Page:English Historical Review Volume 37.djvu/62

 54 COUNCIL AND CABINET, 1679-88 January and others, both permanent as well as temporary, were appointed from time to time. Thus on 7 May 1679 it was ordered that the committee for trade be likewise a committee for the affairs of Jersey and Guernsey. 1 On 14 July 1680 a committee for the redemption of slaves was named, 2 but on 15 September a com- mittee of the whole council or any three of them was appointed for the same purpose. 3 Nor is this the only instance of this innovation, for on 27 January 1688 a similar order is given with reference to the committee for trade. 4 Otherwise membership was confined to those originally appointed with the addition of individuals specifically named. Usually a new member was nominated, if at all, to one committee, but occasionally he was added to two or even to all. 5 There were also a considerable number of committees of a more temporary nature, though as there is no formal entry of their dissolution it is impossible to state exactly when they ceased to exist. Among the more im- portant of these committees may be mentioned that for inquiring ' into all things relating to the plot ', 6 which was composed of all the councillors, and that for inspecting and revising the lists of justices of the peace. 7 Some at least of these committees had their regular clerks, for there is an order of 7 May 1679 that William Bridgeman should attend constantly at the committee of intelligence ' in like manner as Mr. Blathwait does for the business of trade and plantations and as Mr. Cooling is to do for been the sphere of the foreign committee, while affairs both domestic and external come before the committee of intelligence. On the contrary, both the committee for foreign affairs and the committee of intelligence are officially described as standing committees (Brit. Mus. Egerton MSS. 2543, fos. 205-6, which are printed, but not quite completely, in Hatschek, Handbuch des Offentlichf.n Rechts, 1906, ii. 108-9, and Privy Conn. Reg. Ixviii. 5). Whereas Mr. E. R. Turner has, I think, proved the identity of the cabinet and the committee for foreign affairs for the period 1668-79 (Amer. Hist. Rev. xix), I have only found one mention of the cabinet at all during 1679-80 (infra, p. 55, n. 3). The notes of Williamson (preserved in State Papers, For. Entry Books) prove that the committee for foreign affairs dealt with domestic policy as well as diplomacy. Also committees were occasionally entrusted with business totally different from that with which they were originally appointed to deal. Thus the committee for trade and plantations was ordered to consider the question of the safe custody of records in the Rolls House and to report thereon to the council (16 January 1685, Privy Coun. Reg. Ixx. 290). 1 Ibid. Ixviii. 26. 2 Previously matters concerning captives of Algerine pirates had been referred to the committee of trade (20 February 1680, ibid. p. 398). Ibid. Ixix. 41, 100. Hyde to the committees of intelligence and trade 23 November 1679, Sir R. Can- to all committees 20 October 1680 (ibid. Ixviii, 63, 289 ; Ixix. 127) 7 Appointed 22 October 1686. A committee of four had been named on 3 December 1 679 for a similar purpose ( ibid. Ixxi. 325, 363-79 ; Ixviii. 304-9. ; House of Lords MSS., 1678-88, pp. 172-93).
 * Ibid. Ixxii. 585.
 * Robartes was added to the committee of intelligence 28 May 1679, Laurence
 * Appointed 28 May 1679 (ibid. Ixviii. 60).