Legal prerogatives of the Crown untouched at the Revolution-but now prac- influence of the Sovereign-Causes which tended to induce its decline— Reaches its lowest point under George I. and George II.-Long struggle of Number of Peers-Rapid increase under the Stuart Kings-Addition of 16 Representative peers of Scotland in 1707-Attempts to limit the prerogative of creating peers-Profuse creations under George III.-Pitt and the Peerage-Addition of 28 Representative peers of Ireland in 1801-The Peerages of Scotland and Ireland-Changes in Character and Composition of House of Lords-Its political position-Its opposition to the Reform Bills of 1831-32-overcome by threatened creation of peers-Earl Grey's vindication of the proposed creation-An extraordinary creation of peers equivalent to a dissolution of the House of Commons-Political weight o the Upper House affected by small attendance and indifference to public business of great body of its members, and by practice of giving proxies - Proxies discontinued since 1868-Attempts to revive life peerages PAGE 571-592 Number of members-Defects of the Representative system-Scottish represen- tation-Irish representation-Bribery of members-Parliamentary Reform advocated by Lord Chatham in 1766-Wilkes' scheme of reform, 1776-Mr. Pitt's advocacy of reform, 1782-85-The question revived after the Peace of 1815-Passing of the Reform Act of 1832-The principal provisions-The Scotch and Irish Reform Acts, 1832-The Reform Act of 1867-Scotch and Irish Reform Acts, 1868-Electors of the United Kingdom-Suppression of bribery and intimidation at Elections-The Ballot Act, 1872-Summons, duration and intermission of Parliament-The Parliament of 1399-Conven- tion Parliament of 1660-Convention Parliament of 1688-Triennial Act, 1641-Triennial Act, 1694-Septennial Act, 1716-Attempts to repeal the Septennial Act-Abrogation of old rule that Parliament was dissolved by death of the Sovereign-Privilege of Parliament since the Revolution- sometimes wielded by the Executive for oppression of popular liberty-Ex- Toleration Act, 1689-Toleration only partially established-Temporary reaction The Censorship-The Press under James I. and Charles I.-The first News- paper, the Weekly News, in 1623-Continuance of the Censorship under the 599-623 623-631 Commonwealth-Milton's Areopagitica-Licensing Act, 1662-To publish anything concerning the Government is declared criminal by the Judges- Unofficial newspapers stopped-Their place supplied by the Coffee-houses and News-letters-Licensing Act revived, 1685-Finally expired,__1695— The press theoretically free, but still subject to restraints-Stamp Duty on Newspapers-The Six Acts,' 1819-Law of Libel-No. 45 of the North Briton-Apprehension of Wilkes and others on a General Warrant-Leach v. Money, 1765-General Warrants declared illegal-Entick v. Carrington -Seizure of Papers under General Search-Warrant-Junius's Letter to the King, 1769-Strained interpretation of Law of Libel-Trial of Woodfall for publishing the Letter to the King, 1770-Dean of St. Asaph's case, 1779— Stockdale's case, 1789-Mr. Fox's Libel Act, 1792-Reactionary period in growth of Liberty of Opinion, 1792-1832-Lord Campbell's Libel Act, 1843 English Constitutional History. CHAPTER I. FROM THE TEUTONIC CONQUEST OF BRITAIN TO THE NORMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND. THE first step in a history of the Institutions of the English people Origin of the English. is to determine the elements of the English nationality. It is not unusual to speak of the English as a mixed race formed out of the fusion of the Britons, the Anglo-Saxons, the Danes, and the Normans; but this form of expression is apt to convey an erroneous idea of the facts. No modern European nation is, indeed, of pure unmingled race; yet in all some one element has maintained a clear and decided predominance. In the English people this predominant element is the German or Teutonic. The Teutonic conquest of Teutonic Britain was something more than a mere conquest of the country: it conquest of Britain, was in all senses a national occupation, a sustained immigration of a A.D. 450new race, whose numbers, during a hundred and fifty years, were continually being augmented by fresh arrivals from the Fatherland.' Before the end of the 6th century, the Teutonic invaders had established a dominion in Britain, extending from the German Ocean to the Severn and from the English Channel to the Firth of Forth. The Britons were soon driven into the western parts of the island, where they maintained themselves for a time in several small states. The 1[Cf. Tacitus, Agricola, cap. 28, "Cohors Usipiorum per Germanias conscripta et in Britanniam transmissa.' It is possible that from this expedition a knowledge of Britain may have found its way to the north of Germany.-ED.] [Cf. Lappenberg, Geschichte von England (1834), i. 122; Gneist, The Hist. of the English Constitution (1891), p. 2 et seq.; and Hannis Taylor, Origin and Growth of the Engl. Const. (1889), for the "Teutonic theory."-ED.] с.н. B 600. of Races; remnant of the country which they retained was indeed at first of considerable extent, including not only modern Wales but the great kingdom of Strathclyde, stretching from Dumbarton to Chester, together with Cornwall, Devon, and part of Somerset. But the eastern boundary of this territory yielded more and more to the influence of the invaders; and it was only in the mountains of Wales and Cumbria that the Britons preserved for any length of time their No general ever-decreasing independence. During the long-continued and commixture peculiarly ferocious series of contests between the natives and invaders, vast numbers of the flower of the British race perished. Many Britons sought refuge in emigration to the Continent. Not a few of the less warlike doubtless remained as slaves to the conquerors, and a still greater infusion of the Celtic element may have been effected by the intermarriages of the victors with the women of the vanquished 1 But the Germanic element has always constituted the main stream of our race, absorbing in its course and assimilating each of the other elements. It is the paternal element in our system natural and political.' Since the first immigration, each infusion of new blood has but served to add intensity to the national Teutonic element. The Danes were very closely allied in race, language, and institutions to the people whom they invaded; and the Normans, though speaking a different language, and possessing different political and social institutions, were yet descended from a branch of the same ethnic stock. or of Institutions. But whatever be the proportion in which the various national elements have coalesced, it is certain that the principles of our Constitution are in no wise derived from either Celt or Roman. The 1 This hypothesis is strengthened by the fact that the few words in our language which have been retained from the original Celtic (about thirty-two in number, excluding proper names) have all relation to inferior employments, and for the most part apply exclusively to articles of feminine use or to the domestic occupations of women. (See a list of these words, made by the late Mr. Garnett, in Transactions of the Philological Society, vol. i., p. 171.) On the other hand, the tribal or family organisation of the Germans and the peculiar honour given to wonien among them, point to the strong improbability of any general amalgamation through intermarriage. The Britons also were long adverse to such an admixture. See Stubbs, Const. Hist. i. 62. * Stubbs, Select Charters, Introductory Sketch, p. 3. See also Archdeacon Squire, Anglo-Saxon Government in Germany and England (1745); Freeman, Norm. Conq. vol. i.; and Stubbs, Const. Hist. vol. i. The arguments in favour of the opposite theory, of the permanence of the British race, are very ably stated by Mr. L. O. Pike in his Origin of the English. Mr. Coote, in his Romans of Britain (1878), also maintains the permanence of the population of Britain, but then he affirms that the greater part of the island was occupied by a Belgic race, who began to settle here before the invasion of Julius Caesar, and that these Belgians were Teutonic. |