He opposed, therefore, the proposal of choosing a protector; and represented that innovation as an infringement of the late king's will, which, being corroborated by act of parliament, ought in every thing to be a law to them, and could not be altered but by the same authority which had established it.

But he seems to have stood alone in the opposition.

The executors and counsellors were mostly courtiers who had been raised by Henry's favor, not men of high birth or great hereditary influence; and as they had been sufficiently accustomed to submission during the reign of the late monarch, and had no pretensions to govern the nation by their own authority, they acquiesced the more willingly in a proposal which seemed calculated for preserving public peace and tranquillity.

It being therefore agreed to name a protector, the choice fell, of course, on the earl of Hertford, who, as he was the king's maternal uncle, was strongly interested in his safety; and possessing no claims to inherit the crown, could never have any separate interest which might lead him to endanger Edward's person or his authority.[*] The public was informed by proclamation of this change in the administration; and despatches were sent to all foreign courts to give them intimation of it.

All those who were possessed of any office resigned their former commissions, and accepted new ones in the name of the young king.