for printing could not then with safety be persisted in ; and, reminding the House that there might be many who, having supported the Remonstrance, might yet be opposed to the printing of it, he asked how any one could so far know the minds of such as to presume to enter a protest for them? "Some who were against the printing of the "Remonstrance," says D'Ewes, "yet disavowed Mr. "Palmer's desiring to have a protestation entered in their names; and Mr. Hampden demanded of him how he could "know other men's minds? To whom Mr. Palmer answered, "having leave of the House to speak, that he having once "before heard the cry All, All,' he had thereupon "desired to have the said protestation entered in all their "names."

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The mere question and answer had quelled the unnatural excitement, and brought the House again, as Hampden anticipated, within government and rule. Agreement was then come to, that the question as to the printing of the Declaration should for the present be left undetermined, with the understanding that it was not to be printed without special leave. Hyde's party would further have restricted this order, by introducing the word "published" into it; but Pym, refusing to consent to that addition, divided the house once more, and carried the original proposal, “that this Declaration shall not be printed without the par"ticular order of the house," by a majority of twenty-three; thus leaving the publication free, and restraining the printing only until further order. The numbers were 124 to 101; Sir Edward Dering and Sir Robert Crane, D'Ewes's colleague in the representation of Sudbury, being tellers for the minority; and for the majority, Sir Walter Earle and Mr. Richard Knightly, the member for Northampton. Between the last division and the present, thirty-five of Pym's party and forty-seven of Hyde's had quitted the house. And so, says D'Ewes, "the House arose just "when the clock struck two the ensuing morning."

Clarendon fixes the hour of meeting the next day as late as three o'clock, but in reality they assembled only a

little later than the usual hour. Much important business not admitting of delay was in hand; and the further loan of fifty thousand pounds from the City for the Irish affairs, to bear interest at eight per cent, had this day to be completed. A little incident marked the temper of the House. Early in the month the Queen's confessor, Father Philips, had for contumacious conduct been committed by the Lords to the Tower, and no order was to be given for his release without the knowledge of the Commons. He had now made submission, and in deference to an urgent message from the Queen, the Lords had ordered his release; but on their messenger bringing this intimation to the Commons, a peremptory refusal was sent back, and Father Philips had to return to the Tower. This incident had passed, and it was nearly four o'clock in the afternoon, when Pym rose and made allusion to the scene of the night before. He lamented the disorder on that occasion, which, he said, might probably have engaged the House in blood. It proceeded principally, he continued, by the offering a protestation, which had never before been offered in that assembly; and was a transgression that ought to be severely examined, that mischief hereafter might not result from the precedent. He therefore proposed that the House should the next morning enter upon that examination : and in the meantime he advised that men might recollect themselves, and they who used to take notes might peruse their memorials; to the end that the persons who were the chief causers of the disorder might be named, and defend themselves the best they could. "And with this "resolution," adds Clarendon, "the House rose; the "vexation of the night before being very visible in the "looks and countenance of many."1

How far the further statement made herein by Clarendon is to be believed, must be judged upon the facts. He says, as we have seen, that the House did not

1 Hist. ii. 46. D'Ewes simply says of the rising of the House, that "they appointed to meet to-morrow

"at ten, and rose between four and "five of the clock."

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meet till three in the afternoon: But the statement in D'Ewes's Notes (and this is borne out by the Journals) leaves no doubt that the House was in debate soon after ten o'clock. He asserts that the most part of the day had been passed by the leading men in private consultations, having for their object how to chastise some of those who most offended them the night before, and how to punish the attempt to introduce the dangerous and unheard-of precedent of protesting against the sense of the house: But the private consultations must in this case have been held during the open sitting, for the leading men on Pym's side were unquestionably engaged, in public, upon the bill for determining parliamentary privilege, upon the Committee of Irish affairs, upon the bill of tonnage and poundage, upon the City loan, and upon the case of the Queen's confessor. He explains that the subject of private consultation was all the more grateful to the "leading violent men who bore the greatest sway," because they should thereby take revenge upon Mr. Hyde (himself), whom they perfectly hated above any man, and to whose activity they imputed the trouble they had sustained the day before; only they encountered an unexpected difficulty from an important section of their supporters, the Northern men as they were called, led by Sir John Hotham, Sir Hugh Cholmondeley, and Sir Philip Stapleton, members for Beverley, Scarborough, and Boroughbridge, who were so grateful to Mr. Hyde for his services in overthrowing the monstrous oppression of the Court of York, that they refused to join against him, though very eager to make others responsible; and he adds that this dispute, which broke out at the private council in the morning, occupied all that day and night, and was only terminated by the compromise of selecting another person, Palmer, to bear the brunt of punishment: But if all this were so, it is strange that neither Sir Simonds. D'Ewes, nor Sir Ralph Verney, in Notes still preserved exactly as they were taken at the moment, should in any form confirm or make allusion to it; and still

more strange that the leaders should have proposed to make Hyde responsible for the minor offence of asking leave to protest, which had led to no disturbance, and to pass by the real offence of Palmer, who reopened the question that had been laid aside, did actually protest without asking leave,' and brought on the scene that followed. It will be perhaps the more natural, and certainly no unfair, conclusion to form, that the writer who deliberately had misrepresented and misstated every single successive incident in these memorable debates, has misrepresented this also. Happily the means of refutation are at hand; and from records taken at the moment, and quite above suspicion, the account given by Clarendon can be corrected, and the story of the Grand Remonstrance be faithfully carried to its close.

On Wednesday, the 24th of November, the Speaker arrived at the house at about ten o'clock, when, after prayers, certain necessary business of no great interest was done, and Pym moved the appointment of some committees. He then, producing a printed pamphlet, purporting to be Articles of accusation preferred against Father Philips and containing matters of scandal against the French Ambassador, pointed out the grave offence of disseminating such falsehoods, and called the printer to the bar. Hereupon Mr. Ralph Goodwin, the member for Ludlow (he who was afterwards secretary to Prince Rupert), took the same opportunity of complaining, that a pamphlet scandalous to the King himself had also just been printed, purporting to be the account of a duel between Sir Kenelm Digby and a French Lord, as to which he moved that the printer thereof might also be questioned. To whom, with a similar complaint of unauthorised printing, succeeded Mr. Robert Reynolds, who

1 Clarendon is obliged to admit this distinction, even where he is doing his best to exaggerate the cause of offence he had himself given. "He "was the first" (he is speaking of

himself, Hist. ii. 45) "who made "the protestation, that is, asked "leave to do it; which produced the "other subsequent clamour, that was indeed in some disorder."

sat for Hindon in Wiltshire and was afterwards one of the King's judges, and who brought before the house the fact, that the examination of a delinquent priest, taken by one of their committees, still remaining in his own possession, and not yet reported to the house, had been suddenly issued in print; an offence which also called for punishment. "Upon all which motions," D'Ewes adds, "it was ordered that the former committee for printing (of which I was one) should meet to-morrow morning at seven of the clock in the Inner Court of Wards, and should examine these abuses now com"plained of, and all other abuses of the kind, and to "consider of some way for the preventing thereof."

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Then succeeded the more interesting business of the day, introduced as usual by the member for Tavistock. He called the attention' of the House to the offence which had been committed on Monday night. He enlarged upon the mischief it was then like to have produced, and which would unavoidably be produced, if the custom or liberty of individuals protesting against the sense of the House should ever be admitted. That was the first time it had ever been offered there, and care ought to be taken that it should be the last, by severe judgment upon those who had begun the presumption. Whereupon, Hyde rose and said, that it concerned him to justify what he had done, being the first man who mentioned the protestation. But he was interrupted by a general noise and clamour, one half the House crying to him to "withdraw," and the other half to "speak." He waited awhile, and then resumed. He was not old enough, he said, to know the ancient

1 This opening of the proceedings, down to the appearance of Hotham in the debate, is taken from Clarendon (Hist. ii. 46-7). It is here given because, though neither in the Notes of D'Ewes, nor those of Verney, is there any mention of it,-both beginning their account with Hotham's speech,— it is not only quite possible that Hyde may have spoken what he here attri

butes to himself, but it is even likely that he so endeavoured to put himself forward, when he found that his friend Palmer was to be called to account. The matter of the so-called private dispute raised as between Hyde and Palmer, which I altoget her disbelieve in, is not affected by it either way.