The Impeachment of the House of BrunswickBradlaugh, Charles
History
The Impeachment of the House of Brunswick
Bradlaugh, Charles
Great Britain -- History -- 1714-1837; Hanover, House of
By statutes of the 12 and 13 Will. HE., and 6 Anne c. 11, Article 2, the
British Parliament, limiting the monarchy to members of the Church of
England, excluded the Stuarts, and from and after the death of King
William and the Princess Anne without heirs, contrived that the Crown of
this kingdom should devolve upon the Princess Sophia, Duchess Dowager of
Hanover, and the heirs of her body, being Protestants. Heirs failing to
Anne, although seventeen times pregnant, and Sophia dying about seven
weeks before Anne, her son George succeeded under these Acts as George
I. of England and Scotland.
It is said, and perhaps truly, that the German Protestant Guelph was an
improvement on the Catholic Stuart, and the Whigs take credit for having
effected this change in spite of the Tories. This credit they deserve;
but it must not be forgotten that it was scarce half a century before
that the entire aristocracy, including the patriotic Whigs, coalesced
to restore to the throne the Stuarts, who had been got rid of under
Cromwell. If this very aristocracy, of which the Whigs form part, had
never assisted in calling back the Stuarts in the person of Charles
II., there would have been no need to thank them for again turning that
family out.
The object of the present essay is to submit reasons for the repeal of
the Acts of Settlement and Union, so far as the succession to the throne
is concerned, after the abdication or demise of the present monarch.
It is of course assumed, as a point upon which all supporters of the
present Royal Family will agree, that the right to deal with the throne
is inalienably vested in the English people, to be exercised by them
through their representatives in Parliament. The right of the members
of the House of Bruns wick to succeed to the throne is a right accruing
only from the acts of Settlement and Union, it being clear that, except
from this statute, they have no claim to the throne. It is therefore
submitted, that should Parliament in its wisdom see fit to enact that
after the death or abdication of her present Majesty, the throne shall
no longer be filled by a member of the House of Brunswick, such an
enactment would be perfectly within the competence of Parliament. It
is further submitted that the Parliament has full and uncontrollable
authority to make any enactment, and to repeal any enactment heretofore
made, even if such new statute, or the repeal of any old statute, should
in truth change the constitution of the Empire, or modify the character
and powers of either Parliamentary Chamber. The Parliament of the
English Commonwealth, which met on April 25th, 1660, gave the Crown
to Charles II., and the Parliament of the British Monarchy has the
undoubted right to withhold the Crown from Albert Edward, Prince of
Wales. The Convention which assembled at Westminster on January 22d,
1688, took away the crown from James II., and passed over his son, the
then Prince of Wales, as if he had been non-existent. This Convention
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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