It was enacted that
Henry should delegate the power of choosing his counsellors to a
committee of three persons, whose proceedings should be valid,
provided they were attested by the signatures of two of the number.
The King immediately issued a writ to the Earl of Leicester, the Earl
of Gloucester, and the Bishop of Chichester, authorizing them to
appoint in his name a council of nine members; nor were they slow in
selecting for that purpose the most devoted of their adherents.
The powers given to this council were most extensive, and to be
exercised without control whenever the parliament was not sitting.
Besides the usual authority it possessed the appointment of all the
officers of state, of all the officers of the household, and of all
the governors of the royal castles. Three were ordered to be in
constant attendance on the King's person; all were to be summoned on
matters of great importance; and a majority of two-thirds was required
to give a sanction to their decisions. Hitherto the original committee
seemed to have been forgotten; but it was contrived that when the
council was so divided that the consent of two-thirds could not be
obtained, the question should be reserved for the determination of the
three electors, an artifice by which, under the modest pretence of
providing against dissension, they invested themselves with the
sovereign authority.
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