the Bishop of Chichester, authorizing them to
appoint in his name a council of nine members; nor were they slow in
selecting for that purpose the most devoted of their adherents.

The powers given to this council were most extensive, and to be
exercised without control whenever the parliament was not sitting.
Besides the usual authority it possessed the appointment of all the
officers of state, of all the officers of the household, and of all
the governors of the royal castles. Three were ordered to be in
constant attendance on the King's person; all were to be summoned on
matters of great importance; and a majority of two-thirds was required
to give a sanction to their decisions. Hitherto the original committee
seemed to have been forgotten; but it was contrived that when the
council was so divided that the consent of two-thirds could not be
obtained, the question should be reserved for the determination of the
three electors, an artifice by which, under the modest pretence of
providing against dissension, they invested themselves with the
sovereign authority. By additional enactments it was provided that no
foreigner, though he might go or come, or reside peaceably, should be
employed under the government; that past offences should be mutually
forgiven; that the two charters, the provisions made the last year, in
consequence of the Statutes of Oxford, and all the ancient and
laudable customs of the realm, should be inviolably observed; and that
three prelates should be appointed to reform the state of the Church,
and to procure for the clergy, with the aid of the civil power if
necessary, full compensation for their losses during the late
troubles.

The earl was now in reality possessed of more extensive authority than
Henry had ever enjoyed; but he soon discovered that to retain the
object of his ambition would require the exertion of all his powers.
The cause of the captive monarch was ardently espoused by foreign
nations and by the sovereign pontiff. Adventurers from every province
of France crowded to the royal standard which Queen Eleanor had
erected at Damme in Flanders; and a numerous fleet assembled in the
harbor to transport to England the thousands who had sworn to humble
the pride of a disloyal and aspiring subject. To oppose them Leicester
had summoned to the camp on Barham downs, not only the King's military
tenants, but the whole force of the nation,[63] and, taking on himself
the command of the fleet