New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-01-12

II Is to the Party or Have that are o"ihs aii
those pigments about the divine rights OF rulers.
about the wrong Of revolution. and so on Ana
to this party 1t is owing. too. that so often
from the time Of Scion down 10 the present
day. a needed revolution has been accomplished
in peace They have always yielded either
peaceably or to force when a new step In the
evolution Of humanity became inevitable Moth
ing shows the process more clearly than the
history OF the English Constitution. And this
brings us to Hannis Taylor's voumnous ana
encycIopedic review Of English Constitutional
development
Nothing is more remarka BILE he writes IN
the history of the English Constitution IMAM
the persistent continuity az Its deVeioprne"''
through which all the changes and Innovations
demanded by the wants Of a great and growing
nationality have been gradually brought about
without any open break with the past the
nearest approach 10 an exception TO this gen
eral rule Is to be found in the revolutionary
period which begins with the meeting Of the
Long Parliament and ends with the Restora-
tion the period Of upheaval during which the
social political and religious forces that abide
in the England Of to-day broke the spell Of GUS
tom and tradition by which the medieval
Church. the medieval monarchy and the dying
feudalism had so long enthralled the minds Of
men"
In the words Of Mr.. Taylor the monarchical
system was purified and remodeled by the
drastic ard enduring legislation enacted dur
ing the first ten months OF the Long Par
lament" II the monarchy had been eclipsed
by an accident due TO the personality OF its rep
resentative the Commons endured without
break Loyalty and constttutionally. When Crom-
we'll dispersed Parliament by show Of force.
% State,
said TO him formally: You are mistaken 70
think that the Parliament Is dissolved. No
power under heaven can dissolve them but
themselves Therefore. take you notice of that
This turned out to be true When Richard
Cromwell dissolved the Parliament which he
had summoned and gave the country into the
hands OF the army the only process by which
the generals could relieve themselves Of re-
sponsibility was to set aside the Protectorate
in favor Of the remnant OF the Long Parlia-
ment which had been expelled from St Ste
phens" Mr. Taylor points out that Bradshaws
theory was the one accepted for the time by all
parties In order TO bring affairs into shape,
this Parliament. after much controversy with
the army. finally admitted the royalist members
who had been expelled by Colonel Pride, and.
thus restored. as far as the lapse 81 time would
allow it's earliest form, Il dissolved by its
own act twenty years after 1t first assembled.
II secured legislative continuity by calling
assembly which like Parliament except
that IL had 10 convene without the kings writ.
and this assembly invited Charles ii to return
10 his throne which by a convenient fiction was
supposed never to have been really vacant.
But the question as to responsibility for money
which the people less willing
TO give TO government was not yet settled
-
concession to the Commons OF the right to know
where every penny OF public money went a
we'll as where 1t from. has resulted in
constitution where the Commons Is supreme the
king Cabinet officer for life without a seat in
the legislature. the working executive-that is
the Cabinet-a part Of the House Of Commons.
and the second house, means. In case Of doubt
Of securing a referendum to the voting popula-
ton Of the kingdom.
Few Englishmen were ever in favor OF a writ
ten Constitution. But there were some In Crom-
wells day. like John Lilburne. who tried ear
nestly to have such document accepted by the
nation. These the intellectual progenitors
Of the American Constitution makers. In this
country though tradition has always made free
with the organit law yet it is indspensa that
the latter should be in black and white. AS the
debates in the constitutional conventions since
comparatively early time have also been duly
written out and printed and the actual number
of constitutions which have been adopted in the
United States including those repealed is very
great. the original literature Of the subject is
voluminous without reference to the common
taries and histories and monographs which have
proved vigorous second growth. Mr.. Thorpe
goes to the mass Of original material. the consti
tutions themselves. the debates in convention,
the contemporary discussions in newspapers
and works out Of these the record OF American
progress from the ideals which were furnished
by heredity from the Old World. by the disgust
tions OF wise men who tried TO think out before
hand what popular government should he Ike
and by the practical experiment Of Englishmen
In America before they threw off the guardian
ship Of the mother country and made Nation
for themselves onward 10 ideals peculiar to the
Western World The Fourth -of-Juy bubble
about homes for the oppressed Of every cline
and that sort Of thing has been prcked. The
world over men are getting down to the facts Of
existence and they have discovered. among
other things. that democracy is not the patent
cure-all II supposed to be at the beginning
Of the nineteenth century. Still, 1t is a very
good thing and the main reason why II is good
IL that Il is capable OF evolution. II is a growth.
and not a crystaZed substance like absOlut-
ism The American Revolution left Americans
as individuals politically very much as they
were before IL occurred. In reality II says
Mr. Thorpe "a war for free labor its political
purposes and effects were secondary. The polit-
ical rights OF grandfathers were scarcely
changed by Saratoga and Yorktown: these con-
tributed TO secure their industrial rights But
this result not apparent at the outset After
the Declaration of Independence. as before. the
voices that spoke in the councils Of the States
and the Nation were the voices Of men as prop
erty- owners. and not simply men. The appeal
was 10 things not persons. For the better part
of century this self-contradictory political
theory remained paramount until slavery was