Great Britain. Parliament. House of Lords

[Protests from the House of Lords, 1641–1799]. London, c. 1765–1800



Manuscript, 2 volumes, folio (14 1/2 x 9 in.; 370 x 230 mm), written in several neat cursive hands, 610; 311 pages, plus manuscript index. Volume 1: Contemporary black morocco, elaborately roll-tooled in gilt with floral sprays and a central arabesque, volume 2: contemporary dark green calf, gilt roll-tooled border and central arabesque, both volumes gilt edged and dentelles; joints cracked, edges rubbed, corners bumped. Two light blue half-morocco drop-boxes, gilt-stamped titles on spines.

Charles Watson Wentworth, second marquess of Rockingham (engraved armorial bookplate in each volume with motto "mea gloria fides")

Objections to the Declaratory Act and the Stamp Act.

Peers' Protests covering the period 1641 to 1799, copied by the Parliament Office copying clerks from the Lords Journals in the eighteenth century. Members of the House of Lords had the right to enter their dissent from a decision reached by the House into the journal (the formal record of the Lords' proceedings), by signing their names against the record of the decision. Members could also add a protest consisting of a reason or a series of reasons for their dissent. The first such protest originated in 1641.

This Protest Book belonged to the marquess of Rockingham (1730–1782), who was prime minister when the first parliamentary acts, so noxious to the American colonists, were passed. He always urged moderation in the government's treatment of the colonies, but nevertheless condemned the Boston Tea Party and other outrages, and in this respect did not differ from the rest of the British establishment in his attitude. Influenced by a number of American correspondents, he still believed that moderation and trade concessions, such as abolition of the tea duty, would restore peace and prosperity, and he persisted in leading the Rockinghamite opposition during a period of exceptional difficulty.

The protest to the Declaratory Act and Stamp Act occur at volume 1, page 527–533, while numerous other passages in the second volume, present the parliamentary opposition to Britain's policies in America.

Similar manuscript volumes may be found in the Parliamentary Archives, and there were several editions of these in the eighteenth century under the title A Complete Collection of the Lords' Protests, from the First upon Record, in the reign of Henry the Third, to the Present Time (London: 1767 and other dates).