Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1881-10-06
PARLIAMENTS OF THE PAST.
Notable Ones in English History and
the Work They Did.

the Work They Did.
Pan Mall Gazette.
One of the longest sessions of par
lament in English history will termi-
nate ON Saturday. 1t is indeed anus
ing to compare its length, not only
with that of former sessions, but of
former parliaments in their entirety.
The most famous of short parliaments
Is that which deposed Richard IL, thus
laying the memorable constitutional
precedent afterward followed with
such benefit to the nation in 1859. 1t
Is true the convention parliament did
not technically depose James II, hay
ing decided that the fugitive king had
abdicated; but it could not be pretend
ed that the infant Prince of Wales
the "old Pretender"- abdicated
his rights. so that parliament virtually
effected the transfer of the crown from
the legitimate head to another head-a
perfectly legitimate one, but only so
by virtue of the new law of the
land.
Prorogations were not much resorted
to in the Olden time, and for the SIM
plest of reasons. Till the house of
commons became a power, it was i'm
material whether parliament was pro-
rogued or dissolved. In what was
then, in reality as well as title, the up-
per chamber, the component elements
remained essentially the same, and the
king, having got as much money as he
could out of parliament, thought it best
to put an end to its existence altogeth.
er. Henry Wills first parliament met
on the 21st of January, 1910, and was
dissolved on the 23d of February fol.
lowing. His next parliament, hOwev-
er, lasted no less than two years and
one month. By and by we come to
what may be called the Reformation
parliament. 1t met on the Sd of No
vember, 1880, and was only dissolved
on the 9Th of April, 1886. The Sd of
November is a notable date. Exactly
ITO years later met the long parliament,
the expressed purpose of whose men,
bers was to complete the work of their
ancestors who met in 1880. After dis
solving the parliament that had helped
him to ''break the bonds of Rome" as
the mild Gray puts it, the majestic
lord" summoned another parliament.
which met on the 9Th of June, 1886.
and was dissolved on the 18th of the
following month. The pastors and
masters of Edward vi. summoned two
parliaments in his name. The first
lasted four years and half; the second
exactly thirty days, March to March
81, 1858. Mary's first parliament lasted
two months and day. In her reign
of little more than five years, Mary
summoned five parliaments. Accord
ing to Hallam, her government was the
first which recognized the growing i'm
portance of the house of commons. and
sought to influence it in various ways
chiefly by the creation of constituencies
under orders from the crown-in other
words, rotten boroughs.
During reign which extended to
its forty-ffth year Elizabeth convoked
nine parliaments in all. The longest
was that of 1872, which lasted till
1886, or about fourteen and one-half
years. One of the shortest, if not the
very shortest, assembled OH Monday.
the I'd of April, 1871, and dissolved on
the 18th of May following. 1t was on
the opening day Of the said parliament
that the queen, speaking from her Gre
gal seat" willed the lord chancellor
(Sir Nicolas, father of Francis Bacon)
to show the cause of its assembling.
Thereupon the lord chancellor spoke.
declaring that this assembly of parlia-
ment was for three causes called
namely, for the glory of Almighty God,
for the health and preservation of her
and for the welfare of the
common veal" The welfare of the
state evidently came second in the
mind of government to the comfort of
the queens majesty, or highness, or
grace, as Elizabeth was indifferently
called. james L. gave a length of
nearly six years to his first parliament
to the second of two months and
day, for evil precedents have force.
James said he found in it ga kind of
beasts called undertakers." Under
takers, in modern English, meant man.
ayers of parties. In fact, there was l.I
the parliament of 1914, for the first
time, a regularly-constituted opposi-
ton. James fourth and last parlia-
ment was dissolved by his death, after
an existence of thirteen months.
Charles fourth and last was not dis
solved by his death, not merely because
we were then in full revolution, but
because the Long parliament had in
duced him to pass a law which for
bade the dissolution of the then-sittinp
parliament without its own consent.
Cromwell summoned two parliaments.
neither of which sat long. Richard
Cromwell's parliament lasted nearly
three months. Monks restored the
monarchy and the house of lords in
few days, and survived several months
after this extraordinary feat. 1t was
succeeded by the longest of our parlia.
ments, after that emphatically called
the Long, having met on May 8, 1861,
and been dissolved on Jan, "a, 1879.
1t was also called the Pensionary par
lament, from the number of gentle
men sitting therein who considered it
Quixotic to serve their country for
naught.
The convention parliament settled
our constitution in its broad outlines
without clearly understanding what it
was about in little over twelve
months. Its dissolution was an idea
more or less bright, of Williams own.
He felt worried by the intrigues of the
two parties, and one February morning
in 1890 went down and told the COM
mons he had no further need of their
Toward the close of 1894
passed the triennial bill-not
till he had twice vetoed it. The act
remained in force for more than twen-
ty years, when George Is first parlia-
ment heightened its own existence and
that of all subsequent parliaments.
The house which passed the Septem-
Der act lasted seven years all but elev.
en- days-March 81, Ills, to March 10,
l722. Since then constitutional, as