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every quarter of the earth; her colonies are laying the foundations of future states; the descendants of her colonies have already become one of the foremost nations in rank and influence. England has thus obtained great influence in the future progress of civilization, and on her is thrown the responsibility of moulding the character of countless gene rations. While we thus perceive that she has been called by the dispensation of Providence to fulfil a high destiny, we should at the same time feel how important is the trust, and earnestly desire that its performance should be such as to promote the honour of God and the welfare of mankind establishing every where the principles announced at the advent of our blessed Redeemer, "Peace on earth, good will towards men."

Questions for Examination.

1. In what state was British literature about the middle of the last century?

2. By what political event was a change effected?

3. What consequences resulted from the French revolution?

4. Were these effects exhibited in our poetical literature?

5. How did the drama fail to share in the general improvement?

6. What circumstances connected with the periodical press are peculiarly characteristic of the present age?

7. Has much been effected for the cause of national education?

8. Are histories written in the present day remarkable for anything that was rare in the last century?

9. What branch of literature has flourished to the probable injury of history?

10. Why are works on general literature rare?

11. Have metaphysics received much attention?

12. What advantages may result from the cultivation of political economy

and statistics?

13. Have any advances been made in the mathematical sciences?

14. What improvements have been effected in the physical sciences ? 15. Have any sciences been so much improved that they may almost be regarded as new?

16. What advantages have resulted from the progress of maritime and inland discovery?

17. Why has geology become popular?

18. Did the medical sciences share in the general improvement?

19. What are the nature and objects of Statistical Science?

20. In what condition is the new science of Political Economy?

21. What great inventions have been made in the useful arts?

22. What is the design of the British Association?

23. Have any improvements been made in architecture?

24. What are the present state and future prospects of painting and sculpture?

25. What benefits result from the British Museum?

26, Is there any circumstance peculiarly gratifying in the view of mod.

ern literature?

7 What is there peculiarly important in the present condition of England?

CHAPTER XLI.

THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION.

1. EVERY government is instituted to secure the general happiness of the community, and especially to protect the person and property of every individual. Constitutions are established to ensure the good administration of the govern ment, by giving the people some direct or indirect control over their rulers, and also a share in the formation of the aws. 2. The British constitution differs from most others in its formation; it was formed very gradually, checks against the abuses of power were not devised until the evils were actually felt, and consequently its details, though some times cumbrous, and perhaps inconsistent, are the results of long experience, and have been rendered by old habits exactly suited to the peculiar circumstances of the nation.

3. The government established in England by the Nor man conqueror was a feudal despotism; the land was divided into fiefs, which were for the most part given to the Nor. man lords or barons, who were invested with absolute power over the lives and fortunes of their vassals. There were no written limitations to the power of the king over the barons, but, Henry 1., eager to secure partizans in his usurpation of the crown from his brother Robert, granted a charter of pri vileges to his nobility, which contained also a few stipulations in favour of the great body of the people. 4. The conditions of this charter were flagrantly violated, until at length, in the reign of John, the barons, with a powerful body of their adherents, appeared in arms against the king, and forced him to sign Magna Charta, the great foundation of English liberty. Though this charter was principally de signed to protect the nobles from the encroachments of royal power, it contained some important provisions in favour of general liberty; a clear proof of the growing power of the

commons.

5. When the importance of commerce began to be under. stood, it was found necessary to secure the trading towns and communities from the exactions of their powerful neighbours, for in the middle ages piracy and highway robbery were deemed honourable professions by most of the feudal nobles in Europe. To protect trade, charters of incorporations were

granted to several cities and towns, by which they were released from dependence on a feudal lord, and permitted to enjoy a government of their own choosing. A gradua. change took place through the country in consequence of the adventurous and reckless spirits of the Norman barons; some sold their fiefs to raise money for joining the crusades; others wasted them by piecemeal to support their riot and dissipation, and thus from various causes a body of small landholders began to be formed, independent of the great barons, and looking to the crown for protection against them. 6. When the earl of Leicester took up arms to restrain the capricious tyranny of Henry III., he summoned a parliament to sanction his designs, and that the voice of the nation might be more clearly expressed, he invited the coun ties to elect knights of the shire, and the cities and towns to send deputies, to aid in these consultations. This appears to have been the first attempt to form a house of commons; but the origin and early progress of that branch of the legislature is involved in great, not to say hopeless obscurity.

7. The commons were generally courted by the king as a counterbalance to the power of the nobility; until the civil wars between the rival houses of York and Lancaster, hav ing thinned the ranks of the barons, extinguished many noble houses, and almost annihilated the influence of the rest, the royal power became supreme, and so continued during the reigns of the four sovereigns of the house of Tudor. 8. But the commons during this period had been silently collecting their strength, and on the accession of James I. they insisted on their privileges with a pertinacy, which led to a long struggle between the king and the parlia ment. In this contest the majority of the house of lords, which had been reinforced by the elevation to the peerage of some of the heads of the old English families, espoused the cause of the commons. At length Charles I. was coerced inte granting the petition of right, which secured many valu. able constitutional privileges to the people. But passions had been excited in the struggle which brought on a civil war, that ended in the overthrow of the monarchy.

9. During the reign of Charles II. the celebrated habeas corpus was passed, by which personal liberty is secured to the subject; but the perfection of the British constitution was completed in 1688, when James II. was hurled from the throne for his arbitrary principles, the right of parliament to regulate the succession to the crown established, and the

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liberties of the people secured by the Bill of Rights, and the Act of Settlement. 10. Since that period no important change was made in the constitution until the passing of the recent Reform Bill, by which the decayed and deserted poroughs have lost their right of sending members to parlia ment, and the privilege has been transferred to the larger counties and more important towns.

11. The legislative power of England is placed in the par iament, which consists of three parts, the king, (or queen), the lords, and the commons.

12. The crown of England is hereditary, but parliament has a right to alter the line of succession. After the abdication of James II., the right of succession was limited to protestants, and on the impending failure of protestant heirs to Charles I., the settlement was extended to the protestan line of James I., viz. to the princess Sophia of Hanover, and the heirs of her body being protestants. The present reigning family is descended from the princess Sophia, and holds the throne in right of her parliamentary title.

13. The duties of the sovereign are described in the coro nation oath; they are, first, to govern according to law secondly, to execute judgment in mercy; and thirdly, to maintain the established religion. 14. The prerogatives of the king, by which is meant those privileges which belong to him in consequence of his high station and dignity, are either direct or incidental. The chief of his direct prerogatives are, the power of making war and peace; of sending and receiving ambassadors; of pardoning offences; of conferring honours and titles of dignity; of appointing judges and subordinate magistrates; of giving or revoking commissions in the army or navy; and of rejecting bills proffered to him by the other branches of the legislature. He is the head of the national church, and nominates to vacant bishoprics and other ecclesiastical preferments.

15. But the king can only exercise his prerogatives through ministers, who are responsible to the nation for every act emanating from royal authority. Hence arises the aphorism that "the king can do no wrong," his minister being alone answerable.

16. The incidental prerogatives of the king are various; a few alone need be mentioned: no costs can be recovered against him; his debt shall be preferred before that of a subject; no suit or action can be brought against, but any

person having a claim in point of property on the kingʼmus petition him in chancery.

17. There are certain privileges also conceded to the royal family the queen retains her title and dignity even after the death of her husband: she has authority to buy and sell in her own name, and to remove any suit in which she is concerned to whatever court she pleases, without any of the usual legal formalities. The king's eldest son is by his birth prince of Wales, and by creation, duke of Cornwall and earl of Chester. All the king's children receive the title o. royal highness.

18. The house of lords is sometimes called 'the upper house of parliament; its members are either temporal peers, whose dignities are hereditary, or spiritual peers, who sit only for life. The Scottish representative peers sit only for one parliament, the Irish representative peers sit for life. A peer may vote by proxy; but each peer can only hold the proxy for one absent peer. The house of lords can alone originate any bills that affect the rights or privileges of the peerage, and the commons are not permitted to make any al. terations in them. Peers can only be tried by the house of lords, and this house constitutes the court in which officers of state are tried on impeachment by the house of commons; it is also the last court of appeal from inferior jurisdictions. Each peer may enter his protest on the journals when a vote passes contrary to his sentiments, and assign the reasons of his dissent in writing. When sitting in judgment his verdict is given "on his honour;" the same form is observed in his answers on bills in chancery, but in civil and criminal cases he must be sworn.

19. The house of lords (A. D. 1836) consists of—

Princes of the blood royal, (all

dukes)

Other dukes*

Marquesses

Earls

Viscounts

Barons

| Peers of Scotland. 4 Peers of Ireland

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*The origin and other particulars relative to the different classes of the nobility.-DUKE. This title was unknown in England till the reign of Edward III., who, in 1335, created his son, Edward the Black prince, duke of Cornwall, (as before mentioned).

MARQUIS.-Richard II., in 1385, conferred the title of marquis on Robert de Vere, earl of Oxford, by making him marquis of Dublin. This is supposed to be the origin of the title in England.

EARL. This is a very ancient title, having been in use among our Saxon ancestors. In those times it was an official dignity, having

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