This
council was to consist of thirty persons, and was never to exceed that
number. Fifteen of the chief officers of the crown were to be continued,
who, it was supposed, would adhere to the king, and, in case of any
extremity, oppose the exorbitancies of faction. The other half of the
council was to be composed, either of men of character, detached from
the court, or of those who possessed chief credit in both houses. And
the king, in filling up the names of his new council, was well pleased
to find, that the members, in land and offices, possessed to the amount
of three hundred thousand pounds a year; a sum nearly equal to the whole
property of the house of commons, against whose violence the new council
was intended as a barrier to the throne.[*]
* Their names were: Prince Rupert, the archbishop of
Canterbury Lord Finch, chancellor, earl of Shaftesbury,
president, earl of Anglesea, privy seal, duke of Albemarle,
duke of Monmouth, duke of Newcastle, duke of Lauderdale,
duke of Ormond, marquis of Winchester, marquis of Worcester,
earl of Arlington, earl of Salisbury, earl of Bridgewater,
earl of Sunderland, earl of Essex, earl of Bath, Viscount
Fauconberg, Viscount Halifax, bishop of London, Lord
Robarts, Lord Hollis, Lord Russel, Lord Cavendish, Secretary
Coventry, Sir Francis North, chief justice, Sir Henry Capel,
Sir John Ernley, Sir Thomas Chicheley, Sir William Temple,
Edward Seymour, Henry Powle.
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