Reference
CH30A
Title
HISTORICAL MANUSCRIPT - Bill for""Declaring and Settling the Government of the Commonwealth"". With list of Reports and Bills prepared for the session of 1654; alterations in the representation of certain constituencies;and list of members of Parliament
Date free text
1654
Production date
From: 1654 To: 1654
Scope and Content
Bill for settling the Government of the Commonwealth.
This document, which is properly speaking a Bill, not an Act, has been printed by Dr.S.R.Gardiner in"Constitutional Documents of the Puritan Revolution",pp.427-447, from a Manuscript in the possession of Lord Braye.The differences between the two texts are few and unimportant. After the concluding paragraph as to the Militia (clause 61 in the Chester Manuscript), the passage ""The proportions...Alterations vizt."" is wanting in the Braye Manuscript, which records however the alterations themselves as printed by Gardiner on page 441. The Chester Manuscript was deposited at the British Museum for consideration by Miss Margery Fletcher of the Institute of Historical Research; she reported that
1) the notes of bills to be passed are not a complete list of legislative proposals, and contain nothing original:
2) the list of M.P.s differs in only two instances from the official return; for Tewkesbury the Manuscript gives Francis St.John, whereas the Official Return gives A.Ashley Cooper, the "Old Parliamentary History" gives Francis White, while Browne Willis confirms the official return; for Rye this Manuscript gives Nathaniel Powell, while the Official Return and Old Parliamentary History give Herbert Morley.
The document was probably the copy of Henry Chester, who was elected M.P for Bedford Borough 4 Nov. 1654
(Official Return. p 499)
Level of description
item