The Upper House during the protectorates of Oliver and Richard Cromwell

Abstract

The Upper House of 1658-9 was a short-lived experiment. It sat for only a fortnight in Oliver Cromwell's lifetime, and never met again after the dissolution of Richard Cromwell's Parliament, in April 1659. The setting up of a second House was one of the provisions offered by Parliament to Cromwell in the Humble Petition and Advice. This petition was passed by a House favourable to the Protector and anxious for a settled constitution. When the two Houses met, the composition of the Commons had altered, and they refused to recognise a second House as part of the constitution. Under Richard Cromwell the other House at length obtained recognition, after it had been sitting for two months. Not once did the two Houses act together, owing to the refractory attitude of the Commons, who realised when It was too late that the collaboration of the Upper House might have helped them to crush the Army party, and to prevent the collapse of Richard Cromwell's government. The introduction of a second chamber after a period of government by a single House, may be regarded as an interesting political experiment. There was a considerable body of opinion, even among those who had supported the abolition of the House of Lords in 1649, to the effect that some kind of second House was necessary. Many, however, did not wish to restore an hereditary Upper House; while, on the other hand, Cromwell and his supporters felt strongly the need for some power to act as a balance in the constitution, and believed that only a body similar in nature to the old House of Lords could fulfil this function. Various suggestions were put forward; the Republicans desired a select senate of the best men "optimates" in the Roman fashion; naturally largely chosen from their own number. Others proposed a second House possessing a "balance of property", to provide the necessary element of stability. The second House actually established was not intended to be hereditary, but was composed of those of the Parliamentary party whom Cromwell Judged most suitable; representatives of the Army and Navy, members for Scotland, Ireland and Wales, the great Officers of State, London Aldermen, and a large proportion of country gentlemen. Unfortunately the position of the new House was not made clear. The Petition and Advice, produced by a mutilated Parliament, was an unsatisfactory document which gave rise to much controversy. It was never read a third time, was drawn up in parts and passed in parts, and various provisions were added later, known as the "Humble Explanatory and Additional Petition and Advice", which was hurried through the House just before the dissolution. Indeed, from what little contemporary evidence are have, it seems likely that the second Bouse was thrown in as an additional inducement to Cromwell to accept the Crown, and that its future position was very little considered. No doubt it was thought that if Cromwell became king, the other House would fall naturally into the place of the old House of Lords. The history and proceedings of the Other House are little mentioned in the chronicles of the time, save in derision. Royalist historians, writing after the Restoration, bitterly scorned it; Republicans, like Ludlow, objected to it because they thought it would bring back the Monarchy. It remains one of the curiosities of English constitutional history, the creation of a written instrument, but ill-defined, never really accepted by the Commons, and unable to do more than become entangled in the controversies which its anomalous and precarious position involved. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.)