Presented to both Houses of Parliament by Command of Her Majesty. PRINTED FOR HER MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE, PRINTERS TO THE QUEEN'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY. And to be purchased, either directly or through any Bookseller, from ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK, 6, NORTH BRIDGE, EDINBURGH; or 1889. [C.-5889.-11.] Price 2s. 14d. INTRODUCTION. THE present calendar begins with the first meeting of the Convention on 22nd January 1688-9. The Lords, as is known, had met in their own House, during the Interregnum, on December 22, 24 and 25, when they voted Addresses to the Prince of Orange, which were adopted by the Commons on the 27th, requesting him to undertake the administration of public affairs after James' flight, and to summon a Convention. The proceedings of this informal meeting, however, are not here recorded, beyond incidental references to an Order prompted, probably, by the recollection of the "Irish Night," for the removal of Papists, except householders, from London (No. 6), and a warrant, signed by Francis Gwyn, their Lordships' temporary clerk, for the committal to the Tower of the Earls of Salisbury and Peterborough, the latter of whom afterwards petitions the House for his release (No. 8). On 22 January, when both Houses assembled, the Lords, after reading a letter from the Prince, drew up an Address of thanks, which was agreed to by the Commons and presented to him at the Cockpit at Whitehall by the Dukes of Norfolk and Ormond (No. 5). On the 29th began the memorable debate on the Commons' resolution of the previous day, declaring the abdication of James and the vacancy of the Throne. The originals exist of two letters, which were read during these proceedings. One of these is the Prince's message to James, of Dec. 17, advising him to remove to Ham (No. 10b); the other is James' letter to the Lords, which was delivered on Feb. 2 by Lord Preston, but which the House refused to read. The text of the latter shows how garbled is the version given in James' Life (No. 11). The MS. Minutes record the opinions of the Judges on the questions propounded to them during the debate, as well as the tellers and results of the various divisions. A motion made during these proceedings "that when the House "is to be told, the Lords shall go on each side of the House to "be exactly counted, and not go below the Bar," seems to point to some confusion. At any rate, the numbers have been differently stated by different writers, and those given by Clarendon, U 54274. a 2 who himself acted as a teller, vary more than once from those taken down by the clerk. Nottingham's plan of a Regency, which the House refused to soften down by an amendment, giving the Regent only administrative power, was rejected by 51 to 48. On 4 February, the Lords, who had substituted the word "deserted" for "abdicated" and struck out the clause declaring the throne to be vacant, insisted on their first amendment by 55 to 51 and on their second one by a majority of only one (54 to 53), Nottingham being the teller, in this case, for the majority. With regard to both of these amendments the Lords ultimately gave way, but after doing so, they affirmed what they had previously negatived, when proposed as a compromise with respect to the vacancy of the Throne, by carrying by 65 to 45 a separate resolution, declaring the Prince and Princess to be King and Queen (No. 10). To this resolution the Commons added, as a preamble, the famous Declaration of Rights, in regard to which the Lords waived the amendments made after consulting their assistants, and which was read to the Prince and Princess on the 13th of February by the deputy clerk of the Parliaments, before Lord Halifax formally tendered them the Crown (No. 14). The Proclamation, prepared by the Lords, and agreed to by the Commons, was published the same day at Charing Cross (No. 15). All questions as to a general election were set at rest by the King's going in state to the House of Lords (18 Feb.) and addressing both Houses from the Throne (No. 16), and by the introduction of a Bill the same day, consisting originally of a single clause, declaring both Houses sitting since the 13th a Parliament, notwithstanding any want of writs of summons (No. 17). To this Bill the Royal Assent was given on the 23rd ; the Coronation did not follow till 11 April. The new Oaths for members, embodied first in the Declaration of Rights and added by the Lords to this Act in Committee, had been prepared in the first instance by a Sub-Committee, consisting of Nottingham, Delamere, Wharton, Rochester, and the Bishop of Peterborough ; the last named himself a non-juror. They were administered for the first time on 2 March, when three Bishops and 73 temporal peers, beginning with Danby, as Lord President, signed the new Roll (No. 4), as well as the Roll containing the Declaration in the Test Act of 1678. (No. 3.) The summons sent by Halifax, as Lord Speaker, requiring the Lords then absent to attend on the 18th, elicited a letter of excuse from Archbishop Sancroft at Lambeth, which he was ordered to be informed was "not satisfactory." The Bishop of St. David's pleaded ineffectually, as a reason for his absence, some "extraordinary business" caused by "the rabble" having seized his goods (No. 21). On the 9th there is a letter from the Bishop of Winchester, in reference to a complaint made in the House, that some ministers in his diocese had neglected to pray for William and Mary, as directed by the Order in Council. Leave was given to the Marquess of Winchester to bring in a Bill on the subject, but there the matter appears to have dropped (No. 29). The Act which settled the new Oaths for office-holders—a question complicated by the provisions of six different Statutes -originated also with the Lords, who, after partially considering a Commons' Bill for the same purpose (No. 38), resolved by 38 to 27 to proceed with their own. The history of this Act can be traced through all its stages, from its introduction as a Bill— so states the preamble-" for the better discovery of Popish "recusants and repressing all usurped and foreign power, and preserving the King and Queen's Majesties in their persons, "and the more assured support of the Government," to the more elaborate and stringent form which it assumed in the Statute book. Of the original Bill, simply substituting the new Oaths, as required from members, for those of Allegiance and Supremacy, nothing but the title was ultimately retained. The House, after instructing a Select Committee, of which Nottingham was chairman, to abolish the sacramental test, as a qualification for office, rejected the clause added for that purpose, and the clause empowering the King to tender the new Oaths, by means of Commissioners, to such as he should think fit, which had been inserted at Nottingham's instance, was also thrown out on report by 37 to 24. As to the form of the new Oaths and Declaration there was no disagreement, and both were adopted by the Lords from the Bill first sent up from the Commons. The Peers also declined to entertain a proviso exempting the members of their body from the special penalties imposed by the Act, and ultimately, in deference to the Commons, who insisted that the new Oaths should be tendered to all alike in open Court, waived the clause proposing that they should be tendered to the Lords at their own houses by two Deputy-Lieutenants, on their giving notice of their intention to take them. The final section of the Act, enabling the King to allow twelve of the non-juring clergy one-third of their benefices for their subsistence, was |