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 356 July Writs of Assistance, 155 8-1700 A MONG the many notes which Clarendon passed across the a_ council table to his royal master, Charles II, there is one which runs as follows : (Chancellor) : Is it your pleasure that I derecte those of your privy Councell, who are not Peers, nor of the house of Commons, that they attende the house of Peers accordinge to custome ? (King) : that which is the custome. (Chancellor) : Should not those Councellors attende the house of Peers, and sitt on the Woolsacke ? (E. of Manchester) : Itt hath allwayes bin the custome thatt writts off assistance have bin sent vnto all councellors thatt were nott Peeres and did nott sitte in the house off Comons. (Chancellor) : Now no writts are sent to any, the kings derection will be enough ? (Manchester) : the Kings direction is enoughe to your Lord p to issue oute those writts to such persons. (Chancellor) : Ther are no writts issued to any, the Judges sitt only by derection : the sendinge out writts to the assistants, beinge not con- gruous, when the Peeres themselues haue no writts. 1 (Manchester) : Your Lord p propounds a question to be considered yett the vsuall waye was by writte iff the iudges haue none the counsellors neede nott to haue any. 2 This antiquarian discussion between Clarendon and Man- chester opens up the whole question of the writs of assistance and the persons to whom they were sent : were the members 1 This cannot, of course, be taken as a statement of the usual procedure, for both the peers and the judges had writs at this time (see below) ; but Clarendon is probably referring to the state of things that existed in the convention of 1660, when the peers received no writs of summons at all, but assembled on their own initiative ; the masters in chancery, but not the judges, were in attendance on the lords from the beginning, and on 4 June 1660 it was ordered ' that the lord chancellor do move the king to order writs to the judges to attend the House as assistants ' ; on 5 June he reported that the king had made such an order, and on 6 June the judges were in attendance {Lords* Journals, xi. 52-4). From Clarendon's remarks it would seem that^ on this occasion, the judges received the king's order only, and no special writ of assistance. In the convention of 1689 the lords merely required certain persons learned in the law to attend on the house as assistants (Lords' Journals, xiv. 102, 116, 155) ; no writs were apparently issued and no Pawn has survived. 2 W. D. Macray, Notes at Meetings of the Privy Council between Charles II and Clarendon, p. 1 8.