CHAP. It would be unjust to ascribe those difficulties II. to his misconduct they arose from causes over which he had no control, the original defect in his descent, the duration of his minority, the dissensions of his uncles, and the frequent recurrence of corporal debility, generally accompanied with the privation of reason. Some of these causes, however, gave birth to proceedings, most interesting to those who wish to investigate the principles of our ancient constitution. From them it appears that, though the king, in the case of temporary absence from the realm, might appoint a regent with delegated authority during his absence, yet he could not, without the concurrence of the three estates, provide for the government during the minority of his successor-that whenever the reigning monarch, either through extreme youth or mental disease, was incapable of performing the functions of royalty, the exercise of his authority devolved exclusively on the house of peers, who appointed the great officers of state and the members of the council, giving to them powers to transact the ordinary business of government, but resuming those powers, as often as they themselves were assembled either in parliament or in a great council; and that the recognition of these doctrines was required from the first princes of the blood, the dukes of Bedford, Glocester, and York, who at different times acknowledged that, during the king's minority 208 For II. or incapacity, they were entitled to no more CHAP. authority than any unless it were other peer, conferred upon them by the whole body." the same reason, when the succession to the crown was disputed, the claims of each party were brought before the house of lords, as the only legitimate tribunal, which possessed the authority to pronounce on so important a question. The commons neither presumed, nor would have been suffered, to interfere. They might indeed represent the urgency of the case to the upper house, might ask to be made acquainted with its resolutions, and, if an act of parliament were necessary, might give their assent; but the nomination of the protector and the counsellors was made, and their powers were determined by the peers alone: and the functions of the two houses were accurately distinguished in the language of the statutes, which attribute the appointment to the king by the advice and assent of the lords, and with the assent only of the commons.209 Commons. The commons, however, during this reign And of the were careful to maintain that importance in the state, which they had inherited from their predecessors. They continued to vote and appropriate the supplies; their concurrence was deemed necessary in the enactment of statutes; and they exercised the right of impeaching those 268 See Rot. Parl. iv. 326. v. 242. 409-411. 09 Ibid. CHAP. II., ministers who had forfeited the confidence of the nation. If they suffered their claims of liberty of speech, and freedom from arrest, to be invaded by the imprisonment of Thorp by the influence of the duke of York, and of Young by the order of the king, it should be remembered that these illegal acts were committed when the minds of men were heated by a contest for the crown, and therefore could form no precedents for more peaceable times. From Henry the commons obtained what had been refused or eluded by former sovereigns, a law for the personal security of all members of parliament, while they attended their duty:210 and several statutes were enacted to regulate the manner of elections, to prevent false returns, and to fix the qualifications both of the candidates and the voters. The sheriff was ordered to proceed to the election in the first county court after the receipt of the king's writ, between the hours of nine and eleven in the morning; to admit no longer the votes of all who attended, but to examine them upon oath, and to exclude those who did not both reside in the county, and possess within it a free tenement of the yearly value of forty shillings after the reduction of all charges: to return no candidate who was not a knight, "or notable esquire, or "gentleman of birth, able to be a knight :" and 210 Rot. Parl. iv. 453. HENRY VI. II. to write the names of the persons returned in CHAP. an indenture under the seals of all the voters. It was also provided that the representatives of the cities and burghs, should be inhabitants of the same cities and burghs, that when the mayors or bailiffs made the return to the sheriff, he should give them his receipt, and that for every false return he should be liable to imprisonment, to a fine to the king, and to payment of damages to the injured candidate.o11 The hereditary revenue of the crown had during several reigns been continually on the decrease under Henry it was more rapidly diminished by the enormous expences incurred during the war in France, and by the numerous grants which were easily obtained from the benevolence of his disposition. In 1429 it was ascertained that the monies annually absorbed by the war exceeded the whole amount of the revenue by twenty thousand marks,212 and four 211 Rot. Parl. iv. 331. 350. 402. v. 7. 115. 212 Rym. x. 413. The receipts in the eleventh year of Henry amounted to about thirty-five thousand pounds; but this sum was reduced to less than one-fourth by fees, wages, and annuities, which had been granted by the crown to different individuals, and had been made payable out of these funds, before they were transferred to the royal treasury. But to the ordinary must be added the ex traordinary revenue, which consisted of the customs on wool, and skins, and the tonnage and poundage, which, though not always, yet generally were granted by parliament. This, after the usual deductions had been made, amounted on an average of three years to about twenty-seven thousand pounds. The annual expences to be defrayed by these funds were classed under the heads of the HISTORY OF ENGLAND. CHAP. years later the receipts fell short of the expences of government by the yearly sum of thirty-five thousand pounds: to which were to be added the outstanding debts of the crown, amounting to more than one hundred and forty-four thousand.213 The only mode of relief which occurred to the financiers of the age was a general resumption of the grants made by the king since his accession: but, though such resumptions were repeatedly enacted, they were always rendered nugatory by the introduction of exceptions, at the demand of the king, or of the members, who sought to screen their friends from the operation of the act.214 In the mean while the ordinary revenue of the crown dwindled to the paltry sum of five thousand pounds: and it became necessary to make parliamentary provision for the support of the royal household. This was effected on some occasions by authorizing the treasurer to devote to that purpose a certain sum out of the monies voted for different objects at others by appropriating a certain portion of the revenue to the royal use, before any other claims upon it should be satisfied.215 household about 13,700., of the government of Ireland, Aquitaine, |