288 LIFE OF ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 



balanced by the prerogative of the King on one 

 side, and the privileges and liberties of the sub- 

 ject on the other ; this bill seems to cast a great 

 w^eight into one of the scales, more than it had 

 before. 



** I do not say that it is" an invasion of the 

 prerogative, or that it is directly a diminution of 

 it ; but, if I may be allowed to use that word, 

 it bears hard upon it. If once the King be obliged 

 to hold parliaments every year, in time of peace 

 as well as in time of war, whether he needs 

 them or needs them not, methinks it makes the 

 way easier, from an annual session, to come to 

 a constant session, or at least a committee of 

 both Houses to sit constantly. 



*' I dare say there is none in this House in- 

 tends such a thing as this ; but I ask, if ever 

 hereafter there should be any man who would 

 in good earnest design to cramp the royal au- 

 thority, and to oblige the King to take all his 

 measures, both of peace and war, and in the 

 disposal of all offices; I say, to oblige him to 

 take all his measures, as to these things, from a 

 Parliament, or a committee of the same ; what 

 more eifectual step can be made towards the 

 gaining such a point, than to make a law that 

 should oblige him every year to hold a Parlia- 

 ment ? 



" I do, as I said, hope and believe, that none 



