Of the erudition and ingenuity shown in Kennet’s book there can be no doubt: it clears up some interesting archeological points in English history; but I am at a loss to understand what bearing his arguments, as far as they go—for it must be remembered he gives only the first part of the work—are meant to have on the practical determination of the controversy. If, as he represented, the existing Convocation was but the relic of an extinguished prerogative of self-taxation, once possessed by the Clergy, then it remained only the shadow of a name, and stood amongst the meaningless things which it would be a good clearance to sweep away. If he took such a view, he does not, as far as I can find, express it; rather he assumes throughout, that Convocations by Royal authority, under archiepiscopal control, without the power of making laws or discussing theological or ecclesiastical questions, are quite wise and proper. How they can be so when reduced to such a nullity, it is difficult to conceive. Kennet’s theory, to any one free from the prejudices and heartburnings of the dispute, is unsatisfactory to the last degree.
CONVOCATION.
When winter approached, the prospect of a new Parliament and a new Convocation opened on the eyes of Atterbury with a fascinating effect; and as the autumn leaves fell in the London parks, the Archdeacon girded up his loins for a fresh attack. He was concerned about many things—about the opposition his party was likely to encounter, about the exact place of meeting of the Clergy, and about the execution of the præmunientes clause, notwithstanding Kennet’s destructive criticisms. He says to Trelawny, “Unless some spirit be put into our affairs, and the managers of them, and they attend here punctually, and behave courageously, our cause must sink, and we must be broken; for we are beset, and unless a vigorous stand be made, shall find they will be too hard for us. Their Lay interest is much stronger than it is imagined to be; they know it, and feel it, and accordingly speak in a much higher strain than ever they used to do, and talk more securely of success at the next meeting.”[348]
It was thought the Lower House needed more room for their assembly. Sir Christopher Wren was consulted on the subject; but “any carpenter in the town understood that matter as well as he, and I would undertake,” said the impatient Archdeacon, “to bring one that should contrive seats to hold near six score, which is more than ever yet met at once.”[349]
1702.
Christmas festivities had scarcely ended, holly branches still hung in the parish churches, when the new Convocation met. The day before New Years’ Day, after a Latin service read by the Bishop of Oxford, a Latin sermon preached by the Dean of St. Paul’s, and the King’s writ and the Bishop of London’s certificate formally delivered, “the Archbishop admonished the Clergy to retire into the chapel, at the west end of the church, where morning prayers are usually said, and there, under the conduct of the Dean of St. Paul’s, to choose a Prolocutor, and present him in Henry the VII.’s Chapel, on Tuesday, the 13th of January.”[350] No sooner had they met for that purpose, than the old embers of strife were kindled afresh, and blazed up furiously as before. The first contention pertained to proxy votes, the Dean of Canterbury contending they were valid, others answering they were quite contrary to custom, and indeed, that absent members were guilty of contumacy till their absence received judicial excuse, and therefore lay under a canonical impediment,[351] which for the time deprived them of their ecclesiastical power. The election of Prolocutor was the next struggle. Even such a candidate as Beveridge, decided Anglican as he was, could not satisfy the extreme party, and they elected, by a majority of 36 or 37 against 30, the Dean of Salisbury, Dr. Woodward, a civilian who had grown popular with High Churchmen by opposing his Diocesan. At that very moment, the two were engaged in litigation with each other; and, in addition to this circumstance, which rendered the election unseemly, the fact should be remembered that Woodward, now a sharp thorn in the sides of Burnet, owed to that Prelate his church preferment. The election over, the new Prolocutor approached the chair occupied by the Dean of St. Paul’s as temporary president whilst the votes were being taken; but the Dean kept possession of his seat, on the ground that the Prolocutor could not preside when as yet there was no House. The Prolocutor being duly presented to the Archbishop, on the 13th of January he made a speech, bristling with military allusions.
CONVOCATION.
After this, Archbishop Tenison, rock-like as ever, in a graceful tone, recommended charity and union, and lamented existing divisions; the only good effect of which, he said, was the impulse it had given to the study of historical questions, whereby light had fallen on Convocational rights, privileges, and customs. “The Prolocutor and Clergy were then ordered to withdraw to the consistory at the west end of the church.” Now reappeared the old bone of contention. A schedule of prorogation from the Archbishop reached the hands of the Prolocutor: “A paper,” he called it, “by which their Lordships had adjourned themselves;” a paper which he would not read to the House himself; a paper which he gave the actuary to read; a paper to which he added words of his own, substituting this place for Jerusalem Chamber—the gist of his treating the document thus, being that he would not admit the power of the Upper House to prorogue the meeting of the Lower. “Mr. Prolocutor,” said Archdeacon Beveridge, “I advise you, in the name of Jesus Christ, not to open our first meeting in such contempt and disobedience to the Archbishop and Bishops, and in giving such offence and scandal to our enemies.” “I have,” replied Woodward, “the power to alter the schedule when I intimate it.”[352] The battle for independence now reopened, the majority of the Lower House, headed by the defiant Prolocutor, resolving to fight it out to the last.
1702.
The Clergy, on the 20th of January, assembled early in the cold nave of the Abbey, after which they proceeded to prayers in the Jerusalem Chamber. Thence they returned to Henry the VII.’s Chapel, where they found the floor matted and curtains hung,—no small comfort on a frosty morning.[353] If their feet were as warm as their tempers, they had no reason to complain, for no sooner had they taken their places than it was proposed to have prayers over again by themselves, to show their independence. The motion was opposed. Debates followed. The Archbishop’s messenger waited at the door while the question of his being admitted was discussed. After “a little noise,” he came in with the hated schedule of prorogation. The Prolocutor took it up, and “playing with it in his hands, supposed it to be a paper about adjourning; and at last repeated the place and time, and putting it to the House for their pleasure, drew up a paper and read it.” This occurred on the 22nd of January. Upon the 28th, the Prolocutor again informed the members he had received a message of adjournment, but that he would not communicate it except by order of the House. Dr. Freeman maintained it ought to be delivered in obedience to the Archbishop. The Prolocutor tartly replied, he did not need to be taught what was his business; and Atterbury, starting up, accused Freeman of using indecent words.[354] Then came discussions about committees for purposes presented in the last Convocation. Further personalities arose. One made an offensive allusion, another felt annoyed. “Expressions were used,” it is said, “which might have laid the foundation of a misunderstanding or something worse,” but for subsequent explanations. On the 28th, Atterbury—the spirit of the storm—rejoiced in his native element, as he proposed, and at last carried the point, that the Prolocutor should have inserted in the minutes a phrase which assumed the right of independent assembling. “This new and improper entry,” in Kennet’s judgment, “so thrust upon the minutes, was the great cause of widening the divisions in the Lower House.”[355]