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5000 men, the last remnant of the royal army, and a plentifil supply of stores and provisions had been collected in contemplation of another campaign. A stout resistance might have been made; but without the possibility of relief, it must have been hopeless, and all deliberation on the subject was put an end to by an order from the King addressed to the Governors of Oxford, Lichfield, Worcester, and Wallingford, the only places in the kingdom that still held out for him, whereby "the more to evidence the reality of his intentions of settling a happy and firm peace, he required them upon honourable terms to quit those places, and to disband all the forces under their command."

The terms for the surrender of Oxford were negotiated by Lane. He wished much to have inserted an article, stipulating that he should have leave to carry away with him the Great Seal, the badge of his office, together with the Seals of the other Courts of justice, and the swords of state, which had been brought to Oxford; but to this Fairfax most peremptorily objected, under the express orders of the parliament, by whom they were considered the emblems of sovereignty. Rather than stand the horrors of an assault, Lane signed the capitulation, by which the Seals, along with the swords of state, were all delivered up."

On the 3rd of July, the parliament with loud exultation received a letter from Fairfax, signifying that he had sent by the Judge Advocate of the army the several seals and swords of state, surrendered at Oxford, under the fourth article of the treaty, to be disposed of as the two Houses should direct, and an order was immediately made, "that the King's Great Seal, sent by the general from Oxon, be defaced and broken." In the mean time, those seals were all delivered to Speaker Lenthal, to remain in his custody till the House should call for them.

The ceremony of breaking the King's Great Seal took place with much parade on the 11th of August, the day fixed for

9 "Articles of agreement concluded and agreed on by his Excellency Sir Thomas Fairfax, Knt., general of the forces raised by the parliament, on the one party, and the Right Honourable Sir Richard Lane, Knt., Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England, &c., for and concerning the rendering of the garrison of Oxford."

Art. IV. "That the seals called the Great

Seal, Privy Seal, the signets, and the seals of the King's Bench, Exchequer, Court of Wards, Duchy, Admiralty, and Prerogative, as also the swords of state, shall at such time and in the presence of two such persons as the General Sir Thomas Fairfax shall appoint, be locked up in a chest, and left in the public library."- Whit. Mem. 210.

A.D. 1646.

CLOSE OF HIS CAREER.

311

the installation of the parliamentary Lord Keeper. Lenthal, appearing at the head of the Commons, produced it at the bar of the Lords. A smith being then sent for, it was by him openly defaced and broken, amidst much cheering,-and the fragments were equally divided between the Speakers of the two Houses.

I should have been delighted to relate that Charles's last Lord Keeper lived in an honourable retirement during the rule of those whom he considered rebels and usurpers, and survived to see the restoration of the monarchy under the son of his sainted Master; but I regret to say that I can find no authentic trace of him after the capitulation of Oxford. From the language of Lord Clarendon, it might be inferred that he did not long survive that misfortune,' while others represent that he followed Prince Charles to the Continent, and died in exile."

Considering Sir Richard Lane's spotless integrity, and his uniform adherence to his principles, notwithstanding his comparative obscurity and his poverty, he is more to be honoured than many of his predecessors and successors who have left behind them a brilliant reputation, with ample possessions and high dignities to their posterity.

Although the life of Charles was prolonged near two years and a half from the time when Lane surrendered the Great Seal to the parliament, yet he never appointed another Chancellor or Lord Keeper, and his reign may be considered as having then closed. We must therefore now take a short retrospect of the changes which the law underwent while he was upon the throne.

In consequence of the abrupt dissolution and long intermission of parliaments, only fifty-one public acts were added to the statute-book in this reign, and by none of these was the letter of the law materially altered. But an unspeakable im

Hist. Reb. part iii. 778.

s By the kindness of my friends at the Heralds' Office, I am now enabled to clear up this difficulty. There is extant a commission to the Lady Margaret, his widow, dated 22 April, 1651, to administer to his effects, stating that he had died in France.

Lady Margaret survived until 1669, when she was buried in Kingsthorpe Church, where there is this inscription :

"Here lieth the body of the Lady Margaret Lane, late wife to the Right Honorable Sir Richard Lane, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England to K. Charles the First and K. Charles the Second; who dyed in his banyshment for his loyalty to the Crown. She departed the 22 day of April, 1669."

See Brydge's Hist. of Northampton, i. 412.

provement was introduced into the practical administration of justice by the suppression of the Star Chamber. Not only was the pretension of legislating by proclamation gone with the power of enforcing it, but trial by jury was secured to all who were charged with common-law offences, and there was much less danger of cruelty in the infliction of discretionary punishment when the sentence was not to be pronounced by the ministers of the Crown, who had instituted the prosecution, and who tried to outbid each other for royal favour by the severity they displayed.

The King, on the petition of the two Houses, agreed to make out the Judges' patents quamdiu se bene gesserint, instead of durante bene placito; but this concession, not being secured by statute, was disregarded by his sons, and the independence of the Judges was not properly provided for till the reign of King William III." There is no ground, however, for the vulgar error, that the Judges were all removable at the will of the Sovereign till the reign of King George III., who, in reality, acquired his popularity on this subject merely by taking away the power of his successors on their first coming to the throne.

X

The Triennial Act was a noble law, and framed for the real benefit of the Crown as well as of the public, notwithstanding the stringent clauses authorising elections, on a certain contingency, without the King's writ. Had it not been inconsiderately repealed by Lord Clarendon, the Stuart dynasty might long have ruled over England.

Considering the insane conduct of the Bishops during the first two Stuart reigns, so severely condemned by Lord Clarendon and all true friends of the monarchy, it is not wonderful that the act should have passed for depriving them of their seats in the House of Lords: but I cannot consider this a permanent improvement in the constitution; for hereditary honours and wealth are so enervating, that the Upper House could scarcely maintain its position without the infusion of fresh blood from the church as well as the law; and by reason of the talents and character of the right reverend bench, its proceedings are more effective and more respected. I therefore rejoice that this act was condemned at the Restoration, and I trust that there never will be occasion for repealing the act by which it was repealed.

The Courts of common law were filled with able Judges in

u 13 W. 3, c. 2.

x 16 Car. 1, c. 7.

y 16 Car. 1, c. 27.

CHAP. LXVII.

DURING THE REIGN OF CHARLES I.

313

this reign, but their decisions are badly reported by Crooke, and others still more loose and indiscriminating; and till Saunders arose, there was no legitimate successor of Plowden and Coke.

Equity as a system made little progress. Coventry was contented to dispose of each case that came before him according to his notions of what was right, without laying down any broad general principles; and Finch, Littleton, and Lane were too much occupied with political broils to think of judicial improvement."

z See Tothill; Nelson's Chancery; Reports in Chancery, vol. i.; Godbolt's Reports; Popham's Reports.

CHAPTER LXVIII.

LORD KEEPERS OF THE PARLIAMENTARY GREAT SEAL DURING THE COMMONWEALTH, TILL THE FIRST APPOINTMENT OF LORD COMMIS

SIONER WHITELOCK.

A.D. 1642.

WHEN Lord Keeper Littleton fled to York in May, 1642, the parliamentary leaders were thrown into perplexity. Knowing the importance of the Great Seal, they had cultivated him very assiduously, and, from his vote upon the militia ordinance, they believed he had so completely committed himself against the Court, that he must remain entirely under their control. After that occurrence, the precaution they had contemplated of ordering the Great Seal to be kept in some secure place, appeared unnecessary. They were thus quite unprepared for the misfortune of this machine of government being transferred from them to the King.

While he now had the advantage of duly issuing whatever grants, commissions, or proclamations he might think proper, they foresaw that the administration of justice would be materially impeded in the metropolis,-that they could not even have new elections to fill up vacancies in the House of Commons,—and that they could not do any act of state to which the Great Seal was necessary. Having assumed the exercise of supreme power, their policy was to carry on the government in the King's name, according to the forms of the constitution.

Encouraged by Littleton's submissive petition to the House of Lords, they thought it possible that he might be playing a double part; and, by way of experiment, they sent some "proclamation writs" to Nottingham, where he then was with the King, about the time when the royal standard was first raised there, and he was required to seal them according to the duty of his office.

Littleton, still dreading an open rupture with the parliament, as an equivocating excuse wrote the following letter to the clerk of the Crown in Chancery:-" Sir, I could not seal the proclamation writs you sent unto me from the Lords,

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