Excerpt from Gentlemen of the House of Commons, Vol. 2 of 2 The art of Petition had been first taught by Hampden and Pym. It was now practised for party purposes by the managers who were supreme at St. Stephen's. From all points of the compass, daily poured in at Westminster petitions, thanking the House for all it had lately done and pledging the Signatories to the last to assist it with life and fortune. A few days later, February 6th, 1649, after a short debate taken part in only by second-rate speakers, quite barren Of any memorable incidents, the House, by 44 votes to 25, cancelled an earlier resolution in favour Of common action with the Peers then, without dividing on the question, it declared that the House of Lords was useless, dangerous, and ought to be abolished. To that effect was drafted a bill to be considered first by a committee, presided over by Bulstrode Whitelocke. That body was further to consider how promptly to authorise the recovery of debts from the erewhile Peers of Parliament, who as such had been exempt from arrest or other civil-process. The farewell Sitting of the doomed Assembly took place February'7th, 1649; it did nothing more than say prayers, dispose of a rectory, and adjourn till next day. It never met again till eleven years later, when Charles II. Reigned. Though Bulstrode White locke enjoys the credit of the authorship of the Bill for dis establishing the Peers, he repudiated the step for himself and even voted against it. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.