Page:English Historical Review Volume 37.djvu/59

1922 COUNCIL AND CABINET, 1679-88 51 he thought fit to have the Parliament prorogued unto the 26th of January ; that he would take this matter upon himself and desired nobody to speak therein, for he did not love that any should be arraigned abroad for their opinions there '- 1 Various attempts were made, both by arguments in council 2 and by petitions, 3 to secure an earlier session, but the king soon showed his indifference to public opinion. On 10 December Charles ' against the full advice of his councel declared that fatall and dismall resolution of prorogueing this parliament till November the 1 1th. The Lord save England.' 4 ' All at council were stunned at this surprising resolution ', says Temple, who made a strong protest against the usage to which the nominal advisers of the king were subjected. He urged that the prorogation of parlia- ment was so important that the advice of the council ought to be at least sought, and that the king ought to appoint other coun- cillors if he distrusted those present. Finally he moved that those who had advised the long prorogation should now declare their reasons, and his motion was seconded by Essex and sup- ported by Halifax and others. The lord chancellor spoke so earnestly against the prorogation that he was told to desist by his sovereign, who threatened to leave the chair if anything more was said. 5 Thus the king flouted the almost unanimous opinion of the council, and the attorney-general was ordered to prepare a proclamation to prorogue the parliament until 11 November 1680. 6 Eventually the houses met in October, when the com- mons still proved intractable. Accordingly the king told the councillors that he was going to dissolve this parliament and summon another to meet at Oxford. As he disdained to ask their advice so he refused to listen to their protests. When Salisbury wished to argue against the royal policy he was bluntly informed by Charles that his resolution was already taken and nothing could change it. 7 The necessity for secrecy prevented Charles from announcing his intention summarily to dismiss the Oxford parliament, though he is said to have consulted his cabinet council. 8 Thus it will be seen that 1 Southwell to Ormonde, Ormonde MSS. iv. 545. 2 Hatton Correspondence, i. 203. 3 The petition of the opposition peers is the best known (Christie, Life of Shaftes- bury, ii. 354). 4 Diary of Anglesey, Add. MS. 18730. 8 It is clear from Hatton Correspondence (i. 211-13) that Temple has confused the debate on 15 October with that on 10 December, and that he has misled so great an authority as Miss H. C. Foxcroft (see Life of Halifax, i. 196). London Gazette, 8-11 December 1679, no. 1467. 7 Barillon to Louis, 20/30 January 1681. Transcripts from Paris, Public Record Office ; Anglesey's Diary. 8 Memoirs of Thomas Earl of Ailesbury, . 56. The second part of Andrew Marvell's Rise and Groicth of Popery (attributed to Robert Ferguson) states that the E2