DEBATES in the House of Commons, From the Year 1667 to the Year 1694.
[Monday, December 3, 1677.
The House met, when Mr Secretary Coventry delivered the
following Message from his Majesty, which was read by the
Speaker:
"Charles R.
"HIS Majesty, having given notice by his Proclamation,
that he intended the Houses should be adjourned till the
fourth of April
(fn. 1) , hath now, for weighty Considerations,
thought fit to meet with both Houses sooner; and therefore
his Pleasure is, that this House be adjourned to the fifteenth day
of January next.
The House adjourned accordingly.
Footnotes
| 1 |
Before the meeting appointed
for the 3d of December, his Majesty's Proclamation was issued,
signifying "that he expected not
the Members attendance, but that
those of them about town should
adjourn themselves till the fourth of
April, 1678." These words "that
the House may adjourn themselves"
were very well received by those
of the Commons who imagined
themselves thereby restored to their
right, after Mr Seymour's invasion:
When, in reversal of this, (he probably desiring to retain a jurisdiction that he had twice usurped,
and to add this flower to the
Crown, of his own planting) Mr
Secretary Coventry delivered a written message from his Majesty, on
the 3d of December, of a contrary
effect, though not of the same
validity with the Proclamation,
viz. "That the Houses should be
adjourned only to the 15th of January 1677;" which as soon as
read, Mr Seymour would not give
leave to a worthy Member, offering, to speak; but abruptly, now
the third time, of his own authority, adjourned them without
putting the Question; though Sir John
Finch, for once doing so, (3 Charles)
was accused of High Treason. This
only can be said perhaps in his excuse, That, whereas that in 3 Charles
was a Parliament legally constituted, Mr Seymour did here do as a
Sheriff that disperses a riotous assembly. In this manner they were
kicked from Adjournment to Adjournment, as from one stair down
to another; and when they were
at the bottom, kicked up again,
having no mind yet to go out of
doors. Marvell. |