nul an election
they had made in defiance of previous letters, and
return as members Robert Derknall (a member of the
royal household, _L. and P._, xv., pp. 563-5) and
John Brydges, M.P. for Canterbury in 1529-36,
instead of the two who had been unanimously chosen
by eighty electors on 11th May (_L. and P._, x.,
852). The Mayor thereupon assembled ninety-seven
citizens who "freely with one voice and without any
contradiction elected the aforesaid" (_ibid._, x.,
929). These very letters show that electors did
exercise a vote, and the fact that from 1534 to
1539 we find traces of pressure being put upon
them, affords some presumption that before the rise
of Cromwell, when we find no such traces no such
pressure was exerted. The most striking exception
must not be taken as the rule. See p. 317 _n._]

But, while Parliament was neither packed nor terrorised to any great
extent, the harmony which prevailed between it and the King has
naturally led to the charge of servility. Insomuch as it was servile
at all, Parliament faithfully represented its constituents; but the
mere coincidence between the wishes of Henry and those of Parliament
is no proof of servility.[733] That accusation can only be (p. 262)
substantiated by showing that Parliament did, not what it wanted, but
what it did not want, out of deference to Henry. And that has never
been proved. It has never been shown that the nation resented the
statutes giving Henry's proclamations the force of laws, enabling him
to settle the succession by will, or any of the other acts usually
adduced to prove the subservience of Parliament. When Henry was dead,
Protector Somerset secured the repeal of most of these laws, but he
lost his head for his pains. There is, indeed, no escape from the
conclusion that the English people then approved of a dictatorship,
and that Parliament was acting deliberately and voluntarily when it
made Henry dictator. It made him dictator because it felt that he
would do what it wanted, and better with, than without, extraordinary
powers. The fact that Parliament rejected some of Henry's measures is
strong presumption that it could have rejected m