contradiction to his Majesty, if to undertake
for you, Gentlemen, be a Guilt, it is only I that ftand guilty before
you. But you are too noble, I am fure, and too juft, to condemn me
in your Judgments, before you have heard the Nature and Circum-
ftances of my Undertaking; which, with your leave, I shall declare to
the full, taking the Matter (as I muft needs, to be rightly understood)
from an higher Original. Mr. Speaker, having had the Honour hereto-
fore of discharging, with Approbation, a Place of fo high Trust, as that
of Secretary of State to his Majefty's Father of bleffed Memory, and to
himfelf: And fince my quitting that Place, being admitted fo frequently

to

Anno 15, Car,
II, 1664

It was refolved in the Affirmative.

Againft which Vote the Lords following doth proteft and diffent (having Liberty of the House fo to do before the Queftion was put) for that he is not fatisfied to give Direc tions how the Chancery should adjudge a Cause, the Merits whereof this Houfe never heard at the Bar, and which, he conceives, is not legally before this Houfe; for that the for mer Tranfactions and Proceedings which this House made therein, and all Debates, Votes, and Refolutions thereupon, are determined with a former Seffion of Parliament, and fo totally fhut out of Doors, as if it had never been entertained by this House; and for that the faid Vote, feems to enlarge

the

to the Happiness of his Princely Converfation, you cannot imagine, but that fometimes he vouchfafed to fpeak to me of Bufinefs, efpecially of Parliaments, where I have the Honour at prefent to be a Peer, and have heretofore been as much verfed, as fome of my Cotemporaries, in the Proceedings of the Honourable Houfe of Commons. I confefs, that, before this laft affembling, he did it more than once, and the Opinion I moft conftantly delivered concerning this House was, that never King, was fo happy in a House of Commons, as he was in you; a House compofed of fo many Gentlemen of Birth and Fortune, eminent in their Faithfulness to him, and fuch as could never be fufpected of any finifter Defigns, or of any other Dependance, but upon the Crown, and upon the Care of thofe that chose them, and fuch as in the laft Seffions had manifefted their Affections to him by fuch large Aids and Supplies; adding, that nothing could be more important to his Service, than to make and preferve you ftill popular with thofe that fent you, To which end I took the Liberty to tell him, that if the neceffity of his Affairs, (of which I, having no part in his Council, was no good Judge), could admit of it, he ought not in prudence to let you give him any Money this Sitting, but rather to oblige you wholly to apply yourselves to the making of fuch Laws as might endear both him and you to the People; by which means, at another Meeting, he would be Mafter of the Hearts and Purfes of his Subjects. But in cafe his Neceffities fhould urge him to prefs you, before the rifing, for a new Supply, that he ought, by all means, to let it be accompanied, if not preceded, by fome eminent Acts for the Reformation of former Abuses. and for the fecuring his Subjects from the like for the future. -I perfifted, Mr. Speaker, in preffing, upon all occafions, this Advice to his Majesty, till within fome few Weeks after their meeting; when finding myself (I know not by what Misfortune) fallen under fome Prejudice, I thought that a total forbearance from speaking to him of any Business, would be the best Way of my ferving him. And I proteft unto you, Gentlemen, with all Sincerity, that from that time, until that of his Majefty's expreffing to me fome displeasure against Sir Richard Temple, I never once opened my Lips to him of any public Affair whatsoever: It is true, Mr. Speaker, that a ground being given me to enter again with his Majefty, upon a Subject which my Heart was ftill full of, I laid hold on the occafion, and in purfuance of what I had faid in behalf of Sir Richard Temple, told his Majefty, perhaps with more Freedom and Fervour than did become me, that I found his Courtiers gave him wrong Measures, both of the Temper of the House of Commons, and of the Means to

the Bounds of the Chancery, which is by this Vote directed Anno 15, Car. to make a Decree, tho' there hath been no Precedent in the II. 1664. Cafe, especially where the Will of the Dead may be overthrown, Infants decreed out of a legal Eftate, and Provifion made by the Teftator to pay honeft Debts defeated and avoided. Mobun.

I being unfatisfied in my Judgment concerning the Vote which paffed this Day, for an Order to be directed from this Houfe to the Lord Chancellor in the Cafe of Mr. Roberts, did demand Leave of the Houfe to enter my Diffent; and ac cordingly do proteft against that Vote for thefe Reafons following:

ift,

attain from them any new Supplies, whether by way of Prefent, Gift,
or of fuch Eftablifhments in his Revenues, as might indeed put him out
of neceffity; fince there could be no reasonable Hopes of obtaining from
them any fuch Affiftance, but by a Concomitance, if not a Precedence
of fuch Acts, as might be grateful and beneficial to his Subjects, and fe-
cure them, that what shall be given hereafter fhould be better managed
for his Majesty's Service, than those vast Sums that had been formerly
granted: That if his Majefty, in his Princely Wisdom, should think
fit to drive on his Bufinefs upon folid Grounds, and not upon the false
and felf-interefted Measures of fome Courtiers, he had a House of
Commons compofed of Members fo full of Affection to his Person, and
Zeal for his Profperity and Glory, that not only Sir Richard Temple,
but the most unprejudic'd and wifeft Men of the Kingdom, as well as
myfelf, durft undertake for them. See here, Gentlemen, the bold un-
dertaking that fuch a House of Commons would never let him want fuch
prefent Supplies, as the true neceffity of his Affairs fhould require, nor
fuch an established Revenue, as is fit to fupport the Greatness and Honour
of his Crown. If this was a Criminal Undertaking, you have, before
you, Gentlemen, Confitentem reum; but whilft I am endeavouring to
clear Sir Richard Temple, and to vindicate or arraign myfelf, according
as you fhall be pleased to understand it, by telling you what pafs'd from
me to his Majefty, I must not omit to give him the Honour due to him
for the Kingly Reply he made to me upon this Occafion, which was, That
he had a true Senfe of the Merit of the Houfe of Commons towards him,
even far beyond what I had expreffed, and this was the Reason why, re-
lying fo entirely as he did, upon the Affections of that whole Body, he
was, and ever fhould be offended at any Propofition to carry on his Bu-
finefs there by officious Undertakings and Cabals, either of his Courtiers
or others.
An Expreffion fit to be written with the Rays of the Sun,
that all the World may read it; an Expreffion which cannot chufe but
inflame the Affections of all this noble Affembly that hear me, and
carry you to make good thefe happy Impreffions of you, which are fo
deeply ftampt in his Royal Breaft: Such as I fhould think it a Crime to
doubt, but that all Sufpicions being now vanished of his Majesty's owing
the Supply defired, to any Acts or Contrivances of others, your own Zeal
for his Service will, even in the proportion and timeliness of that, ex-
ceed the vain Propofals of all pick thank Undertakers. Mr. Speaker, I
Thould have here put a Period to your Trouble of hearing me, did I not
think I might incur the Imputation of much Weakness and Supineness in
by own higheft Concernments. if, valuing, as I do, above all Earthly

Con