87-287).]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1659. Feb 14.]
Richard Temple, a concealed royalist, demanded that the sixty members from
Scotland and Ireland, all in the interest of the court, should withdraw.[a]
It was, he said, doubtful, from the illegality of their election,
whether they had any right to sit at all; it was certain that, as the
representatives of other nations, they could not claim to vote on a
question of such high importance to the people of England. Thus another
bone of contention was thrown between the parties; eleven days were
consumed before the Scottish and Irish members could obtain permission to
vote,[b] and then five more expired before the question respecting the
other house was determined.[c] The new lords had little reason to be
gratified with the result. They were acknowledged, indeed, as a house of
parliament for the present; but there was no admission of their claim of
the peerage, or of a negative voice, or of a right to sit in subsequent
parliaments. The Commons consented "to transact business with them" (a new
phrase of undefined meaning), pending the parliament, but with a saving of
the rights of the ancient peers, who had been faithful to the cause; and,
in addition, a few days later,[d] they resolved that, in the transaction of
business, no superiority should be admitted in the other house, nor message
received from it, unless brought by the members themselves.
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