Most commonly, they referred to the history of England, in particular the Glorious Revolution (often simply called "The Revolution"), classical history (mainly the Roman Republic and the leagues of Greek city-states), and recent precedents from Holland and Germany.
这其中最常被提及的就是英国历史，特别是光荣革命（常被简称为“那场革命”）；又或是古代史（主要是罗马共和国以及希腊城邦的联盟），又或者更近代的荷兰和德国的先例。