Page:The Complete Peerage Ed 2 Vol 4.djvu/604

586 APPENDIX G INTRODUCTION Although the writs of summons to the " Other House " were not issued till lo Dec. 1657, the project for restoring a monarchical form of govern- ment, which was to include a Second Chamber, had taken shape ten months earlier, i.e. 23 P'eb. 1656/7, when (Sir) Christopher Packe, M.P. for the City of London, presented his " Humble Address and Remonstrance." On the 5th of March it was resolved that future Parliaments should consist of two Houses,(^) as Cromwell and his friends confidently expected that the new House of Lords would prove "a great security and buUwarke to the honest interest," and would not be "soe uncertain as the House of Commons which depends upon the election of the people." On the 25th of May Cromwell gave his consent to the "Humble Petition and Advice," and in the following month to the " Additional Petition and Advice." By these two measures he obtained Parliamentary sanction for the formation of a Second Chamber, which he considered was absolutely necessary to protect the people of England against the uncon- trolled authority assumed by the House of Commons, " that would have brought us under the horridest arbitrariness that ever was exercised in the world."(^) After considerable discussion it was finally decided that the Upper House should be composed of not more than seventy or less than forty members, who were to be nominated by the Lord Protector, and to hold by the Protector — Carlyle's "Speech xvii " — on 25 Jan. 1657/8. It was by com- parison of this report with that in Sir Richard Tangye's MS. that Mr. Round was able to establish the fact that the latter was the original draft and the former the final version and fair copy. The rest of this important fragment is occupied with the proceedings of the House on 25, 29, and 30 Jan. The number of peers present, out of the forty-two " Lords," is shown on 29 and 30 Jan. exactly as in the normal form found in the printed version. It is further pointed out by J. H. Round that the actual style of the "Lords" in the Journals seems to be somewhat indefinite. In the case of Richard Cromwell " Lord " is prefixed to his name, but the formal style usually consists of a " Lord " inserted between the Christian and surname, for the new as well as for the old peers. On the other hand, the last five on the list are entered as " Lord Hewson," " Lord Thomas," i^c. Moreover, when a Committee was nominated, both forms of style seem to have been used indif- ferently. It is unfortunate that we have not, apparently, the exact wording of any writ except that to Richard Cromwell. (^) Secretary Thurloe writes to General Monck, 5 Mar. 1656/7: "Yesterday and this day we spent in Parliament in the debate whether his Highnesse should nott bee advised for the future to call Parliament consisting of 2 Houses, and at last it was resolved very unanimously that hee should. The other house is to bee called by writt in the nature of the Lords' House, but is not to consist of the old Lords, but such as have never been against the Parliament, men feareing God and of good conversation, and such as his Highnes shall bee fully satisfyed in." (•') Oliver Cromwell's speech to the Council of State, 21 Apr. 1657.