Chap. Ill. The HISTORY of the PuRI'I'ANS. 4-97 and lords and in the month of D ecembet• ilfued out writs, by advice of POliver · ' rotetlor his council, to divers lords and gen tlemen, to fit as members of the other 16 • 7 . · boufe, at the next feffion of parliament, Jan. 20. His intention was~ to l1ave this houfe confidered as a houfe of peers, tho' he declined giving it that name till a more favourable conjunCture, Some declined the honour, and chofe to fit in the lower houfe, but between fifty and iixty appeared, among whom were {even or eig,ht of the antient peers.' divers knights and o-entlernen of good families, and feme few chief officers of the army. They met in the boufe of lords, whither his higbnefs came at the time of their meeting, and according to antient cuil:om, fent the ujber of the black rod to bring up the commons, to whom he made a ibort fpeech from the throne, beginning with the nfual form, my lords, and you tbe knights, citi:uns, and burge/Jes, &c, and then as our kings ufed to do, he referr'd them to the lord commiilioner Fiennes, who tired them with a long and perplexed harangDe before they entered upo11 bufinefs. This hail:y refolution of the proteCtor and his council, had like to have Bad confl– fubverted the in£1nt government, for many of the protector's bell friendsqucnces of it; being called out of the lower houfe to the upper, the balance of power among the commons was changed; whereas, if he had deferred the fet· tling of the upper houfe till the prefent parliament had been dilfolved, they would have gone through their bufinefs without interruption; but the lower houfe was now in a flame, fame being diiappointed of their expeCtations, and others envied for their advancement, infomuch that as foon as they returned to their hou fe, they called for the third article of the bumble advice, which fays, that no members legally cbifen, jhall be excluded from performing their duty, but by COI!ftnt if the hou;e if which they are members; and then to firengthen their party, they ordered all tho(e who had been excluded b!l feffions, becaufe they would not recognize the new government, to return to their places; which was no fooner done, than they began to call in quefiion the authority and jurifdiction of the other hotfe, tho' themfelves had advifed it, and tho' there was almoil: as good reafon for their being an upper, as for the other being a lower houje; but thefe gentlemen were determined to ereCt an abfolute commonwealth, on the ruins of the prefent family. Many degrading fpeeches were made in the lower houfe, againil: the perfons who had been thus promoted, who were no lefs refolute in defending their honours and characters ; fo that there was no profpect of an agreement, till the protector himfelf appeared, and having fent for them to Wbiteha/l, fpoke with fuch an ~ccent in favour of the other houfe, that they returned and acknowledged 1t ; but then they went on to re-examine the validity of the whole inflrument if governmmt, as being made when many memVoL. II. S f [ bers
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