CHAP. Major the Great preme authority of the House. "Unavoidable necessity," said he, "hath put you on these courses, which otherwise, perhaps, you would not have taken. I am sure, Mr. Speaker, that my acting and sitting here is according to the known laws of England. My protection at this time cometh only from you, and my obedience is due only to you. There is no other visible authority in being in this land but yourselves." But, although he allowed that the highest place of ordinary judicature, to which their favour and good opinion had been pleased to name him, was an object of honourable ambition, and that he should be desirous to do right and justice,—to relieve the oppressed, and to serve God and his country,—he dwelt much on his own insufficiency for so great and weighty a charge. In pointing out its arduous duties, he made observations which, coming from a man regularly bred to the bar, an accomplished lawyer and an experienced Judge, show that "Equity" down to this time had not acquired any systematic form, and was not yet based upon principle. "The Judges of the common law have certain rules to guide them; a Keeper of the Seal has nothing but his own conscience to direct him, and that is oftentimes deceitful. The proceedings in Chancery are secundum arbitrium boni viri, and this arbitrium differs as much in different men as doth their complexion or the length of their foot." He therefore implored them to make another and better choice. "But he confessed that, if he declined absolutely, it would be a kind of disavowing of their authority as unwarrantable and illegal,—which was far from him,—and he submitted himself to their pleasure and judgment. This was taken, as it was intended, for acquiescence." * The next person named was John Lisle, who now went by the title of "Major Lisle." He was the son of a respectable gentleman in the Isle of Wight, and was bred to the bar, but was noted for his idleness and profligacy, and never had any practice or knowledge of the law. Being returned a member of the Long Parliament, he was dis Mem. 378. In his Journal he says, "The most considerable particulars which influenced me in this determination were, that I was already very deeply engaged with this party; that the business to be undertaken by me was the execution of law and justice, without which men could not live one by another, a thing of absolute necessity to be done." tinguished by his violence against the King. When the war broke out he left his profession and took to arms; but not showing military genius like Ireton and Jones, he never rose above the rank of Major. He is generally represented as having been one of the King's Judges, but he was only assessor, or legal adviser to the High Court of Justice.* He was bold, bustling, confident, and unscrupulous. After a short and no eager excuse by him on the score of his incompetence, and his "ready owning the authority of the House to act without King or Lords," his appointment as Commissioner of the Great Seal was carried by acclamation. CHAP. LXIX. jeant A drowsy Serjeant of the name of Keble, known only for And Sersome bad Law Reports, was added to the number, and joyfully Keble. accepted his appointment. The ordinance was forthwith passed, constituting these three persons Keepers of the Great Seal quamdiu se bene gesserint.† The former salary of 1000l. a-year was voted to them. A sharp discussion arose whether they should be called "Lords” Commissioners, the word "Lord" having become distasteful to some; but the opinion of the great majority was, that to drop it would be derogatory to the authority of the parliament.‡ An order was generously made at the same time, that the arrears due to the Earl of Kent and Lord Grey de Ordinance new Lords passes for Commissioners. I copy the ordinance as a specimen of the manner of legislating which then Copy of prevailed: "Be it enacted by the present parliament and the authority of the ordinance. same, that the Great Seal of England shall be committed to the keeping of Bulstrode Whitelock, Serjeant-at-law, Richard Keble, Serjeant-at-law, and John Lisle, Esq., who are hereby appointed Lords Commissioners for that purpose, quamdiu se bene gesserint, which said persons are hereby constituted and appointed to be Lords Commissioners for the custody of the Great Seal of England during the time aforesaid, and they or any two of them shall have and are hereby authorised to have the custody, keeping, ordering, and disposing thereof, as also all such and the like powers and authorities as any Lord Chancellor, Lord Keeper, or Commissioners of the Great Seal of England for the time being, have lawfully had and used, or ought to have had or used." For this he was excepted from the general pardon at the restoration; and though he made his escape, he was assassinated by the royalists at Lausanne. -Whit. The preservation of titles is one of the many circumstances which dis- Preservatinguish this revolution and that of France in 1789; but the English Commons tion of titles had been little aggrieved by aristocracy, and had little objection to it,-whereas in time of the injuries and insults heaped upon the roturiers by the French noblesse created Common. an utter abhorrence and abomination of that order,-which still continue and ac- wealth. count for the devoted attachment of the French nation to the law of equal partibility, considered by them the only safeguard against the return of such evils. CHAP. Werke, for their salary as Lords Commissioners of the Great Seal, should be immediately paid to them. LXIX. Feb. 8. Speaker's address to them. The following day the three new Lords Commissioners were sworn in before the House of Commons by the Speaker in these words: "Whereas, by an act of this present parliament, and by authority thereof, you are made Lords Commissioners of the Great Seal of England, you shall swear that well and truly, according to your skill and knowledge, you will perform your duty in the execution of the said office, according to law, equity, and justice." There was no longer any oath of allegiance or supremacy, and the triennial act was considered obsolete. So the Lords Commissioners being ordered to provide a purse for the new Great Seal, with suitable emblems and ornaments, they were dismissed and proceeded to the Court of Chancery,-where Lord Commissioner Lord Com- Whitelock made a short oration, and intimated that, "on the morrow, they should begin to despatch the business of the suitors, as it was the determination of the parliament, in whom God had placed the supreme power, that right should be done to all, and that justice, like the copious river of Egypt, should overflow and bless the country." * missioner White lock's answer. Feb. 9. The day following was the day to which the term had been postponed, and there was great confusion in Westminster Hall. Six only of the Judges would agree to serve under the parliament, and they considered their authority gone by the King's death. Early in the morning an ordinance was run through the House of Commons to abrogate the oaths of allegiance and supremacy ;-the Lords Commissioners of the Great Seal passed new patents to the Judges;-Lord Commissioner Whitelock made a long speech, explaining and justifying all that had been done;-and then the Judges took their seats in their respective Courts, and the business proceeded as if nothing remarkable had happened. Whitelock, conscious of his equivocal conduct at this time, says, "I resolved to hazard or lay down all, how beneficial soever or advantageous to me, rather than to do any thing contrary to my judgment and conscience. I paid a visit to the Lord Chief Justice Rolles, a wise and learned man; he seemed much to scruple the casting off of the Lords, and was troubled at it. Yet he greatly en couraged me to attend the House of Commons, notwithstanding the present force upon them, which could not dispense with their attendance and performance of their duty who had no force upon them.”— Whit. 367, 368. Cromwell was so well pleased, that he and Ireton, his sonin-law, went home with the Lord Commissioner to supper, "where," says Whitelock, "they were very cheerful, and seemed extremely well pleased. We discoursed together till twelve at night, and they told me wonderful observations of God's providence in the affairs of the war, and in the business of the army's coming to London and seizing the members of the House, in all which were miraculous passages. As they went home from my house their coach was stopped, and they examined by the guards, to whom they told their names; but the captain of the guards would not believe them, and threatened to carry these two great officers to the court of guard. Ireton grew a little angry, but Cromwell was cheerful with the soldiers, gave them twenty shillings, and commended them and their captain for doing their duty." * Whit. Mem. 384. CHAP. LXIX. CHAPTER LXX. СНАР. Judge. LORDS KEEPERS FROM THE ADOPTION OF THE REPUBLICAN GREAT THERE were nominally three Lords Commissioners of the Great Seal, but Whitelock was chiefly looked to; and it is Whitelock allowed that, though sometimes much harrassed by his colas Equity leagues, he presided in the Court of Chancery with great impartiality and ability. He was powerfully assisted by Lenthal, who continued Master of the Rolls as well as Speaker, and though occupied at Westminster in the morning, held sittings in the evening at his official house in Chancery Lane. Ordinance to make That the example which the parliament had set might not forgery of be imitated, an act was passed to make it high treason to Republican counterfeit the new Great Seal.* Great Seal treason. Ceremony of approving the Lord Mayor. The Lords Commissioners were ordered "to take care that all indictments, outlawries, and other acts against any person for adhering to the parliament remaining upon record be searched out, taken off the file, cancelled, and burnt, as things scandalous and void."† While Cromwell was engaged in his Scotch and Irish campaigns, the march of government was smooth and regular in London, and the holders of the Great Seal were engaged in few transactions which require our notice. On the 5th of April, 1649, they were ordered to assist at the solemnity of the Lord Mayor-elect being presented to the House of Commons for approbation, when Lord Commissioner Whitelock, taking the purse containing the Great Seal by one corner, and Lord Commissioner Lisle by the other, they carried it up, making obeisances to the Speaker, and laid it on the table, both being in their black velvet gowns; but they were not allowed, as in times of royalty, to express ↑ Whit. 449. * Scobell's Acts, a. D. 1649, c. 44. |