Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-12-29
Daily eagle
TWO HUNDRED YEARS.
THE TIME THAT HAS ELAPSED SINCE
THE BRITISH REVOLUTION.

The Constitutional Powers Then Won by
the People Of England the Forerunners Of
tho Present System of Government in
the United States.
The British are now beginning a series of
local celebrations to end in one grand cele-
bration Of tho most important event in mod
ern history, the revolution Of 1888 Strictly
speaking, the revolution began June so, 1858,
when q junta Of noblemen invited William,
Prince Of Orange, son-in-law Of the king, to
come over with force sufficient to preserve
the liberties Of England; 1t reached its climax
Nov s, when William landed at Torbsy in
Devonshire, and ended officially Feb. Is, 1859,
when William and Mary were proclaimed
joint sovereigns Of England, Scotland and
ireland. with the declaration that the admin
istration should be in William, and the sue
cession provided for alternately in the Off
spring of Mary and William, Of Mary by
any other husband than William and of VIII
liam by any other wife than Mary. By this
act the character Of the British government
was finally established, substantially as it is
nova limited and strictly constitutional
monarchy, the power In the house Of COM
mons. The sovereign is administrator only,
the government extremely flexible in charac-
ter, yielding readily to the will Of the people
and securing to q degree never before at
tanned all the advantages Of stability and ia,
more than the advantages usually gained by
revolution. In short, the British statesmen
have wrought out system Of government in
which revolution Is peaceful and continuous,
and yet liberty, property and order are bet
Ger secured than under the most rigid despot-
ism.
The Dutch revolution Of the Sixteenth
century, the British revolution Of the Seven
tenth century and the American revolution
of the Eighteenth century are simply three
closely connected chapters in the serial evo-
luton Of liberty. The first established the
right Of homogeneous people to rule its own
country absolutely free from the dictation of
any foreign power; the second established the
principle that government exists not by d.
vine right nor yet for the pleasure Of the
governors, but solely for the benefit Of the
governed, and that each people is the best
Judge of what is best fer its own happiness
and government; the third, or American
revolution, carried this principle to its logical
outcome in personal freedom, popular institu-
lions and the complete severance of church
and state. The constitution of the United
States is simply lberalized or popularized
form Of the modern British constitution. No
essential element is omitted. The modern
British constitution is slight Improvement
on the older British constitutions, and they
grew up by a union of the feudal system Of
the Normans and theitribal and local self gov
eminent of the Saxons. The element of per-
sonal freedom is Saxon, and 1000 years ago
in the forests Of Germany there existed, in
the germ, trial by jury or right of appeal to
the vicinage, the sacredness Of the person of
a freeman and the dignity Of woman, which
are the basis and the essential elements of an
Americans liberty today.
The Norman conquest fastened upon Eng
land the rule of the church, or more properly
perhaps, the cast iron union of church and
state, Of which the English have been slowly
relieving themselves through all the progress
of 800 years. The United States government
began by completing the separation OF
church and state, but as the colonies hac
beuoms states before the national govern
meat was established, the union of church
and state still prevailed in many of
them and not entirely done away with
until the administration of John Quincy
Adams. All these and many other facts
maka the revolution of 1853 and the follow
ing years the most important Of all eras il
British history.