Opening the text

The Growth of the English Constitution from the Earliest TimesFreeman, Edward A. (Edward Augustus)

History

The Growth of the English Constitution from the Earliest Times

Name: The Growth of the English Constitution from the Earliest Times
Author: Freeman, Edward A. (Edward Augustus)

Freeman, Edward A. (Edward Augustus)

Constitutional history -- Great Britain

It is a small point, but it is well to notice that the description of
the King as Charles Stewart was perfectly accurate. Charles, the son
of James, the son of Henry Stewart Lord Darnley, really had a surname,
though it might not be according to Court etiquette to call him by
it. The helpless French imitators in 1793 summoned their King by the
name of “Louis Capet,” as if Charles had been summoned by the name of
“Unready,” “Bastard,” “Lackland,” “Longshanks,” or any other nickname
of an earlier King and forefather.

I believe that many people fancy that Guelph or Welf is a surname of
the present, or rather late, royal family.

(48) The Act 1 William and Mary (Revised Statutes, ii. 11) entailed the
Crown “after their deceases,” “to the heires of the body of the said
princesse & for default of such issue to the Princesse Anne of Denmarke
& the heires of her body & for default of such issue to the heires of
the body of the said Prince of Orange.” It was only after the death of
“the most hopeful Prince William Duke of Gloucester” that the Crown
was settled (12 and 13 Will. III. c. 2; Revised Statutes, ii. 94) on
“the most excellent Princess Sophia Electress and Dutchess Dowager of
Hannover, daughter of the most excellent Princess Elizabeth, late Queen
of Bohemia, daughter of our late sovereign lord King James the First of
happy memory,” “and the heirs of her body being protestants.”

(49) We hardly need assurance of the fact, but if it were needed,
something like an assurance to that effect was given by an official
member of the House during the session of 1872. At all events we
read in Sir T. E. May (ii. 83); “The increased power of the House
of Commons, under an improved representation, has been patent and
indisputable. Responsible to the people, it has, at the same time,
wielded the people’s strength. No longer subservient to the crown, the
ministers, and the peerage, it has become the predominant authority
in the state.” But the following strange remark follows: “But it is
characteristic of the British constitution, and _a proof of its
freedom from the spirit of democracy_, that the more dominant the power
of the House of Commons,—the greater has been its respect for the law,
and the more carefully have its acts been restrained within the proper
limits of its own jurisdiction.”

  ὦ δημοκρατία, ταῦτα δῆτ' ἀνασχετά;

Has Mr. Grote lived and written so utterly in vain that a writer widely
indeed removed from the vulgar herd of oligarchic babblers looks on
“the spirit of democracy” as something inconsistent with “respect for
the law”?

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

The Growth of the English Constitution from the Earliest TimesFreeman, Edward A. (Edward Augustus)

History

The Growth of the English Constitution from the Earliest Times

Freeman, Edward A. (Edward Augustus)

Constitutional history -- Great Britain

It is a small point, but it is well to notice that the description of
the King as Charles Stewart was perfectly accurate. Charles, the son
of James, the son of Henry Stewart Lord Darnley, really had a surname,
though it might not be according to Court etiquette to call him by
it. The helpless French imitators in 1793 summoned their King by the
name of “Louis Capet,” as if Charles had been summoned by the name of
“Unready,” “Bastard,” “Lackland,” “Longshanks,” or any other nickname
of an earlier King and forefather.

I believe that many people fancy that Guelph or Welf is a surname of
the present, or rather late, royal family.

(48) The Act 1 William and Mary (Revised Statutes, ii. 11) entailed the
Crown “after their deceases,” “to the heires of the body of the said
princesse & for default of such issue to the Princesse Anne of Denmarke
& the heires of her body & for default of such issue to the heires of
the body of the said Prince of Orange.” It was only after the death of
“the most hopeful Prince William Duke of Gloucester” that the Crown
was settled (12 and 13 Will. III. c. 2; Revised Statutes, ii. 94) on
“the most excellent Princess Sophia Electress and Dutchess Dowager of
Hannover, daughter of the most excellent Princess Elizabeth, late Queen
of Bohemia, daughter of our late sovereign lord King James the First of
happy memory,” “and the heirs of her body being protestants.”

(49) We hardly need assurance of the fact, but if it were needed,
something like an assurance to that effect was given by an official
member of the House during the session of 1872. At all events we
read in Sir T. E. May (ii. 83); “The increased power of the House
of Commons, under an improved representation, has been patent and
indisputable. Responsible to the people, it has, at the same time,
wielded the people’s strength. No longer subservient to the crown, the
ministers, and the peerage, it has become the predominant authority
in the state.” But the following strange remark follows: “But it is
characteristic of the British constitution, and _a proof of its
freedom from the spirit of democracy_, that the more dominant the power
of the House of Commons,—the greater has been its respect for the law,
and the more carefully have its acts been restrained within the proper
limits of its own jurisdiction.”

  ὦ δημοκρατία, ταῦτα δῆτ' ἀνασχετά;

Has Mr. Grote lived and written so utterly in vain that a writer widely
indeed removed from the vulgar herd of oligarchic babblers looks on
“the spirit of democracy” as something inconsistent with “respect for
the law”?

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

The Growth of the English Constitution from the Earliest Times

The Growth of the English Constitution from the Earliest Times

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