1687.]

THE CONVENTION PARLIAMENT.

421

throne, but when William arrived, supported by an army, James, with his queen and infant son (born at this important juncture), fled to France.

The throne being vacant by the flight of James, the lords spiritual and temporal assembled in their house, to about the number of ninety, and William desired that all persons who had been members of the house of commons in the reign of Charles II., (for the assembling of James's parliament might be considered as a recognition of his continued authority,) with the lord mayor and aldermen of London, and fifty of the common councilmen, would meet at St. James's, on the 26th of December, 1687.

One hundred and sixty members, with the mayor and corporation, met accordingly, and they adopted an address to the Prince, which the lords had previously voted (and which was subscribed by about ninety peers), humbly desiring him to take upon him the administration of public affairs, and the disposal of the revenue, until the meeting of a convention to be called. They further humbly desired him to cause letters to be written, subscribed by himself, to the lords spiritual and temporal, being protestants, and to the several counties, universities, cities, boroughs, and Cinque Ports, the letters to the counties to be directed to the coroners or clerks of the peace; of the universities, to the chancellors; and of the cities and boroughs, to the chief magistrates,-directing them to choose, within ten days, such a number of persons to represent them, as were of right to be sent to parliament. They were required to meet at Westminster, on the 22nd of January, 1688.1

The convention met accordingly, and both houses agreed to an address, that the Prince would take upon himself the government, which by a message he consented to do. The commons next proceeded to settle the basis of the future monarchy. The converse theory to that of the divine right of kings is, that kings reign by virtue of a contract, theoretically assumed to have been made between them and the 1 Cobbett's Parliamentary History, vol. viii. p. 24.

people at the origin of the government,—a theory which implies responsibility on the part of the king, and a remedy in the people if the king violate the assumed contract. The first step of the house of commons, in which the whig party was predominant, was to assert that principle in the following resolution :—

"That King James II. having endeavoured to subvert the constitution of the kingdom, by breaking the original contract between king and people, and having, by the advice of jesuits and other wicked persons, violated the fundamental laws, and withdrawn himself out of the kingdom, has abdicated the government, and that the throne is thereby vacant."

The resolution was the work of only one day, and it passed without a division of the house. It was carried to the lords, for their concurrence, on the 28th of January, by Mr. Hampden, the grandson of him, of the same name, who first shook the prerogative of the Stuart kings.

The lords took the resolution into consideration in a committee of the whole house, and afterwards communicated to the commons that they concurred in it, with two amendments. Instead of abdicated,' they would have 'deserted' put in; and they would have the words, "and that the throne is thereby vacant," left out. Conferences followed, the second being a free conference, in which the resolution was debated, orally, by the managers of the respective houses. The lords, on the 7th of February, signified to the commons that they had agreed to the vote without any alterations.'

The crown was settled, by both houses, on William and Mary, jointly during their lives, and on the survivor; the administration of the government being committed to William alone during his life. The principles of the future government were embodied in the celebrated DECLARATION OF RIGHTS, which was presented to William and Mary, seated on the throne, at Whitehall, in the presence of both 1.Cobbett's Parliamentary History, vol. viii. p. 108.

1689.]

THE REVOLUTION.

423

houses of parliament, by the Speaker of the house of lords, on the 13th of February, 1688. On that day they became, and were proclaimed, King and Queen of England, deriving their authority from the joint declaration of the lords and commons, and holding the crown on the principles and subject to the limitations prescribed in the Declaration or Bill of Rights.

The convention on the same day passed an act' which declared that the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons, convened at Westminster on the 22nd of January, 1688, and there sitting on the 13th of February following, were the two houses of parliament, notwithstanding any defect of form. It repealed the old oaths of allegiance and supremacy required to be taken by members of the houses of parliament, and substituted a new oath of allegiance to King William and Queen Mary, and acknowledging their supremacy. It also passed an act for establishing the coronation oath.2 Thus that great event in our history, and change in the constitution and dynasty,-THE REVOLUTION,-was complete. In the second session of the same parliament, held in 1689, an act was passed "declaring the rights and liberties of the subject, and settling the succession of the crown."3 In that act the Declaration of Rights is recited at length, the acceptance of the crown by William and Mary is recorded, and the descent of the crown is settled in the manner before described. We shall hereafter notice the principles laid down in the Declaration of Rights, which continue to this day, as fundamental principles of the constitution.

Queen Mary died in 1694, and the son of her sister Anne having also died, all hope was lost of the succession to the crown taking place in the course provided by the Bill of Rights. In 1704, therefore, the Act of Settlement was passed.4 James II. was then dead, leaving a son, called in England the Pretender. This act excluded him from the throne, and entailed the crown, in default of issue of 1 William and Mary, sess. 1, cap. 1. 2 Idem, cap. 6.

3 William and Mary, sess. 2, cap. 2. 412 & 13 William III., cap. 2.

424 CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY ESTABLISHED. [CH. XVIII.

William or Anne, upon Sophia, Electress of Hanover, granddaughter of King James I., and the heirs of her body, being protestants. This act added certain fundamental principles to the constitution, which will be hereafter noticed. Under its limitations the Hanover family came to the throne, through whom it has descended to our present most excellent and constitutional queen Victoria.

The Revolution terminated the contest between prerogative and freedom, and settled the basis of a limited monarch and constitutional government. From that period the principles laid down in the Bill of Rights have never been disputed, although in the changes of administration, and under the influence of party spirit, they may sometimes have been departed from. They have, however, in our times, obtained a solidity which is unassailable; and they have been confirmed and added to by, for the most part, a course of wise, enlightened, and impartial legislation, by which the security of the throne has been increased, and the rights and liberties of the people maintained and enlarged.

THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

PART II.

ITS PRESENT STATE.

CHAPTER I.

THE KING, OR QUEEN REGNANT.

Monarchy the Basis of the Constitution.-Supreme Executive Power. -Prerogatives.-Coronation Oath.-Declaration of Rights.-Act of Settlement.-The King must act through Ministers.-Rise of Ministerial Responsibility.-The Cabinet Council.-The Privy Council.— Parliamentary Government.—Selection of Ministers.-Power to suspend Laws.-Prerogative in relation to Parliament.-Mode of Summoning Parliament.-Peers of Scotland.-Prorogation.-Opening of Parliament.—Mode of giving Royal Assent to Bills.-Prerogative of Rejecting Bills.-Selection of Ministers.-Civil List.-Descent of the Crown.-Demise of the Crown.-Allegiance of the People.-Royal Children.

THE basis of the English Constitution is a Monarchy which has had a duration of upwards of a thousand years. Never absolute, its power has been gradually diminished in the course of its transmission to our days, and brought under the control of constitutional laws and principles, and under the check of institutions of co-ordinate authority; but the affairs of the government, both administrative and judicial, are conducted in the name of the sovereign, who is presented to foreign nations as invested with the full power of the kingdom. The title of the reigning sovereign has been