uld
be judged indispensably necessary for the welfare of the nation. The
commons returning to their house, immediately passed a vote of thanks
to his majesty, and made an order that his speech should be taken into
consideration. After the throne had been declared vacant by a small
majority of the peers, those who opposed that measure had gradually
withdrawn themselves from the house, so that very few remained but such
as were devoted to the new monarch. These therefore brought in a bill
for preventing all disputes concerning the present parliament. In the
meantime, Mr. Hambden, in the lower house, put the question, Whether
a king elected by the lords spiritual and temporal, and the commons
assembled at Westminster, | coming to and consulting with the said lords
and commons, did not make as complete a parliament and legislative
power and authority as if the said king should cause new elections to
be made by writ? Many members affirmed that the king's writ was as
necessary as his presence to the being of a legal parliament, and as the
convention was defective in this particular, it could not be vested
with a parliamentary authority by any management whatsoever. The whigs
replied, That the essence of a parliament consisted in the meeting
and co-operation of the king, lords, and commons; and that it was not
material whether they were convoked by writ or by letter: they proved
this assertion by examples deduced from the history of England: they
observed that a new election would be attended with great trouble,
expense, and loss of time; and that such delay might prove fatal to
the protestant interest in Ireland, as well as to the allies on the
continent. In the midst of this debate the bill was brought down from
the lords, and being read, a committee was appointed to make some
amendments. These were no sooner made than the commons sent it back to
the upper house, and it immediately received the royal assent. By this
act the lords and commons assembled at Westminster were declared the two
houses of parliament to all intents and purposes: it likewise ordained,
That the present act, and all other acts to which the royal assent
should be given before the next prorogation, should be understood and
adjudged in law to begin on the thirteenth day of February: that the
members, instead of the old oaths of allegiance and supremacy, should
take the new oath incorporated in this act under the ancient penalty;
and that the present parliam