The Rise of the Democracy Part 18

"Robert Ket was not a mere craftsman: he was a man of substance, the owner of several manors; his conduct throughout was marked by considerable generosity; nor can the name of patriot be denied to him who deserted the cla.s.s to which he might have belonged or aspired, and cast in his lot with the suffering people."--CANON DIXON, _History of the Church of England_.

[48] "There was something in the temper of these celebrated men which secured them against the proverbial inconstancy both of the Court and of individuals.... No Parliament attacked their influence. No mob coupled their names with any odious grievance.... They were, one and all, Protestants. But ... none of them chose to run the smallest personal risk during the reign of Mary. No men observed more accurately the signs of the times.... Their fidelity to the State was incorruptible. No intrigue, no combination of rivals could deprive them of the confidence of their Sovereign."--MACAULAY, _Burleigh, his Times._

[49] "The Tudor monarchs exercised freely their power of creating boroughs by charter. They used their Parliaments, and had to find means of controlling them. In the creation of 'pocket' or 'rotten' boroughs, Queen Elizabeth was probably the worst offender. She had much influence in her Duchy of Cornwall, and many of the Cornish boroughs which obtained such a scandalous reputation in later times were created by her for the return of those whom the lords of her council would consider 'safe' men."--ILBERT, _Parliament._

[50] Elizabeth's popularity steadily diminished in her last years. The death of Ess.e.x, ecclesiastical persecutions, increased taxation, and the irritations caused by royal expenditure were all responsible for the discontent. James I. failed from the first to secure the goodwill of the people.

[51] Oxford men all three. Sir John Eliot was at Exeter College, 1607; John Hampden at Magdalen, 1609; and John Pym at Broadgate Hall (later called Pembroke), 1599.

[52] Clarendon, _History of the Great Rebellion_.

[53] "The same men who, six months before, were observed to be of very moderate tempers, and to wish that gentle remedies might be applied, talked now in another dialect both of Kings and persons; and said that they must now be of another temper than they were the last Parliament."--CLARENDON, _ibid._

[54] Macaulay, _Hallam's Const.i.tutional History_.

[55] "The great rule of Cromwell was a series of failures to reconcile the authority of the 'single person' with the authority of Parliament."--ILBERT, _Parliament_.

[56] "A very large number of persons regarded the struggle with indifference.... In one case, the inhabitants of an entire county pledged themselves to remain neutral. Many quietly changed with the times (as people changed with the varying fortunes of York and Lancaster). That this sentiment of neutrality was common to the greater ma.s.s of the working cla.s.ses is obvious from the simultaneous appearance of the club men in different parts of the country with their motto: 'If you take our cattle, we will give you battle.'"--G.P. GOOCH, _History of Democratic Ideas in the Seventeenth Century_.

[57] See _Memorial of English Affairs_.

[58] "By its injudicious treatment of the most popular man in England, Parliament was arraying against itself a force which only awaited an opportunity to sweep it away."--G.P. GOOCH, _History of Democratic Ideas in the Seventeenth Century_.

[59] "So die the Leveller corporals. Strong they, after their sort, for the liberties of England; resolute to the very death."--CARLYLE.

[60] "Then ensued a scene, the like of which had in all probability never been witnessed in an English court of justice, and was never again to be witnessed till the seven bishops were freed by the verdict of a jury from the rage of James II."--S.R. GARDINER, _History of the Commonwealth_.

[61] Professor C.H. Firth, Lilburne in _Dict. Nat. Biography_.

[62] Winstanley's _New Law of Righteousness_, 1649.

[63] Palgrave. Introduction to Erskine May, _Parliamentary Practice_.

[64] Sir John Eliot, 1629.

[65] Edward II., in 1327, and Richard II., in 1399, had not been deposed without the consent of Parliament.

[66] "The monarchical regime which was revived under Charles II. broke down under James II. It was left for the 'glorious Revolution' of 1688, and for the Hanoverian dynasty, to develop the ingenious system of adjustments and compromises which is now known, sometimes as cabinet government, sometimes as parliamentary government."--ILBERT, _Parliament_.

[67] G.P. Gooch, _Annals of Politics and Culture_.

[68] Palmerston's influence in the House of Commons was about as bad in the nineteenth century.--_See_ BAGEHOT, _The English Const.i.tution_.

[69] "Here and there we find an eminent man, whose public services were so notorious that it was impossible to avoid rewarding them; but putting aside those who were in a manner forced upon the Sovereign, it would be idle to deny that the remainder and, of course, the overwhelming majority, were marked by a narrowness and illiberality of sentiment, which, more than anything else, brought the whole order into contempt. No great thinkers, no great writers, no great orators, no great statesman, none of the true n.o.bility of the land, were to be found among those spurious n.o.bles created by George III. Nor were the material interests of the country better represented. Among the most important men in England those engaged in banking and commerce held a high place; since the end of the seventeenth century their influence had rapidly increased.... But in the reign of George III. claims of this sort were little heeded."--BUCKLE, _History of Civilisation_.

[70] "They, the friars, and especially the Franciscans, largely influenced politics. The conception of individual freedom, upon which the life of St.

Francis was built, went far to instil the idea of civic freedom into men's minds.... It was the ideas of the friars that found expression in the Baron's War." The Song of the Battle of Lewes "set forth unmistakably the conception of the official position of the King, and affirmed the right of his subjects to remove evil counsellors from his neighbourhood, and to remind him of his duty--ideas due to the political influence of the Franciscans."--CREIGHTON, _Historical Lectures and Addresses_.

[71] The late Lord Acton pointed out that St. Thomas Aquinas was really the first Whig.

[72] See Introduction to Rousseau's _Social Contract_, by H. J. Tozer.

[73] "That which distinguishes the French Revolution from other political movements is that it was directed by men who had adopted certain speculative a priori conceptions with the fanaticism and proselytising fervour of a religious belief, and the Bible of their Creed was the _Contrat Social_ of Rousseau."--LECKY, _England in Eighteenth Century_, Vol. V.

"The original contract seized on as a watchword by Rousseau's enthusiasm grew from an arid fiction into a great and dangerous deceit of nations."--Sir F. POLLOCK, _History of the Science of Politics_.

[74] Mr. H.J. Tozer. Introduction to Rousseau's _Social Contract_.

[75] See Conway's _Life of Paine_, Vol. I.

[76] Professor T.F. Tout, _England from 1689_.

[77] Tout, _ibid._

[78] Tout, _ibid._

[79] R.G. Gammage, _History of the Chartist Movement_.

[80] "The condition of the labouring cla.s.ses was the least satisfactory feature of English life in 1846. Politically they were dumb, for they had no parliamentary votes. Socially they were depressed, though their lot had been considerably improved by an increased demand for labour and by the removal of taxes in Peel's great Budget of 1842. That was the year in which the misery of the English proletariat reached its lowest depth."--HERBERT PAUL, _History of Modern England_.

[81] Justin McCarthy, _Short History of Our Own Times_.

[82] McCarthy, _Ibid_.

[83] Tout, _England since 1689_.

[84] "For a general extension of the franchise, an extension from the occupation franchise to the adult franchise, there does not appear to be any demand, except in connection with the burning question of the franchise for women."--ILBERT, _Parliament_.

[85] "On the mere numerical basis Ireland is much over-represented, but Ireland claims to be treated as a separate ent.i.ty, and her claims cannot be disregarded."--ILBERT, _Parliament_.

[86] Rt. Hon. A.J. Balfour, M.P., House of Commons, 1910.

[87] "With great tact, and without very much friction, he brought the monarchy into touch with the state of things brought about by the Reform Bill. He did for the Crown what Wellington did for the House of Lords. Just as the Duke saw that the Lords must give up setting themselves against the national will strongly expressed, so did the Prince see that the Crown could no longer exercise those _legal_ rights for which George III. had fought so manfully. Like the Lords, the Crown now became a checking and regulating, rather than a moving, force. It remained as the pledge and symbol of the unity and continuity of the national life, and could do good work in tempering the evils of absolute party government. Such of the royal _prerogatives_ as were not dead must be carried out by ministers. The royal _influence_ continued to run through every branch of the State."--Professor T.F. TOUT, _England from 1689._

[88] Mr. J.M. Robertson, M.P., _Charles Bradlaugh--A Record of His Life and Work_.

[89] F. York Powell, _Thoughts on Democracy_.

[90] Unfortunately the present House of Commons has just decided, August, 1911, to pay its members a salary of 400 a year from the national revenue.

It is to be regretted that the cost has not been laid directly on the electors, and that the time is not more appropriate. With the country torn with strikes of workmen seeking a few extra s.h.i.+llings a week, it was hardly the opportune moment for a House of Commons to vote itself some 250,000 a year. The proposal would have been more palatable to the nation if the Commons had decided that payment should begin with the _next_ Parliament.