THE CONSTITUTIONAL DOCUMENTS OF THE PURITAN REVOLUTION 1625-1660 SELECTED AND EDITED BY SAMUEL RAWSON GARDINER, M.A., D.C.L. FELLOW OF MERTON COLLEGE, ETC., ETC. THIRD EDITION, REVISED OXFORD AT THE CLARENDON PRESS 1906 HENRY FROWDE, M.A. PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD LONDON, EDINBURGH, NEW YORK TORONTO AND MELBOURNE PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION THE documents in this volume are intended to serve either as a basis for the study of the Constitutional History of an important period, or as a companion to the Political History of the time. By far the greater number of them are printed in books which, though commonly to be found in large libraries, are, on account of their size and expense, not readily accessible to students in general. The MS. of the Constitutional Bill of the first Protectorate Parliament, in the handwriting of John Browne, Clerk of the Parliaments, is preserved at Stanford Hall in the possession of Lord Braye, with whose kind permission the copy used in this volume has been taken. It is possible that a great part of the document might have been recovered from the entries of clauses and amendments in the Journals of the House of Commons, but, as far as I know, this is the only complete copy in existence. The documents in Part I of the present edition have been added at the suggestion of Professor Prothero, who very generously placed at my disposal the copies he had made with the intention of adding them to his own Statutes and other Constitutional Documents illustrative of the reigns of Elizabeth and James I (Clarendon Press, 1894). Though the Navigation Act of the Commonwealth has no claim to a place amongst Constitutional Documents, it is of sufficient importance to be printed in the Appendix. S. R. G. C5636 CONTENTS 1. Speech of Sir Nathaniel Rich, proposing terms on which the 4. The Restraint of the Earls of Arundel and Bristol 5. The King's Letter and Instructions for the collection of a FROM THE Meeting of the THIRD PARLIAment of CharLES I TO THE MEETING OF THE LONG PARLIAMENT. 9. Notes of a Bill brought in by Sir Edward Coke to secure the 11. The Remonstrance against Tonnage and Poundage 12. The King's Speech at the Prorogation of Parliament at the 13. The King's Declaration prefixed to the Articles of Religion 18. Act of the Privy Council on the position of the Communion 19. Specimen of the first Writ of Ship-money 20. The King's Case laid before the Judges, with their Answer 21. Extracts from the Speech of Oliver St. John in the Ship- |