1657.

April.

It was debated many Days, and it was refolved Inter-regnum. there, and fettled, That they could not change it; there was so much Hazard in that Change, they knew not but that all their Rights and Liberties might be thereby altered; and when the King faw he could not obtain it of the Houfe, he declared by Proclamation, That he never intended to take any Name upon him that should raise any Doubt as to the Liberties and Privileges of Parliament; and caufed that Proclamation to be very cunningly printed, and put among the Statutes, though indeed it was none of them: But because there was Danger, he laid it down willingly; only, fays he, your Divines, in the Pulpit, thall pray for me by the Title of King of Great-Britain, and Ambaffadors fhall make their Addrefs by that Name; but the Name, in your Laws, I will not alter.

• In the Parliament of 1653, there was a Queftion, Whether they should not alter the Name of Parliament, and call it, The Reprefentative of the People? But the whole Houfe went upon this Ground, That by changing the Name of Parliament to a Reprefentative, they did not know how it might change the very Courfe, Ground, and Reafon of Parliaments; there is a great deal of Importance in the very Name: I remember a very honourable Person was then very earneft for it; I mean, for having this Name changed, and he fhew'd many Reafons for it; but hearing the Debates and Reafons against it, he fat down, and was fatisfied; I think I may name him, it was my Lord Ireton, who faid, He was fatisfied it was not fit to be done at that Time.

It was a famous Story in every Man's Mouth heretofore, when there was but little Intention to change the Law; I fay, it was a general Refolution given, by the Lords, Nolumus Leges Angliæ mutare: It's doubted, yea conceived impoffible, to annex the Laws and the Title of Protector together: This I muft say, we come now with an Intention for a perfect Settlement, fuch as may give Safety to the Na

In our Twentieth Volume, p. 182.

tion,

April.

Inter-regnum. tion, to your Perfon, and to the People; for in1657. deed, Sir, they are very jealous of their Laws and Liberties, and have been so in all Ages; and tho❜ there may be no Intention to do fuch a Thing, yet if you have a Doubt, it's better and more fafe for the Chief Magiftrate to keep to that which hath no Doubt.

Lord Protector.

The Parliament putting their own Interests and Regard for you together, and giving you this Advice, this is Vox Populi; for it is the Voice of Three Nations in one Parliament. Upon Public Intereft, the chief Thing is the Safety of the People; to that Safety, your Will, your Judgment, nay, give me Leave to tell you, your Conscience is bound; for it is the principal End of Government and Governors: This is prefented to you by Three Nations, by the Parliament; altho' you may make your Hefitations, yet fuch a Thing is of great Weight and Confequence. By the Laws, I can fay, in all Generations, this is mine, and this is the Prince's; and the Prince cannot do me Wrong, nor the Council cannot do me wrong, &c. Therefore I think you may fafely, and I hope you will, agree to this Particular, as we have presented it: I dare not fay, that your Highness, as it comes in a way of Advice from the Parliament, ought to do fo.'

Mr. Lenthall having ended, the Lord Protector told the Committee,That he could not deny but the Things that had been spoken, had been urged with great Weight; and that it was not fit for him to ask any of them if they had a Mind to speak farther to it; but if fuch had been their Pleasure, that truly then he thought it would have made him, according to the Method and Way he had conceived to himself, the more prepared to have returned fome Answer: He was fure the Bufinefs required it from any Man in the World, much more from him, to make serious and true Answers; he meant fuch as were not feigned in his own Thoughts, but fuch wherein he expressed the Truth and Honesty of his

Heart :

1657.

April,

Heart: In fhort, That he hoped, when he had Inter-regnum heard them fo far as it was their Pleasure to speak to that Head, he should have been in a Condition that Afternoon, if it had not been a Trouble to them, to have returned his Answer upon a little Confideration with himself; but that seeing they had not thought it convenient to proceed that Way, truly he thought he might very well fay, That he had need to have a little Time to refolve what Answer to return, left their Debate should end, on his Part, with a very vain Difcourfe, and with Lightness: And therefore, if they thought to proceed farther, and to fpeak to thefe Things, he fhould have made his own fhort Animadverfions on the whole that Afternoon, and return'd fome fhort Reply; and this would have usher'd him into the Way, not only to have given the best Answer he could, but to have made his own Objections.'

The Protector having, in this Manner, given Intimation of his Readiness to hear any farther Arguments, the Chief Juftice Glynne began thus:

Since it is your Highness's Pleasure that it Lord Chief Jufhould be fpoken to now, altogether, by thofe that stice Glynne. have any Thing to fay, I think it the Intent of the Committee, and the Parliament, to give your Highness Satisfaction in all Particulars, both as to Subftance and Circumstance. I confefs I waited for Objections from your Highness, that being the principal Scope of the Order.

Truly, my Lord, I ftand up with no Confidence that I can add any Thing to what hath been faid; but because it pleases your Highnefs to do us the great Favour to put us to Particulars, I think the Question with you is but fingly thus: I am aiready Protector, and I am by that Office put at the Head of the Government, whereby I meet the Parliament now; you defire me to take upon me the Office of King, Why do ye fo? That which we are to speak here, is no other but that which we can underftand was the Senfe of the Parliament, in Juftification of what they have done: I fhall not speak any

Inter-regnum. Thing of the Government itself, but to this Parti-. 1657. cular.

April.

I think the Office of a King is a lawful Office, and the Title too, approved of by the Word of God, that's plain. It is plain likewife, that it is an Office that hath been exercifed in this Nation from the Time it hath been a Nation; and I think it is as true, that there never was any Quarrel with the Office, but the Mal-Adminiftration, that I can remember; I mean, ill Government. Oftentimes. Kings have been blamed, and very justly, for their ill Government; but we do not read that there was any Challenge by the Parliament, that this Government we defire fhould be discharged: If that be true, it is to me a ftrange Ground, having passed the Scrutiny of fo many Parliaments where they did debate de Re, that, in all thefe Debates, they did not charge it upon the Nation, that the Office of a King was a Burthen in its own Nature; and this too, when Parliaments have had Opportunity to have changed the Government.

The Name of King is a Name known by the Law, and the Parliament doth defire that your Highness would affume that Title. Thefe are the Grounds why the Parliament make it their humble Advice and Request to your Highnefs, that you would be pleased to affume that Title; and I think there is fomething more in it: You are now Lord Protector of the Three Nations by the Inftrument; and there is a Claufe in this Conftitution, that you fhould govern according to Law; and your Highnefs is fworn to that Government. The Parliament doth apprehend, that it is almost impoffible for your Highness to answer the Expectation of the People to be governed by the Laws; becaufe you are fo tied up, that neither can they rationally call for it, nor you confcientiously do it; and fo neither is the Lord Protector, nor the People, upon any fure Establishment: For here ftands the Case: A King hath run through fo many Ages in this Nation, and hath governed the Nation by that Title and Style, that it is known to the Law; for

the

1657.

April.

the Law of the Nation is no otherwise than what Inter-regnum. hath been a Cuftom to be practifed, and is approved by the People to be good; that's the Law; and nothing elfe, excepting Acts of Parliament: And now they have been governed by that Title, and by that Minifter, and by that Office, if fo be your Highnefs fhould do any Act, and one fhould come and fay, My Lord Protector, you are fworn to govern by the Law, and yet do thus and thus, as Lord Protector; why, the King could not have done fo! Aye, (fay you) but I am not King, I am not bound to do as the King, I am Lord Protector; shew me, that the Law doth require me to do it as Protector; if I have not acted as Protector, fhew me where that Law is: Why, you put every one to a Stumble in that Cafe: This is one Thing that, I humbly conceive, did ftick with the Parliament, as to that Particular.

Another Thing is this, you are Protector; which is a new Office not known to the Law, and made out of Doors: You are called upon, that you would be pleased to accept the Office of a King; this is, by the whole People: It's the firft Government that, fince these Troubles, hath been tendered by a general and univerfal Confent of the People. If any fhould find Fault with them, and fay, Why, how came you to make Governments in this Cafe? Why, the Answer is, We are a Parliament, and have your Suffrage; you have ever trufted us with all your Votes, and we will justify it: But befides, we have not done it neither; we have but fettled it upon the old Foundations.

Then as for Regal Government; however, fome may pretend that a King's Prerogative is fo large that we know it not, but is unbounded; the Parliament are not of that Opinion. The King's Prerogative is known by Law; if he fhould extend it beyond his Duty, that's the Evil of the Man: But in Westminster Hall, the King's Prerogative was under the Courts of Juftice; and was bounded as well as any Acre of Land, or any Thing a Man hath; as much as any Controverfy between Party and Party: And therefore the Office being lawful in its Nature,

knowa