PREFACE. My object, in the following work, has been to trace, historically, the rise and growth of the English Constitution, down to the period when our political institutions had acquired all the elements of their present maturity, —that is, to the Revolution; and then to describe and explain the rights, duties, and mutual action of those institutions as they now exist, modified by changes in the laws, and by Parliamentary Government and procedure since the Revolution. The work originated in a lecture I delivered in 1854; and I have employed the leisure which a retirement of three years from the profession of the Law has afforded me, and in that employment found a pursuit congenial to my former professiona] occupations, to amplify and extend it. The result is the present book, which I venture to hope may be found to contain a concise but comprehensive account of the Constitution;-of its institutions; of the legislation by which the freedom and rights it confers on the people have been secured; and of its merits and advantages as a system of Government. The history follows the course of our Parliamentary career and legislation; and considering it subordinate to the main design of the treatise, I have in general limited the narrative to such events and circumstances as seemed sufficient to elucidate our constitutional progress. But in describing the reigns of the Tudor and Stuart sovereigns, when the endeavours of the Parliament to advance the principles of Freedom, gave rise to contests with the Crown, which should always be remembered in connection with the liberties they established, I have expanded the history, in order to give some idea of the nature of the struggle, and the motives and conduct of the contending powers. The progress of civil government and legislation, and the degree in which freedom was enjoyed by the people, very much depended, especially after the Reformation, on the prevailing ecclesiastical policy of the sovereign or the Parliament; I have therefore treated the Constitution as both civil and ecclesiastical, so far as the latter is exhibited in laws having reference to the civil or religious liberty of the people. The arrangement of my book has enabled me to comprise within it more ample details of the history, of the existing working state of the Constitution, and of its laws, civil and ecclesiastical, than I have found combined in any treatise on the Constitution that has come under my observation. The great works of Mr. Hallam on constitutional history terminate with the reign of George II., and although they abound with illustrative observations which refer to the modern Constitution, they do not profess to give a systematic account of it. Those learned and critical works stand out prominently in constitutional literature; and I shall esteem it no inconsiderable merit if my book be found useful as an introduction to the study of them. Every one who has lately noticed the current of public thought must have observed increasing attention to the principles and working of the Constitution. Our close intercourse with Continental nations has brought our constitutional system into strong contrast with the energy, unrestrained action, and secrecy of despotic government; whilst at home the principles of the Constitution are appealed to, to support or to controvert proposed changes of an important character. This day, whilst I write, 'The Times' has, in forcible language, represented the general demand that exists for an accurate history of the country, of reasonable length, for the use of the numerous persons who present themselves for the various examinations now required. It is worth consideration, whether the history of the country, now so extended as well in subject-matter as in period, would not be best presented to students in treatises exclusively devoted to separate branches of the general history. Of these the foundation would be, as the most essential and practical, the Constitution and constitutional laws; a knowledge of which it is the object of this Manual to supply. Sydenham, Kent, 4th November, 1859. |