The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-01-25
vrbc Great Conflict I'm Zen gland between
King and Parliament

Iron he Herald
The great conflict in England between King
and Parliament, between royal prerogatve and
parliamentary privileges, lasted during four
regns. It's varying fortunes were accompanied
by 'seditons, lmpeachments, rebellions bat
ties, sieges, prescriptions, judicial massacres."
During many years, says Macaulay, "the execu-
tive power and the legislative power had so
efectually impeded each ther that the State
had been of no account in Europe" until, as he
shows, the long, fierce and doubtful struggle
terminated happily in the entire union between
the throne ana the Parliament, which was an
nOunCed when the King-at-arms proclaimed
William and Mary before Whitehall gate.
The strife had grown out of the ancient an
tapoLism between the superstition of the divine
r,sht of kings and the idea OF popular liberty.
with the triumph of the latter il resulted in the
declaration of right. This Though 1t made
nothing law which was not law before" con
taincd the germs of all good laws, and formally
recognized and established a fundamental prln-
c1pIe of the British Constitution which is also
fundamental a principle OF the Constitution OF
fine United States. THIS may be defined as the
subOrdinqtion OF Me Executive TO the Legisla-
tive department OF Government.
Five hundred years ago this principle, which
Is so old that none can tell when 1t began TO
exist had become authoritative in England.
Amp!e as were the prerOgatives OF the soye-
reign ''no English king ever laid claim 10 gene.
raj legislative poWer,n The most violent and
impeTous Plantagenet was aware mat the king
could not legslate nor impose taxes without
the consent of his Parliament, and that he was
bound TO conduct the executive administration
According to the laws of the land, his advisers
and agents being responsible If he broke those
laws. The rule as to taxation was among the
articles which John was compelled by the barons
TO slgn Edward / and his powerful grandson
ventured to break 1t, but both found it eXpe-
dlent to yield 10 the opposition which they
encountered. BraCton, who wrote under the
reign of Henry III, said the King hath also
a superior, namely God, and also the law"
Sir William Blach ,tOne dec lares, 1.-THE principal
duty OF the King 10 Govern his people ac-
CoUding to law" The Ing of Great Britain in
his coronation oath, soIemnly promises TO
govern che people OF his kingdom according
to the statutes in Parliament agreed on, and
the laws and customs OF the same.n Mr.. Conk-
ling, in his recent treatise on Executive
Power refers to the fact that Charles lost
his head, and James II was driven from his
throne "by the persistent aSsumOtion of powers
without warrant of law" The same writer
cites the memorable answer of Roger Sherman
to the elder Adams, ObieCting to the IaItiCipa-
ton of the Senate IN the power OF appointment
to office, the Executive is not to execute its
own will but the will of the Legislature de-
Cared by the laws"
This fundamental principle alike OF the British
and the American Constitutions has by no
means been strictly observed by all English
sovereigns. But it has always existed to re-
strain the royal prerogatlve. The Tudors,
during their reign of one hundred aud twenty
years, occasionally, like the Plantagenets in
vaded the rights of their subjects eXacted taxes
in the shape of loars and gifts, and dispensed
with penal statutes; may adds the historian,
though they never presumed to enact any law
by their own Authority, they occasionally took
upon themselves when Parliament was not
sitting, TO meet temporary eXigencies by tenn
porarv ediCts" But they could not carry op
preston beyond a certain point without en-
Countering determined resistance, and they haC
''to watch with cons ant anxiety the tenn Uer O
the country" Even the proud and wilfll Henry
VIII found himself obliged, on one occasion, to
retIaCt a demand to apologize publicly for
his nfractiOn OF the laws. The TudOrs, nOtWith
standing their fiery spirit, "neyer once ike
some OF their predecessors and some of then
successors, carried Obstinacy to a fatal point
From Henry III to Elizabeth, England loursheG
under a system which contained the germs o
the institutions Of the present day. The subse
quent strife between the Crown and the Paria.
ment would, doubtless, have commenced early
IN the reign OF Elizabeth, when the dscontented
Pul1tans began to return maorityin the House
OF Commons; but the struggle for life or death
between Catholic Europe and Protestant Europe
lett little time tor internal dissensIOns. 1T was
in the Parliament OF 1851 that the opposition,
which had, during forty years, been silently
gathering and husbanding strength, fought its
great battle and won its first victory
From that date until the accession OF
William and Mary English history is, ia
great extent, the history of a struggle tol
power between King and Parliament Many
another victory was afterward, won and MANY
a sore defeat was sustained by the opponents
OF royal encroachments upon provinces right
fully belonging 10 the Legislature. James
enIaged and alarmed HIS Parliament by con.
stantly telling them that "they held their pri.
Vieges merely during his pleasure. and that
they had no more business TO inquire what he
might lawfully do than what the Deity might
lawfully do" ''Yet he qualled before them. "
Charles l dehed constitutional opposition at
Westminster, dissolved Parliament after Par
lament, closing the doors OF Westminster Hall
a nd g,ati., H.
attempted to make himself a despUt and TO re-
duce Parliament TO a nullity. Parliament
became convinced that they and the country
would be safe only when he should be utterly
helpless. Charles ] lost first his preropa.
tive and at last his head. Cromwell had
the means OF conducting the administra
ton without the support of his Pariaments
and IN defiance oil their opposition. He
soon found that his wish TO govern consti
tutonally was unavailing, and that he could mo-
substitute the empire of the laws for the EN- air,
of the sword. Richard, his son, was oyercom,
by the coalition OF the military malcontents an,
The republican minority of the House of Com
mons. Parliament was slowly out constantI
gaining ground on the royal prerogative durin
the reign OF Charles II, and his death wa
speedily followed by signs that the great cor
flict was approaching a final issue. James
could boast of one of the most obsequious {
the fifteen Parliaments held by the Stuarts, br
his wishes to repeal the Test act and the Habei
Corpus act and to raise large standing arm
together with his thraldom to France unWilliI
as ii was, aggravated the growing dssatstactiC
OF both Parliament and people. "All - says ii
historian, twas transition, conflict and disorde
The chief business OF the sovereign was to infrn
the privileges OF the Legislature. The chief bus
ness of the Legislature was to eucrOach upC
the prerogatives OF the sovereign" At leng
James ANONYMOUSLY fled and lost his thron
The first wish Of William was that there shou
be concord between the throne and the Parli
ment His wish was fulflled. The Kings
Arms who proclaimed William and Mary befo