Cavalier Parliament
Encyclopedia
The Cavalier Parliament of England
lasted from 8 May 1661 until 24 January 1679. It was the longest English Parliament, enduring for nearly 18 years of the quarter century reign of Charles II of England
. Like its predecessor, the Convention Parliament, it was overwhelmingly Royalist
and is also known as the Pensioner Parliament for the many pension
s it granted to adherents of the King.
The first session of the Cavalier Parliament opened on May 8, 1661. Among the first orders of business was the confirmation of the acts of the previous year's irregular Convention of 1660 as legitimate (notably, the Indemnity and Oblivion Act
). Parliament immediately ordered the public burning of the Solemn League and Covenant
by a common hangman. It also repealed
the 1642 Bishops Exclusion Act, thereby allowing Church of England
bishops to resume their temporal positions, including their seats in the House of Lords
. Other notable pieces of first session legislation include the Militia Act
placing the armed forces unambiguously under the king's authority, and the Sedition Act. It also continued proceedings against the regicides of Charles I.
Later that same year (1661), Parliament passed the Corporation Act
, the first of a series of acts known as the Clarendon Code, to cement the episcopal Anglican church as the official church of England. The Clarendon code is normally given as the following four acts:
The Quaker Act 1662, specifically targeting Quakers, can also be cited as part of the new religious 'code'. In January 1661, the Fifth Monarchists
, anticipating the arrival of Jesus Christ to claim the throne, led a succession of revolts under the command of Vavasor Powell
and Thomas Venner
. To silence radical agitators and pamphleteers, Parliament passed the Licensing of the Press Act 1662
, instituting government censorship of the press.
On the economic legislation, the Cavalier parliament had a notable Mercantilist bent. To promote the English cloth industry, it outlawed the exportation of raw materials, like wool
, raw hides and fuller's clay
(1662) and forbade the importation of finished materials like lace
and embroidery
(1662). It repealed old domestic restrictions on linen
manufacturing (1663). To encourage the development of the American colonies
as raw material producers and consumers of English manufactured goods, the Cavalier parliament confirmed and reinforced the Navigation Act passed by the prior parliament in 1660, with the new Staple Act in 1663, requiring foreigners trading with the American colonies to transship their goods through English ports. Old corn laws
were adjusted to the advantage of English farmers: the old restrictions on the exportation of wheat was gradually relaxed, exportation becoming fully free in 1670 and even subsidized with bounties
after 1673; conversely the importation of wheat was restricted, the first prohibitive tariffs
on the importation of grains introduced in 1663 in a two-tier system, adjusted (1670) into a three-tier system based on current price. The importation of Irish cattle
into Britain was forbidden (1666), giving English beef producers a protected home market (in trade, Scotland was already excluded altogether, treated as a foreign country on par with France). To facilitate the overseas operations of the charter companies
, parliament inserted a clause into the 1663 Staple Act allowing the free exportation of coin and bullion
- over the vigorous opposition of Arthur Annesley (Earl Anglesey)
, the leading mercantilist in parliament. To encourage the inflow of gold and silver from abroad and into circulation, the Coinage Act 1666 abolished seignorage, and introduced free minting at the Royal Mint
.
The prior Convention of 1660 had promised King Charles II a generous annual revenue of £1.2 million, secured on customs duties and excise taxes. It was up to Cavalier parliament to ensure that the promise was kept. But in the first few years, the revenue fell short of the promised amount, and parliament had to look for new ways to make up for it. Parliament was responsible for the introduction of the controversial hearth tax (1662), with its unpopular and intrusive method of assessment (tax collectors had to go inside everyone's private homes to count hearth
s). Another problem also emerged at this time: the sudden rise in the number of paupers, which had catapulted with the demobilization of the army. It was feared they would migrate en masse to the better-off parish
es and swamp their social assistance programs. So, in another controversial piece of legislation, parliament changed the Elizabethan Poor Laws with the Act of Settlement and Removal
(1662), legally restricting the poor to seeking assistance in their own home parish.
Other significant and curious pieces of early legislation include the first licensing of hackney carriage
s (1662), an act against "excessive gaming" (1663) and a famous 1663 act authorizing the erection of toll gates
on the Great North Road
, the prelude to a series of acts to help finance road-building for highways.
In 1664, the Cavalier parliament amended the old Triennial Act so that it was now only suggested (rather than required) that the king summon a parliamentary session at least once every three years. In 1665, parliament met in Oxford
to escape the Great Plague of London
. The next year, in the aftermath of the Great Fire of London
which ravaged the city in September 1666, parliament set up a court to settle disputes between landlords and tenants of burned buildings (Fire of London Disputes Act 1666
), and passed a series of acts setting down regulations for rebuilding of the city (Rebuilding of London Act 1666
).
Mercantilist agitation had prompted parliament to support the Second Anglo-Dutch War
in 1665. But when the war turned out poorly in 1667, parliament decided to lay the blame on Charles II's chief minister Edward Hyde (Earl of Clarendon)
and the king's brother and lord admiral, James, Duke of York
. Parliament, echoing public belief, accused that the money voted for the war had been embezzled by court officers. Under pressure, Charles consented to setting up an independent commission for inquiry, but the verdict was inconclusive. Nonetheless, parliament decided to launch impeachment proceedings against Clarendon. Before these bore fruit, Clarendon went into exile.
Clarendon's departure opened the way for the rise of a new crop of young ministers, known as "the Cabal
", a loose ministerial coalition consisting of Clifford
, Arlington
, Buckingham
, Ashley, Lauderdale
. The beginnings of what is now called a cabinet
system began to emerge within the government. Sir George Downing
, who had long stressed parliamentary prerogative in tying expenditures to specific sources (rather than just voting for supply and letting the crown allocate as it saw fit), became secretary to the Treasury, and helped overhaul crown finances, finally putting them on a steady course.
Nonetheless, parliament was shocked when, in 1668, the Cabal announced the "Triple Alliance", which brought England into alliance with her recent enemy, the Dutch Republic
. Although a league of northern Protestant powers had some appeal, mercantilist sentiment in parliament was still very strong, and the Netherlands was still seen as the main threat to England. Disillusioned by the lukewarm reception, Charles II re-oriented his foreign policy and struck up the notorious secret Treaty of Dover in May 1670, allying England and Louis XIV's France, in a plan to dismember the Netherlands.
Despite their comparative energy and efficiency, the Cabal was a fractious and unpopular lot and their infighting spilled over publicly into parliament, particularly the House of Lords
. At this stage, the House of Commons
was de facto subservient to Lords, "managed from above" by the Lords' handlers, following their lead and echoing their quarrels. But Commons soon began to find its own voice. Finding the Cabal insufferable, Sir William Coventry
resigned as Secretary to the Admiralty and went back to the House of Commons, where he emerged in 1669 as the formidable leader of a group of parliamentarians known as the "Country Party" - a group of MPs held together by their suspicion of corruption in high places, suspicious of the king's dubious foreign policy and, increasingly, suspicious of his loyalty to Protestantism. The factions of a "party political" system thus gradually emerged in parliament, polarised between the Coventry-led "Country Party" (ancestral to the Whigs
) and the "Court Party" (supporters of the king's council, ancestral to the Tories).
The new self-assurance of Commons was felt in a quarrel that erupted during the 9th Session in 1670 between Lords and Commons, where Commons assailed the Lords' assumption that they had to the right to amend their revenue bills. Finding their handlers could no longer control Commons, and that the goodwill that had attended Charles II at the Restoration was wearing thin, the Cabal recommended doing without them, and persuaded Charles II to keep parliament out of session with repeated prorogations.
The Third Anglo-Dutch war
(begun in April 1672), however, soon forced Charles II's hand. While parliament was prorogued, the Cabal had unwisely engineered the "Great Stop of the Exchequer
" in January 1672, redirecting the revenues designated for the paying of government debt towards financing a new fleet for the upcoming war. The default prompted the goldsmith bankers of London to cease all further credit to the crown, forcing Charles II to finally call parliament again in early 1673 for its 10th Session to plead for funds. By this time, the war was not going very well, and English public sentiment, which had originally been itching for revenge on the hated Dutch, now swung firmly against it. Facing the Anglo-French onslaught, the Dutch republic had delivered itself into the hands of the charismatic young stadtholder William III of Orange, Charles's own nephew. English public opinion (encouraged by Dutch propaganda) embraced the image of the heroic young Protestant prince valiantly defying an "international Catholic conspiracy" (uncomfortably close to the truth, given the secret Treaty of Dover). The Cabal defended the war vigorously - Ashley making his famous "Delenda est Carthago
" speech before the House of Lords, comparing England to Rome and Holland to Carthage (an unusual classical reference for this audience). But Commons wanted to address a different item of business - the Declaration of Indulgence
that had been issued by Charles II during the recess in 1672 suspending penal laws on Dissenters
and Catholics. Parliament's opposition to this was not merely a spasm of religious intolerance. The Declaration effectively suspended a parliamentary act, and the MPs were eager to emphasize the constitutional point that an act which was passed in session could only be modified, suspended or repealed in session. They also saw religion as a means to break the hated Cabal - which contained both crypto-Catholics like Arlington and Clifford and crypto-Presbyterians like Ashley and Lauderdale. Parliament believed the Cabal had been responsible for keeping them out of session and counselling to king to govern without them. To that end, parliament used its purse-strings to force not only the repeal of the Declaration but also the passage of the first Test Act
in May 1673, requiring all office-holders to deny Catholic transubstantiation and take Anglican communion.
Following the Test Act, the members of the Cabal gradually resigned or were dismissed. Rather than submit to the Test, Clifford and, more significantly the king's own brother and heir apparent, James Duke of York, resigned their offices. James's refusal caught the public by surprise - it signalled the prospect that Charles II might be succeeded by a Catholic king. Through the late Summer of 1673, apprehension about James's Catholicism was the talk of the day. When the next session opened in October 1673, Ashley (now Earl of Shaftesbury), sensing the new mood, turned up at the House of Lords to loudly denounce the proposed marriage of James of York to the Catholic princess Mary of Modena
. The king angrily prorogued the session and dismissed Shaftesbury. Around that same time, Arlington and Buckingham fell into a quarrel, in the process of which the details of the secret Treaty of Dover were leaked to parliament, provoking a alarmed parliamentary inquiry. Arlington and Buckingham sheepishly appeared before the inquiry in January 1674, accusing each other of constructing the French alliance. His foreign policy in shambles, Charles II decided to pull England out of the controversial war. In February, Charles II took the unprecedented step of communicating the terms of the Treaty to Westminster
to parliament before it was signed.
With the fall of the Cabal (only Lauderdale lingered on in Scotland), Charles II turned to Thomas Osborne (Earl of Danby)
as his chief minister. The House of Commons, which had played a significant role in the events of 1673, was comparatively calmed by Danby's orthodox Anglican government and vigorous enforcement of the Test Act. But the drama now shifted to the House of Lords, where the dismissed Ashley-Shaftesbury, in alliance with the disgruntled Buckingham and George Savile (Viscount Halifax)
(Coventry's nephew), emerged as leader of the opposition to the government. William Coventry's Country Party gained strength with the adherence of talented MPs like William Russell
, William Cavendish
, Henry Powle
, Thomas Littleton
and John Birch
, and coordinated their actions in Commons closely with Shaftesbury's Lords.
Through the brief 12th Session of early 1674, Shaftesbury and his friends, flexing their new muscles, steered a slew of provocative bills in the House of Lords, e.g. expelling Catholics from London, forcing an oath that renounced the Pope, requiring royal family members to get parliamentary consent on marriage and how to raise their children, finally when Shaftesbury's clique begin considering bringing James of York on charges of high treason, Charles II quickly prorogued the session, preventing the session's act from being passed. The next year's sessions of 1675 went little better: Shaftesbury led an attempt to impeach Danby, following the defeat of Danby's proposed legislation to reinforce the Test Act with a new oath forswearing any attempt to "modify" the Church and State. The impeachment effort came to naught, but Danby responded to the opposition's new muscle with a strenuous effort to construct a "Court Party" in the House of Commons to counter the Country Party (Danby's generous bribes to MPs caused the Cavalier Parliament to also be known as the "Pensionary Parliament").
After these calamitous sessions, Charles II prorogued parliament in November 1675 and kept it out of session for the next fifteen months (the "Long Prorogation"). When parliament resumed in February 1677, it opened with a bang. Shaftesbury (joined by Buckingham, Salisbury and Wharton), proclaimed the session illegitimate, claiming that the "Long Prorogation" implied that parliament was effectively dissolved and that the king must call for new elections. This prospect alarmed the House of Commons, whose members (unlike Lords) risked losing their seats. The leaders of the Country Party in Commons believed their party would be strengthened by new elections, but were unable to persuade other members to follow suit. While the combative lords were sent to the Tower of London
for their challenge, Commons were only willing to agree that the long prorogation was probably unconstitutional, but that the session itself was not.
The session of 1677 had been called by Charles II to finance England's re-entry into the Franco-Dutch war
, which had been dragging on since England left in 1674, and hopefully get himself a seat at the peace table. Parliament was inclined, provided the king joined the Dutch side. To this end, Danby negotiated the marriage of James of York's eldest daughter Mary
to the Dutch Stadtholder William III of Orange. But parliament was unwilling to provide enough funds to raise an army. The memoirs of the French ambassador Paul Barillon d'Amoncourt
reveal extensive French communication (and bribery) of the MPs to delay supply - even Country Party leaders like Henry Powle
, William Harbord
and Thomas Littleton
were paid. This has led some historians to speculate that parliament's war-call was a bluff from the start, that they were more interested in denying the king a foreign policy victory and embarrassing Danby. Nonetheless, Charles II hurried things along in late 1677 by precipitiously signing a treaty with William III to re-enter the war, and presenting it to parliament as a fait accompli. The reluctant parliament was forced to cough up enough to dispatch an expeditionary force of around 15,000 troops under the Duke of Monmouth
to Flanders in May, 1678. But it was too late - the French and Dutch quickly wound up their negotiations (without England), and went on to sign the Treaties of Nijmegen
ending the war. In June, parliament quickly voted a sum to finance Charles II disbanding of the expeditionary force, but Charles II decided to use the money to maintain it instead for a few months longer, in the hope he might still affect the final treaty.
This humiliating conclusion to the king's war policy dragged the political reputation of the King and Danby to a low point, making them vulnerable when the Popish Plot
erupted in August and September 1678. When the 17th session opened that October, parliament was in a tremendously combative mood. Worked up by the Popish plot, they strengthened the Test Act with the Papists' Disabling Act excluding Catholics from parliament and court (James exempted). Parliament also demanded to know why the king had misapplied the June funds and was still maintaining the expeditionary force in Flanders. The session was finally wrecked when details emerged that, on Charles II's instructions, Danby had entered into secret negotiations with Louis XIV in early 1676, promising England would not re-enter the war on the Dutch side, negotations which had not been revealed during the 1677 debate. Parliament immediately impeached Danby, forcing Charles II to prorogue the session in December, 1678.
In the recess, Charles II entered into negotiations with Shaftesbury and other parliamentary leaders. In return for saving Danby from trial in the House of Lords, Charles II reluctantly agreed to their demands to finally dissolve parliament and call for new elections. The dissolution was announced on 24 January 1679, bringing the seemingly interminable Cavalier Parliament to its end.
After the elections, the new parliament - known as the Habeas Corpus Parliament
(or "First Exclusion Parliament") - was assembled in March, 1679.
in 1670 and held the speakership until 1671 (end of 9th Session), after which he was appointed the new Chief Baron of the Exchequer. At the opening of the 10th Session (February 1673), Job Charlton (MP Ludlow) was elected as the new speaker, but resigned after a month on account of ill-health. Sir Edward Seymour
(MP for Totnes and Treasurer of the Navy
) replaced him, and served as Speaker until the 1678 session, when the speakership went to the Sir Robert Sawyer
(MP for High Wycombe). But Sawyer resigned within weeks, also on account of health, and Seymour stepped in again as speaker until the end of the Cavalier parliament.
, the Commonwealth era was obliterated from the legal record, with the result that Charles II's regnal years
officially begin on January 30, 1649 (the death date of Charles I). The Cavalier parliament thus officially begins on the thirteenth year of Charles II's reign.
The Cavalier parliament went through seventeen sessions, although some sessions were broken up by adjournments and recesses (an "adjournment" only interrupts a session; a "prorogation" ends a session, a "dissolution" ends a parliament).
By English tradition, a parliamentary session passes only one public "act
", albeit an act with various "chapters". English legal statutes are cited by parliamentary session labeled by the regnal year
in which that session sat. So the citation "15 Charles II c.4" means "the fourth chapter of the act passed by the parliamentary session that sat in the 15th year of the reign of Charles II". Charles II's regnal year begins January 30, so if a single parliamentary session overlaps that date, it will usually be given a double label, e.g. "19 & 20 Charles II" (the session that sat from the 19th to the 20th year of Charles II's reign). If there are two sessions within the same regnal year, they are differentiated by a "Statute" suffix (e.g. 13 Charles II Stat.1 is a different session than 13 Charles II Stat. 2). Finally, some sessions were prorogued without passing an act, and thus have no legal statute label at all.
The legal titles of parliamentary sessions of the Cavalier parliament are as given in the two most prominent compilations of statutes - the popular Statutes at Large
(ed. Owen Ruffhead, 1762-65 or Danby Pickering 1762-66) and the official The Statutes of the Realm
(ed. John Raithby, 1819). We note where the title differs between the two compilations.
The session dates are sometimes incorrect in the rolls. This table largely follows the dating in Cobbett's Parliamentary History. (N.B. - In the 17th C., the English "legal year" began on March 25, so an act which is passed, say, on February 10, 1663 will be officially dated February 10, 1662". This can be a cause of confusion. Cobbett notes the double date by a hyphen 1662-63, with the latter number as the historical calendar year. The table below follows the regular calendar dates.)
For the acts of parliament passed in each session, see List of Acts of the Parliament of England, 1660–1699.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
lasted from 8 May 1661 until 24 January 1679. It was the longest English Parliament, enduring for nearly 18 years of the quarter century reign of Charles II of England
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
. Like its predecessor, the Convention Parliament, it was overwhelmingly Royalist
Cavalier
Cavalier was the name used by Parliamentarians for a Royalist supporter of King Charles I and son Charles II during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration...
and is also known as the Pensioner Parliament for the many pension
Pension
In general, a pension is an arrangement to provide people with an income when they are no longer earning a regular income from employment. Pensions should not be confused with severance pay; the former is paid in regular installments, while the latter is paid in one lump sum.The terms retirement...
s it granted to adherents of the King.
History
Indemnity and Oblivion Act
The Indemnity and Oblivion Act 1660 is an Act of the Parliament of England , the long title of which is "An Act of Free and General Pardon, Indemnity, and Oblivion"....
). Parliament immediately ordered the public burning of the Solemn League and Covenant
Solemn League and Covenant
The Solemn League and Covenant was an agreement between the Scottish Covenanters and the leaders of the English Parliamentarians. It was agreed to in 1643, during the First English Civil War....
by a common hangman. It also repealed
Clergy Act 1661
The Clergy Act 1661 was an Act of Parliament of the Parliament of England passed in 1661. It "repealed, annulled and made void to all intents and purposes" the Clergy Act 1640, which had prevented those in holy orders from exercising any temporal jurisdiction or authority...
the 1642 Bishops Exclusion Act, thereby allowing Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
bishops to resume their temporal positions, including their seats in the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
. Other notable pieces of first session legislation include the Militia Act
The King's Sole Right over the Militia Act 1661
The King's Sole Right over the Militia Act 1661 was an Act of the Parliament of England , long title "An Act declaring the sole Right of the Militia to be in King and for the present ordering & disposing the same." Following the English Civil War, this act finally declared that the king alone, as...
placing the armed forces unambiguously under the king's authority, and the Sedition Act. It also continued proceedings against the regicides of Charles I.
Later that same year (1661), Parliament passed the Corporation Act
Corporation Act 1661
The Corporation Act of 1661 is an Act of the Parliament of England . It belongs to the general category of test acts, designed for the express purpose of restricting public offices in England to members of the Church of England....
, the first of a series of acts known as the Clarendon Code, to cement the episcopal Anglican church as the official church of England. The Clarendon code is normally given as the following four acts:
- the Corporation Act 1661Corporation Act 1661The Corporation Act of 1661 is an Act of the Parliament of England . It belongs to the general category of test acts, designed for the express purpose of restricting public offices in England to members of the Church of England....
- the Act of Uniformity 1662Act of Uniformity 1662The Act of Uniformity was an Act of the Parliament of England, 13&14 Ch.2 c. 4 ,The '16 Charles II c. 2' nomenclature is reference to the statute book of the numbered year of the reign of the named King in the stated chapter...
- the Conventicle Act 1664Conventicle Act 1664The Conventicle Act of 1664 was an Act of the Parliament of England that forbade conventicles...
- the Five Mile Act 1665Five Mile Act 1665The Five Mile Act, or Oxford Act, or Nonconformists Act 1665, is an Act of the Parliament of England , passed in 1665 with the long title "An Act for restraining Non-Conformists from inhabiting in Corporations". It was one of the English penal laws that sought to enforce conformity to the...
The Quaker Act 1662, specifically targeting Quakers, can also be cited as part of the new religious 'code'. In January 1661, the Fifth Monarchists
Fifth Monarchists
The Fifth Monarchists or Fifth Monarchy Men were active from 1649 to 1661 during the Interregnum, following the English Civil Wars of the 17th century. They took their name from a prophecy in the Book of Daniel that four ancient monarchies would precede Christ's return...
, anticipating the arrival of Jesus Christ to claim the throne, led a succession of revolts under the command of Vavasor Powell
Vavasor Powell
Vavasor Powell was a Welsh Nonconformist Puritan preacher, evangelist, church leader and writer.-Life:He was born in Knucklas, Radnorshire and was educated at Jesus College, Oxford...
and Thomas Venner
Thomas Venner
Thomas Venner was a cooper and rebel who became the last leader of the Fifth Monarchy Men, who tried unsuccessfully to overthrow Oliver Cromwell in 1657, and subsequently led a coup in London against the newly-restored government of Charles II...
. To silence radical agitators and pamphleteers, Parliament passed the Licensing of the Press Act 1662
Licensing of the Press Act 1662
The Licensing of the Press Act 1662 is an Act of the Parliament of England , long title "An Act for preventing the frequent Abuses in printing seditious treasonable and unlicensed Bookes and Pamphlets and for regulating of Printing and Printing Presses." It was repealed by the Statute Law Revision...
, instituting government censorship of the press.
On the economic legislation, the Cavalier parliament had a notable Mercantilist bent. To promote the English cloth industry, it outlawed the exportation of raw materials, like wool
Wool
Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, vicuña, alpaca, camel from animals in the camel family, and angora from rabbits....
, raw hides and fuller's clay
Fuller's earth
Fuller's earth is any non-plastic clay or claylike earthy material used to decolorize, filter, and purify animal, mineral, and vegetable oils and greases.-Occurrence and composition:...
(1662) and forbade the importation of finished materials like lace
Lace
Lace is an openwork fabric, patterned with open holes in the work, made by machine or by hand. The holes can be formed via removal of threads or cloth from a previously woven fabric, but more often open spaces are created as part of the lace fabric. Lace-making is an ancient craft. True lace was...
and embroidery
Embroidery
Embroidery is the art or handicraft of decorating fabric or other materials with needle and thread or yarn. Embroidery may also incorporate other materials such as metal strips, pearls, beads, quills, and sequins....
(1662). It repealed old domestic restrictions on linen
Linen
Linen is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant, Linum usitatissimum. Linen is labor-intensive to manufacture, but when it is made into garments, it is valued for its exceptional coolness and freshness in hot weather....
manufacturing (1663). To encourage the development of the American colonies
British America
For American people of British descent, see British American.British America is the anachronistic term used to refer to the territories under the control of the Crown or Parliament in present day North America , Central America, the Caribbean, and Guyana...
as raw material producers and consumers of English manufactured goods, the Cavalier parliament confirmed and reinforced the Navigation Act passed by the prior parliament in 1660, with the new Staple Act in 1663, requiring foreigners trading with the American colonies to transship their goods through English ports. Old corn laws
Corn Laws
The Corn Laws were trade barriers designed to protect cereal producers in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland against competition from less expensive foreign imports between 1815 and 1846. The barriers were introduced by the Importation Act 1815 and repealed by the Importation Act 1846...
were adjusted to the advantage of English farmers: the old restrictions on the exportation of wheat was gradually relaxed, exportation becoming fully free in 1670 and even subsidized with bounties
Export subsidy
Export subsidy is a government policy to encourage export of goods and discourage sale of goods on the domestic market through low-cost loans or tax relief for exporters, or government financed international advertising or R&D. An export subsidy reduces the price paid by foreign importers, which...
after 1673; conversely the importation of wheat was restricted, the first prohibitive tariffs
Protectionism
Protectionism is the economic policy of restraining trade between states through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, restrictive quotas, and a variety of other government regulations designed to allow "fair competition" between imports and goods and services produced domestically.This...
on the importation of grains introduced in 1663 in a two-tier system, adjusted (1670) into a three-tier system based on current price. The importation of Irish cattle
Importation Act 1667
The Importation Act 1667 was an Act of the Parliament of England which banned Irish cattle from being sold in England...
into Britain was forbidden (1666), giving English beef producers a protected home market (in trade, Scotland was already excluded altogether, treated as a foreign country on par with France). To facilitate the overseas operations of the charter companies
Chartered company
A chartered company is an association formed by investors or shareholders for the purpose of trade, exploration and colonization.- History :...
, parliament inserted a clause into the 1663 Staple Act allowing the free exportation of coin and bullion
Precious metal
A precious metal is a rare, naturally occurring metallic chemical element of high economic value.Chemically, the precious metals are less reactive than most elements, have high lustre, are softer or more ductile, and have higher melting points than other metals...
- over the vigorous opposition of Arthur Annesley (Earl Anglesey)
Arthur Annesley, 1st Earl of Anglesey
Arthur Annesley, 1st Earl of Anglesey PC was an Anglo-Irish royalist statesman. After short periods as President of the Council of State and Treasurer of the Navy, he served as Lord Privy Seal between 1673 and 1682 for Charles II...
, the leading mercantilist in parliament. To encourage the inflow of gold and silver from abroad and into circulation, the Coinage Act 1666 abolished seignorage, and introduced free minting at the Royal Mint
Royal Mint
The Royal Mint is the body permitted to manufacture, or mint, coins in the United Kingdom. The Mint originated over 1,100 years ago, but since 2009 it operates as Royal Mint Ltd, a company which has an exclusive contract with HM Treasury to supply all coinage for the UK...
.
The prior Convention of 1660 had promised King Charles II a generous annual revenue of £1.2 million, secured on customs duties and excise taxes. It was up to Cavalier parliament to ensure that the promise was kept. But in the first few years, the revenue fell short of the promised amount, and parliament had to look for new ways to make up for it. Parliament was responsible for the introduction of the controversial hearth tax (1662), with its unpopular and intrusive method of assessment (tax collectors had to go inside everyone's private homes to count hearth
Hearth
In common historic and modern usage, a hearth is a brick- or stone-lined fireplace or oven often used for cooking and/or heating. For centuries, the hearth was considered an integral part of a home, often its central or most important feature...
s). Another problem also emerged at this time: the sudden rise in the number of paupers, which had catapulted with the demobilization of the army. It was feared they would migrate en masse to the better-off parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
es and swamp their social assistance programs. So, in another controversial piece of legislation, parliament changed the Elizabethan Poor Laws with the Act of Settlement and Removal
Poor Relief Act 1662
The Poor Relief Act 1662 was an Act of the Cavalier Parliament of England. It was an Act for the Better Relief of the Poor of this Kingdom and is also known as the Settlement Act or, more honestly, the Settlement and Removal Act. The purpose of the Act was to establish the parish to which a person...
(1662), legally restricting the poor to seeking assistance in their own home parish.
Other significant and curious pieces of early legislation include the first licensing of hackney carriage
Hackney carriage
A hackney or hackney carriage is a carriage or automobile for hire...
s (1662), an act against "excessive gaming" (1663) and a famous 1663 act authorizing the erection of toll gates
Toll road
A toll road is a privately or publicly built road for which a driver pays a toll for use. Structures for which tolls are charged include toll bridges and toll tunnels. Non-toll roads are financed using other sources of revenue, most typically fuel tax or general tax funds...
on the Great North Road
Great North Road (Great Britain)
The Great North Road was a coaching route used by mail coaches between London, York and Edinburgh. The modern A1 mainly follows the Great North Road. The inns on the road, many of which survive, were staging posts on the coach routes, providing accommodation, stabling for the horses and...
, the prelude to a series of acts to help finance road-building for highways.
In 1664, the Cavalier parliament amended the old Triennial Act so that it was now only suggested (rather than required) that the king summon a parliamentary session at least once every three years. In 1665, parliament met in Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
to escape the Great Plague of London
Great Plague of London
The Great Plague was a massive outbreak of disease in the Kingdom of England that killed an estimated 100,000 people, 20% of London's population. The disease is identified as bubonic plague, an infection by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, transmitted through a flea vector...
. The next year, in the aftermath of the Great Fire of London
Great Fire of London
The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through the central parts of the English city of London, from Sunday, 2 September to Wednesday, 5 September 1666. The fire gutted the medieval City of London inside the old Roman City Wall...
which ravaged the city in September 1666, parliament set up a court to settle disputes between landlords and tenants of burned buildings (Fire of London Disputes Act 1666
Fire of London Disputes Act 1666
The Fire of London Disputes Act 1666 was an Act of the Parliament of England with the long title "An Act for erecting a Judicature for Determination of Differences touching Houses burned or demolished by reason of the late Fire which happened in London." Following the Great Fire of London,...
), and passed a series of acts setting down regulations for rebuilding of the city (Rebuilding of London Act 1666
Rebuilding of London Act 1666
The Rebuilding of London Act 1666 is an Act of the Parliament of England with the long title "An Act for rebuilding the City of London." The Act was passed in the aftermath of the Great Fire of London and drawn up by Sir Matthew Hale. An earlier Act, the Fire of London Disputes Act 1666, had set...
).
Mercantilist agitation had prompted parliament to support the Second Anglo-Dutch War
Second Anglo-Dutch War
The Second Anglo–Dutch War was part of a series of four Anglo–Dutch Wars fought between the English and the Dutch in the 17th and 18th centuries for control over the seas and trade routes....
in 1665. But when the war turned out poorly in 1667, parliament decided to lay the blame on Charles II's chief minister Edward Hyde (Earl of Clarendon)
Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon
Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon was an English historian and statesman, and grandfather of two English monarchs, Mary II and Queen Anne.-Early life:...
and the king's brother and lord admiral, James, Duke of York
James II of England
James II & VII was King of England and King of Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII, from 6 February 1685. He was the last Catholic monarch to reign over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland...
. Parliament, echoing public belief, accused that the money voted for the war had been embezzled by court officers. Under pressure, Charles consented to setting up an independent commission for inquiry, but the verdict was inconclusive. Nonetheless, parliament decided to launch impeachment proceedings against Clarendon. Before these bore fruit, Clarendon went into exile.
Clarendon's departure opened the way for the rise of a new crop of young ministers, known as "the Cabal
Cabal Ministry
The Cabal Ministry refers to a group of high councillers of King Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland from 1668 to circa 1674.The term "Cabal" has a double meaning in this context. It refers to the fact that, for perhaps the first time in English history, effective power in a royal council...
", a loose ministerial coalition consisting of Clifford
Thomas Clifford, 1st Baron Clifford of Chudleigh
Thomas Clifford, 1st Baron Clifford of Chudleigh , English statesman and politician, was created the first Baron Clifford of Chudleigh on 22 April 1672 for his suggestion that the King supply himself with money by stopping, for one year, all payments out of the Exchequer.He was born in Ugbrooke,...
, Arlington
Henry Bennet, 1st Earl of Arlington
Henry Bennet, 1st Earl of Arlington KG, PC was an English statesman.- Background and early life :He was the son of Sir John Bennet of Dawley, Middlesex, and of Dorothy Crofts. He was the younger brother of John Bennet, 1st Baron Ossulston; his sister was Elizabeth Bennet who married Robert Kerr,...
, Buckingham
George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham
George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, 20th Baron de Ros of Helmsley, KG, PC, FRS was an English statesman and poet.- Upbringing and education :...
, Ashley, Lauderdale
John Maitland, 1st Duke of Lauderdale
Sir John Maitland, 1st Duke and 2nd Earl of Lauderdale, 3rd Lord Thirlestane KG PC , was a Scottish politician, and leader within the Cabal Ministry.-Background:...
. The beginnings of what is now called a cabinet
Cabinet (government)
A Cabinet is a body of high ranking government officials, typically representing the executive branch. It can also sometimes be referred to as the Council of Ministers, an Executive Council, or an Executive Committee.- Overview :...
system began to emerge within the government. Sir George Downing
Sir George Downing, 1st Baronet
Sir George Downing, 1st Baronet was an Anglo-Irish soldier, statesman, and diplomat. Downing Street in London is named after him. As Treasury Secretary he is credited with instituting major reforms in public finance. His influence was substantial on the passage and substance of the mercantilist...
, who had long stressed parliamentary prerogative in tying expenditures to specific sources (rather than just voting for supply and letting the crown allocate as it saw fit), became secretary to the Treasury, and helped overhaul crown finances, finally putting them on a steady course.
Nonetheless, parliament was shocked when, in 1668, the Cabal announced the "Triple Alliance", which brought England into alliance with her recent enemy, the Dutch Republic
Dutch Republic
The Dutch Republic — officially known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , the Republic of the United Netherlands, or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces — was a republic in Europe existing from 1581 to 1795, preceding the Batavian Republic and ultimately...
. Although a league of northern Protestant powers had some appeal, mercantilist sentiment in parliament was still very strong, and the Netherlands was still seen as the main threat to England. Disillusioned by the lukewarm reception, Charles II re-oriented his foreign policy and struck up the notorious secret Treaty of Dover in May 1670, allying England and Louis XIV's France, in a plan to dismember the Netherlands.
Despite their comparative energy and efficiency, the Cabal was a fractious and unpopular lot and their infighting spilled over publicly into parliament, particularly the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
. At this stage, the House of Commons
House of Commons of England
The House of Commons of England was the lower house of the Parliament of England from its development in the 14th century to the union of England and Scotland in 1707, when it was replaced by the House of Commons of Great Britain...
was de facto subservient to Lords, "managed from above" by the Lords' handlers, following their lead and echoing their quarrels. But Commons soon began to find its own voice. Finding the Cabal insufferable, Sir William Coventry
William Coventry
-Early life and Civil War:William was the son of the lord keeper Thomas Coventry, 1st Baron Coventry, by his second wife Elizabeth Aldersley. Coventry matriculated at Queens College, Oxford, at the age of fourteen...
resigned as Secretary to the Admiralty and went back to the House of Commons, where he emerged in 1669 as the formidable leader of a group of parliamentarians known as the "Country Party" - a group of MPs held together by their suspicion of corruption in high places, suspicious of the king's dubious foreign policy and, increasingly, suspicious of his loyalty to Protestantism. The factions of a "party political" system thus gradually emerged in parliament, polarised between the Coventry-led "Country Party" (ancestral to the Whigs
British Whig Party
The Whigs were a party in the Parliament of England, Parliament of Great Britain, and Parliament of the United Kingdom, who contested power with the rival Tories from the 1680s to the 1850s. The Whigs' origin lay in constitutional monarchism and opposition to absolute rule...
) and the "Court Party" (supporters of the king's council, ancestral to the Tories).
The new self-assurance of Commons was felt in a quarrel that erupted during the 9th Session in 1670 between Lords and Commons, where Commons assailed the Lords' assumption that they had to the right to amend their revenue bills. Finding their handlers could no longer control Commons, and that the goodwill that had attended Charles II at the Restoration was wearing thin, the Cabal recommended doing without them, and persuaded Charles II to keep parliament out of session with repeated prorogations.
The Third Anglo-Dutch war
Third Anglo-Dutch War
The Third Anglo–Dutch War or Third Dutch War was a military conflict between England and the Dutch Republic lasting from 1672 to 1674. It was part of the larger Franco-Dutch War...
(begun in April 1672), however, soon forced Charles II's hand. While parliament was prorogued, the Cabal had unwisely engineered the "Great Stop of the Exchequer
Great Stop of the Exchequer
The Great Stop of the Exchequer or Stop of the Exchequer was a repudiation of state debt that occurred in England in 1672 under the reign of Charles II of England....
" in January 1672, redirecting the revenues designated for the paying of government debt towards financing a new fleet for the upcoming war. The default prompted the goldsmith bankers of London to cease all further credit to the crown, forcing Charles II to finally call parliament again in early 1673 for its 10th Session to plead for funds. By this time, the war was not going very well, and English public sentiment, which had originally been itching for revenge on the hated Dutch, now swung firmly against it. Facing the Anglo-French onslaught, the Dutch republic had delivered itself into the hands of the charismatic young stadtholder William III of Orange, Charles's own nephew. English public opinion (encouraged by Dutch propaganda) embraced the image of the heroic young Protestant prince valiantly defying an "international Catholic conspiracy" (uncomfortably close to the truth, given the secret Treaty of Dover). The Cabal defended the war vigorously - Ashley making his famous "Delenda est Carthago
Carthago delenda est
"Carthago delenda est" or the fuller "Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam" or "Ceterum autem censeo, Carthaginem esse delendam" are Latin political phrases which were popular in the Roman Republic during the latter years of the Punic Wars against Carthage...
" speech before the House of Lords, comparing England to Rome and Holland to Carthage (an unusual classical reference for this audience). But Commons wanted to address a different item of business - the Declaration of Indulgence
Royal Declaration of Indulgence
The Royal Declaration of Indulgence was Charles II of England's attempt to extend religious liberty to Protestant nonconformists and Roman Catholics in his realms, by suspending the execution of the penal laws that punished recusants from the Church of England...
that had been issued by Charles II during the recess in 1672 suspending penal laws on Dissenters
Nonconformism
Nonconformity is the refusal to "conform" to, or follow, the governance and usages of the Church of England by the Protestant Christians of England and Wales.- Origins and use:...
and Catholics. Parliament's opposition to this was not merely a spasm of religious intolerance. The Declaration effectively suspended a parliamentary act, and the MPs were eager to emphasize the constitutional point that an act which was passed in session could only be modified, suspended or repealed in session. They also saw religion as a means to break the hated Cabal - which contained both crypto-Catholics like Arlington and Clifford and crypto-Presbyterians like Ashley and Lauderdale. Parliament believed the Cabal had been responsible for keeping them out of session and counselling to king to govern without them. To that end, parliament used its purse-strings to force not only the repeal of the Declaration but also the passage of the first Test Act
Test Act
The Test Acts were a series of English penal laws that served as a religious test for public office and imposed various civil disabilities on Roman Catholics and Nonconformists...
in May 1673, requiring all office-holders to deny Catholic transubstantiation and take Anglican communion.
Following the Test Act, the members of the Cabal gradually resigned or were dismissed. Rather than submit to the Test, Clifford and, more significantly the king's own brother and heir apparent, James Duke of York, resigned their offices. James's refusal caught the public by surprise - it signalled the prospect that Charles II might be succeeded by a Catholic king. Through the late Summer of 1673, apprehension about James's Catholicism was the talk of the day. When the next session opened in October 1673, Ashley (now Earl of Shaftesbury), sensing the new mood, turned up at the House of Lords to loudly denounce the proposed marriage of James of York to the Catholic princess Mary of Modena
Mary of Modena
Mary of Modena was Queen consort of England, Scotland and Ireland as the second wife of King James II and VII. A devout Catholic, Mary became, in 1673, the second wife of James, Duke of York, who later succeeded his older brother Charles II as King James II...
. The king angrily prorogued the session and dismissed Shaftesbury. Around that same time, Arlington and Buckingham fell into a quarrel, in the process of which the details of the secret Treaty of Dover were leaked to parliament, provoking a alarmed parliamentary inquiry. Arlington and Buckingham sheepishly appeared before the inquiry in January 1674, accusing each other of constructing the French alliance. His foreign policy in shambles, Charles II decided to pull England out of the controversial war. In February, Charles II took the unprecedented step of communicating the terms of the Treaty to Westminster
Treaty of Westminster (1674)
The Treaty of Westminster of 1674 was the peace treaty that ended the Third Anglo-Dutch War. Signed by the Netherlands and England, it provided for the return of the colony of New Netherland to England and renewed the Treaty of Breda of 1667...
to parliament before it was signed.
With the fall of the Cabal (only Lauderdale lingered on in Scotland), Charles II turned to Thomas Osborne (Earl of Danby)
Thomas Osborne, 1st Duke of Leeds
Thomas Osborne, 1st Duke of Leeds, KG , English statesman , served in a variety of offices under Kings Charles II and William III of England.-Early life, 1632–1674:The son of Sir Edward Osborne, Bart., of Kiveton, Yorkshire, Thomas Osborne...
as his chief minister. The House of Commons, which had played a significant role in the events of 1673, was comparatively calmed by Danby's orthodox Anglican government and vigorous enforcement of the Test Act. But the drama now shifted to the House of Lords, where the dismissed Ashley-Shaftesbury, in alliance with the disgruntled Buckingham and George Savile (Viscount Halifax)
George Savile, 1st Marquess of Halifax
George Savile, 1st Marquess of Halifax PC was an English statesman, writer, and politician.-Family and early life, 1633–1667:...
(Coventry's nephew), emerged as leader of the opposition to the government. William Coventry's Country Party gained strength with the adherence of talented MPs like William Russell
William Russell, Lord Russell
William Russell, Lord Russell was an English politician. He was a leading member of the Country Party, forerunners of the Whigs, who opposed the succession of James II during the reign of Charles II, ultimately resulting in his execution for treason.-Early life and marriage:Russell was the third...
, William Cavendish
William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Devonshire
William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Devonshire KG PC was a soldier and Whig statesman, the son of William Cavendish, 3rd Earl of Devonshire and Lady Elizabeth Cecil.-Life:...
, Henry Powle
Henry Powle
Henry Powle was Speaker of the House of Commons of England from January 1689 to February 1689. He was also Master of the Rolls and represented the constituency of Windsor...
, Thomas Littleton
Sir Thomas Littleton, 2nd Baronet
Sir Thomas Littleton, 2nd Baronet was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons variously between 1640 and 1681....
and John Birch
John Birch (soldier)
Colonel John Birch was a soldier in the English civil war and later Member of parliament for Leominster and Weobley, Herefordshire....
, and coordinated their actions in Commons closely with Shaftesbury's Lords.
After these calamitous sessions, Charles II prorogued parliament in November 1675 and kept it out of session for the next fifteen months (the "Long Prorogation"). When parliament resumed in February 1677, it opened with a bang. Shaftesbury (joined by Buckingham, Salisbury and Wharton), proclaimed the session illegitimate, claiming that the "Long Prorogation" implied that parliament was effectively dissolved and that the king must call for new elections. This prospect alarmed the House of Commons, whose members (unlike Lords) risked losing their seats. The leaders of the Country Party in Commons believed their party would be strengthened by new elections, but were unable to persuade other members to follow suit. While the combative lords were sent to the Tower of London
Tower of London
Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...
for their challenge, Commons were only willing to agree that the long prorogation was probably unconstitutional, but that the session itself was not.
The session of 1677 had been called by Charles II to finance England's re-entry into the Franco-Dutch war
Franco-Dutch War
The Franco-Dutch War, often called simply the Dutch War was a war fought by France, Sweden, the Bishopric of Münster, the Archbishopric of Cologne and England against the United Netherlands, which were later joined by the Austrian Habsburg lands, Brandenburg and Spain to form a quadruple alliance...
, which had been dragging on since England left in 1674, and hopefully get himself a seat at the peace table. Parliament was inclined, provided the king joined the Dutch side. To this end, Danby negotiated the marriage of James of York's eldest daughter Mary
Mary II of England
Mary II was joint Sovereign of England, Scotland, and Ireland with her husband and first cousin, William III and II, from 1689 until her death. William and Mary, both Protestants, became king and queen regnant, respectively, following the Glorious Revolution, which resulted in the deposition of...
to the Dutch Stadtholder William III of Orange. But parliament was unwilling to provide enough funds to raise an army. The memoirs of the French ambassador Paul Barillon d'Amoncourt
Paul Barillon
Paul Barillon d'Amoncourt, the marquis de Branges was the French ambassador to England from 1677 to 1688. His dispatches from England to Louis XIV have been useful to historians of the period, though an expected bias may be present...
reveal extensive French communication (and bribery) of the MPs to delay supply - even Country Party leaders like Henry Powle
Henry Powle
Henry Powle was Speaker of the House of Commons of England from January 1689 to February 1689. He was also Master of the Rolls and represented the constituency of Windsor...
, William Harbord
William Harbord (politician)
William Harbord , of Grafton Park, was an English politician and diplomat.-Life:Harbord was the second son of Sir Charles Harbord of Charing Cross, who had been surveyor-general to Charles I...
and Thomas Littleton
Sir Thomas Littleton, 2nd Baronet
Sir Thomas Littleton, 2nd Baronet was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons variously between 1640 and 1681....
were paid. This has led some historians to speculate that parliament's war-call was a bluff from the start, that they were more interested in denying the king a foreign policy victory and embarrassing Danby. Nonetheless, Charles II hurried things along in late 1677 by precipitiously signing a treaty with William III to re-enter the war, and presenting it to parliament as a fait accompli. The reluctant parliament was forced to cough up enough to dispatch an expeditionary force of around 15,000 troops under the Duke of Monmouth
James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth
James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, 1st Duke of Buccleuch, KG, PC , was an English nobleman. Originally called James Crofts or James Fitzroy, he was born in Rotterdam in the Netherlands, the eldest illegitimate son of Charles II and his mistress, Lucy Walter...
to Flanders in May, 1678. But it was too late - the French and Dutch quickly wound up their negotiations (without England), and went on to sign the Treaties of Nijmegen
Treaties of Nijmegen
The Treaties of Peace of Nijmegen were a series of treaties signed in the Dutch city of Nijmegen between August 1678 and December 1679...
ending the war. In June, parliament quickly voted a sum to finance Charles II disbanding of the expeditionary force, but Charles II decided to use the money to maintain it instead for a few months longer, in the hope he might still affect the final treaty.
This humiliating conclusion to the king's war policy dragged the political reputation of the King and Danby to a low point, making them vulnerable when the Popish Plot
Popish Plot
The Popish Plot was a fictitious conspiracy concocted by Titus Oates that gripped England, Wales and Scotland in Anti-Catholic hysteria between 1678 and 1681. Oates alleged that there existed an extensive Catholic conspiracy to assassinate Charles II, accusations that led to the execution of at...
erupted in August and September 1678. When the 17th session opened that October, parliament was in a tremendously combative mood. Worked up by the Popish plot, they strengthened the Test Act with the Papists' Disabling Act excluding Catholics from parliament and court (James exempted). Parliament also demanded to know why the king had misapplied the June funds and was still maintaining the expeditionary force in Flanders. The session was finally wrecked when details emerged that, on Charles II's instructions, Danby had entered into secret negotiations with Louis XIV in early 1676, promising England would not re-enter the war on the Dutch side, negotations which had not been revealed during the 1677 debate. Parliament immediately impeached Danby, forcing Charles II to prorogue the session in December, 1678.
In the recess, Charles II entered into negotiations with Shaftesbury and other parliamentary leaders. In return for saving Danby from trial in the House of Lords, Charles II reluctantly agreed to their demands to finally dissolve parliament and call for new elections. The dissolution was announced on 24 January 1679, bringing the seemingly interminable Cavalier Parliament to its end.
After the elections, the new parliament - known as the Habeas Corpus Parliament
Habeas Corpus Parliament
The Habeas Corpus Parliament, also known as the First Exclusion Parliament, was a short-lived English Parliament which assembled on 6 March 1679 during the reign of Charles II of England, the third parliament of the King's reign. It is named after the Habeas Corpus Act, which it enacted in May,...
(or "First Exclusion Parliament") - was assembled in March, 1679.
Officers
In the first decade, the Speaker of the House of Commons was Sir Edward Turnour (MP for Hertford), who was elected by the first session in 1661. Turnour become Solicitor-GeneralSolicitor General for England and Wales
Her Majesty's Solicitor General for England and Wales, often known as the Solicitor General, is one of the Law Officers of the Crown, and the deputy of the Attorney General, whose duty is to advise the Crown and Cabinet on the law...
in 1670 and held the speakership until 1671 (end of 9th Session), after which he was appointed the new Chief Baron of the Exchequer. At the opening of the 10th Session (February 1673), Job Charlton (MP Ludlow) was elected as the new speaker, but resigned after a month on account of ill-health. Sir Edward Seymour
Sir Edward Seymour, 4th Baronet
Sir Edward Seymour, of Berry Pomeroy, 4th Baronet, MP was a British nobleman, and a Royalist and Tory politician.-Life:...
(MP for Totnes and Treasurer of the Navy
Treasurer of the Navy
The Treasurer of the Navy was an office in the British government between the mid-16th and early 19th century. The office-holder was responsible for the financial maintenance of the Royal Navy. The office was a political appointment, and frequently was held by up-and-coming young politicians who...
) replaced him, and served as Speaker until the 1678 session, when the speakership went to the Sir Robert Sawyer
Robert Sawyer (Attorney General)
Sir Robert Sawyer, of Highclere was the Attorney General for England and Wales and, briefly, Speaker of the English House of Commons....
(MP for High Wycombe). But Sawyer resigned within weeks, also on account of health, and Seymour stepped in again as speaker until the end of the Cavalier parliament.
Sessions
At the 1660 RestorationRestoration (1660)
The term Restoration in reference to the year 1660 refers to the restoration of Charles II to his realms across the British Empire at that time.-England:...
, the Commonwealth era was obliterated from the legal record, with the result that Charles II's regnal years
Regnal years of English monarchs
The following is a list of the official regnal years of the monarchs of the Kingdom of England , from 1066 to the present day...
officially begin on January 30, 1649 (the death date of Charles I). The Cavalier parliament thus officially begins on the thirteenth year of Charles II's reign.
The Cavalier parliament went through seventeen sessions, although some sessions were broken up by adjournments and recesses (an "adjournment" only interrupts a session; a "prorogation" ends a session, a "dissolution" ends a parliament).
By English tradition, a parliamentary session passes only one public "act
Acts of Parliament in the United Kingdom
An Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom is a type of legislation called primary legislation. These Acts are passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom at Westminster, or by the Scottish Parliament at Edinburgh....
", albeit an act with various "chapters". English legal statutes are cited by parliamentary session labeled by the regnal year
Regnal years of English monarchs
The following is a list of the official regnal years of the monarchs of the Kingdom of England , from 1066 to the present day...
in which that session sat. So the citation "15 Charles II c.4" means "the fourth chapter of the act passed by the parliamentary session that sat in the 15th year of the reign of Charles II". Charles II's regnal year begins January 30, so if a single parliamentary session overlaps that date, it will usually be given a double label, e.g. "19 & 20 Charles II" (the session that sat from the 19th to the 20th year of Charles II's reign). If there are two sessions within the same regnal year, they are differentiated by a "Statute" suffix (e.g. 13 Charles II Stat.1 is a different session than 13 Charles II Stat. 2). Finally, some sessions were prorogued without passing an act, and thus have no legal statute label at all.
The legal titles of parliamentary sessions of the Cavalier parliament are as given in the two most prominent compilations of statutes - the popular Statutes at Large
Statutes at Large
Statutes at Large is the name given to published collections or series of legislative Acts in a number of jurisdictions:-England and Great Britain:* The Statutes at Large:...
(ed. Owen Ruffhead, 1762-65 or Danby Pickering 1762-66) and the official The Statutes of the Realm
The Statutes of the Realm
The Statutes of the Realm is an authoritative collection of Acts of the Parliament of England from the earliest times to the Union of the Parliaments in 1707, and Acts of the Parliament of Great Britain passed up to the death of Queen Anne in 1714...
(ed. John Raithby, 1819). We note where the title differs between the two compilations.
The session dates are sometimes incorrect in the rolls. This table largely follows the dating in Cobbett's Parliamentary History. (N.B. - In the 17th C., the English "legal year" began on March 25, so an act which is passed, say, on February 10, 1663 will be officially dated February 10, 1662". This can be a cause of confusion. Cobbett notes the double date by a hyphen 1662-63, with the latter number as the historical calendar year. The table below follows the regular calendar dates.)
For the acts of parliament passed in each session, see List of Acts of the Parliament of England, 1660–1699.
| Session | Label | Start | End | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Session | 13 Charles II, Stat.1 | Mar 8, 1661 | Jun 30, 1661 | adjourned |
| 1st Session (cont'd) | 13 Cha. II Stat. 2 | Nov 20, 1661 | Dec 20, 1661 | adjourned |
| 1st Session (cont'd) | 13 & 14 Cha. II (S at Large) 14 Cha. II (S of Realm) |
Jan 7, 1662 | May 19, 1662 | prorogued |
| 2nd Session | 15 Cha. II | Feb 18, 1663 | Jul 27, 1663 | |
| 3rd Session | 16 Cha. II | Mar 16, 1664 | May 17, 1664 | |
| 4th Session | 16 & 17 Cha. II | Nov 24, 1664 | Mar 2, 1665 | |
| 5th Session | 17 Cha. II | Oct 9, 1665 | Oct 31, 1665 | Held at Oxford Oxford The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through... |
| 6th Session | 18 Cha. II (S at Large) 18 & 19 Cha. II (S of Realm) |
Sep 21, 1666 | Feb 8, 1667 | |
| 7th Session | 19 Cha. II (S at Large) 18 & 19/19 & 20 Cha. II (S of Realm) |
Oct 10, 1667 | Dec 19, 1667 | adjourned |
| 7th Session (cont'd) | 20 Cha. II (S at Large) 19 & 20 Cha. II (S of Realm) |
Feb 10, 1668 | May 9, 1668 | adjourned May 9, adjourned in recess, Aug 11 adjourned in recess, Nov 10 prorogued in recess, Mar 1, 1669 |
| 8th Session | N/A | Oct 19, 1669 | Dec 11, 1669 | No act passed, no label. |
| 9th Session | 22 Cha. II | Feb 14, 1670 | Apr 11, 1670 | adjourned |
| 9th Session (cont'd) | 22 & 23 Cha. II | Oct 24, 1670 | Apr 22, 1671 | prorogued Apr 22, 1671 next session prorogued in recess, Apr 16, 1672 next session prorogued in recess, October, 1672 |
| 10th Session | 25 Cha. II | Feb 4, 1673 | Mar 29, 1673 | adjourned, Mar 29 prorogued in recess, Oct 20 |
| 11th Session | N/A | Oct 27, 1673 | Nov 4, 1673 | No act passed, no label |
| 12th Session | N/A | Jan 7, 1674 | Feb 24, 1674 | No act passed, no label prorogued, Feb 24 next session prorogued in recess, Nov 10 |
| 13th Session | N/A | Apr 13, 1675 | Jun 5, 1675 | No act passed, no label |
| 14th Session | 27 Cha. II | Oct 13, 1675 | Nov 16, 1675 | "Long Prorogation" (15 months) |
| 15th Session | 29 Cha. II | Feb 15, 1677 | Apr 25, 1677 | adjourned |
| 15th Session (cont'd) | 29 & 30 Cha. II | Jan 28, 1678 | May 13, 1678 | |
| 16th Session | 30 Cha. II St. 1 | May 23, 1678 | Jun 20, 1678 | |
| 17th Session | 30 Cha. II St. 2 | Oct 21, 1678 | Dec 30, 1678 | prorogued, Dec 30 Parliament dissolved Jan 24, 1679. |
See also
- List of Acts of the Parliament of England, 1660–1699
- English RestorationEnglish RestorationThe Restoration of the English monarchy began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Interregnum that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms...
- List of Parliaments of England