[SN:  and the Chancellor.]

From the Court Whitelocke went and visited the Chancellor, and delivered to him (what he had before promised and was put in mind to do) an engagement under his hand to procure a supply of the defect of power, which they excepted to in his commission.  The engagement was thus:—­

“Polliceor plenam me mihi potentiam ac facultatem procuraturum a sua Serenissima Celsitudine Domino meo, Domino Protectore Reipublicae Angliae, Scotiae, et Hiberniae, intra trimestre spatium, ab appulsu meo in quemlibet portum Angliae, ad supplendum qualemcunque defectum facultatis ac potentiae mihi antehac datae, ad tractandum cum Serenissima Majestate sua Regina Sueciae aut commissariis suis, et ad rata habenda omnia, quae inter Majestatem suam vel suos commissarios et me conclusa fuerint.  Datum Upsaliae 18^o Maii, anno Domini 1654.

“BULSTRODE WHITELOCKE.”

The Chancellor and Whitelocke fell into discourse touching their Ricksdag; part whereof follows.

[SN:  The Swedish Diet and Constitution.]

Whitelocke. I received much satisfaction in the favour of being admitted to see the manner of the meeting and proceedings of your Ricksdag, and shall be glad to be instructed by you touching some of the passages of it.

Chancellor. I shall be ready to inform you the best I can in these matters, and I have had some experience in them.

Wh. In that and all other matters touching the government of this kingdom, I believe no man’s experience or judgement will be opposed to yours.  I pray, Father, let me know the ground of proposals being made by the Queen to the Ricksdag, and whether it be as I have heard, that they consult of nothing but what is first proposed to them by the Queen.

Chan. That is very true, and is the ground of our quiet and of avoiding factions among us; for where a Council consists of seven or eight hundred men, as our Ricksdag doth, and they hold themselves to have an equal liberty and power, and are most of them active spirits; if every one amongst them might move and propound what he pleased according to his own fancy, there would never be an end of proposals and debates, and they would break out into several factions and the greater affairs of the kingdom be retarded, and many times thrust out to make way for lesser matters for the most part but of private interest.  Therefore the wisdom of our Government hath so ordered it that nothing is to be consulted upon or debated by the Ricksdag, but what is first proposed to them in writing by the King, who hath the advice of the Senators therein; and such matters as are by them judged necessary for the good of the kingdom are by the King proposed to the Ricksdag for their counsel in them.