Colored News.
London, England, 1855-08-11 00:00:00

BEFORE our next number appears, the Royal Commissioners
will have executed their task and dismissed " the faithful
Commons," &c., to their respective country seats and
autumnal enjoyments. We think the interregnum a
fitting opportunity for giving an engraving depicting the
splendid ceremonial, which is usually seen when it pleases
Her Gracious Majesty to read her Royal speech from the
throne. In the absence of that impressive pageant, we
think we cannot better fill our pages than in giving a short
but interesting history of the Imperial Parliament itself.
Being the grand assembly of the estates of the realm, we
are surprised that so little is really known of its constituent
parts. They have excited much discussion amongst con-
stitutional writers, some contending that the archbishops
and bishops, or lords spiritual, constitute one estate, the
lords temporal a second, and the commons a third ; but the
parliament is usually divided into Lords and Commons. It
is summoned, prorogued, and dissolved by the sovereign's
voice. Its power is undefinable. Its duty is not only to
" unlock the people's purses," bnt also to keep the people's
accounts ; or, to adopt the legal language of Coke, " parlia-
ment is the highest and most honourable and absolute. court
of justice ;" " the jurisdiction of this count is so transcen-
dent, that it maketh, enlargeth, diminisheth, abrogateth,
repealeth, and reviveth laws, statutes, acts, and ordinances,
concerning matters ecclesiastical, capital, criminal, common,
civil, martial, maritime, and the rest." Its work is, "to
redress greivances, to take notice of monopolies and oppres-
sions, to curb the exorbitances of pernicious favourites and
ill ministers of state, to punish such mighty, delinquents as
look upon themselves as too great for the ordinary reach of
justice, and to inspect the conduct of those who are intrusted
with the administratien of the laws, or disposal of the
public treasure of the nation." It can regulate or new
model the succession to the crown, as in the reign of Henry
VIII. and William 111. It can alter the religion of the
land, as was done in the reign of Henry VIII., Edward VI.,
Mary, and Elizabeth. It has not only changed, but created
afresh the Constitution of the country, and even its own, as
in the case of the Reform Bill ; but in the former cases the
changes have been, or pretended to be, according to the
principles laid down in the people's charters ; and in the
letter instance, alluding to the passing of the septennial
act, parliament distinctly admitted its violation of consti-
tional principle and practice, but defended it on the ground
of necessity, and as being only a temporal measure. It has
never since been repealed, although the occasion of it has
long ceased to exist, there being now no pretender to the
throne, and monarchy being in no danger. Parliament
derives its name, according to Coke, from every member of
that court being enabled sincerely and discreetly, parler la
-ment (to speak the mind) for the general good of the com-
monwealth. Although the derivation of the word may be
deemed beyond dispute, there is much doubt about its first
application. It was applied to the general assemblies of the
state under Louis VII. of France, about the middle of the
twelfth century, but it is said not to have appeared in our
law till its mention in the statute of Westminster, 1, 3 Edw.
L, A.D. 1272; and yet Coke declared in his Institutes, and
spoke to the same effect when Speaker (A.D. 1592), that
this-name was used even in the time of Edward the Con-
fessor, 1041. It is certain that long before the introduction
of the Norman language into England all matters of im-
portance were debated and settled in the great council of
the realm ; a practice which seems to have been universal
among the northern nations, particularly amongst the
Germans, who convey it into all the countries of Europe,
which they overran at the dissolution of the Roman empire.
Instances are upon record of the assembling of this council.
to order the affairs of the kingdom, to make new laws, and
to amend the old, as early as the reign of Ina, king of the
West Saxons, Offa, king of the Mcrcians, and Ethelbert,
king of Kent, in the several reigns of the heptarchy.
Before the reign of William 1., parliaments, or councils of the
nation, were to be held twice in every year, as appears by
Edgar, cap. 5, the testimony of the Mirrour of Justice, the
Institutes, &c. ; but the Commons of England, represented
by knights, citizens, and burgesses, were not specifically
named as constituting one of the estates in parliament
the 49th of Henry 111., 1265. Hume says " the commons
were no part of the great council till some ages after the
conquest." Knights of the shire had previously assembled
in a separate house; but the Earl of Leicester, whose
attempts on the crown of Henry 111. had been defeated, led
to the subsequent summoning of two knights from every
shire, and also deputies from the boroughs, who were before
deemed too inconsiderable to have a voice in legislation.
This is the first confirmed outline of a House of Commons. In
the earlier reigns, parliament was alternately kept at York,
Northampton, Lincoln, New Sarum, Winchester, Gloucester,
Leicester, Oxford, Cambridge, and Reading, as well as at
Westminster,• the latter having been the scat of the legisla-
ture since the time of Elizabeth. The city of London first
sent members to parliament in the reign of Henry III.;
while Westminster was not represented in that august
assembly until the latter end of the life of Henry VIII., or
rather in the first House of Commons of Edward VI. King
Edward 1., successor of Henry 111., however, seldom held a
parliament more than once in every two years: but in the
next reign but one it was enacted (4 Edw. TM cap. 14)
" that a parliament should be holden every year once, and
more often if need be." This continued the statute-law of the
land till 16 Charles 11., when an act was passed " for the
assembling and holding of parliament once in three years
at least;" but parliaments for a longer period than a year
were held after Henry VIII. ascended the throne. The
triennial act was confirmed soon after the Revolution of
1688, by 6 William and Mary, cap. 2. Triennial parlia-
ments thence continued till the first year of George L's
reign, when, in consequence of the allegation that " a rest-
less and popish faction were designing and endeavouring to
renew the rebellion between this kingdom, and the report
of an invasion from abroad, it was enacted that the then
existing parliament should continue for seven years, and
no longer." This septennial act has ever since been in force.
—The parliament is England's sheet-anchor :—" England,"
said Burleigh, " can never be undone but by parliament."
The parliament, however, must exist in fact, and continue to
be the organ of the people's voice—the representative of
their feelings and views. Should the time unhappily arrive
when the lower house in particular, and the people, shall