The English Constitution: a commentary on its nature and growth

Preface

My knowledge of the present English Constitution has been derived primarily from the study of standard works upon the subject, but that has been supplemented by two periods of personal observation. A year's residence in England, from July, 1887, to July, 1888, gave opportunity for an acquaintance with British politics at a most interesting and important juncture of affairs. It covered the later month of the Queen's Jubilee year, and the time when, the Liberals having been defeated on the Home Rule Bill for Ireland, the Conservatives were inducted into office through the cooperation of the Liberal Unionists. Eight years later, I passed the months from Feb ruary to July, 1896, in London, when the same party had again just returned to power after the failure of the second Home Rule Bill. In the prosecution of the work of direct observation, I have been the recipient of innumerable courtesies and favours in the form of gifts of books and papers, access to records, and per sonal information of great value.

Among those thus further ing my plans, I take pleasure in mentioning Mr. James Bryce, M.P. ; the late Professor Edward A. Freeman; Mr. Sam: Tim mins, of Birmingham; Mr. H. H. Howortb, M.P., of Manches ter ; Mr. Josejih Wilkinson, of York ; the late Canon Raine, of York Cathedral ; Judge Chalmers, of Leamington ; Mr. Alexan der TJre, of Edinburgh ; and the late Mr. Henry Richards, M.P. For more direct aid, I gratefully acknowledge deep obliga tions to Professor John Kirkpatrick, of Edinburgh University, who revised a portion of my manuscript ; to Sir Frederick Pollock, Bart., who read the entire manuscript and gave me the benefit of his criticisms and advice. To Professor J. W. Ashley, of Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., I am espe-

PREFACE.

VIII cially indebted for assistance both in the preparation of the manuscript and in the reading of the proof. For a like service, I also owe thanks to Professor 0. F. Emerson, of Adelbert College, Cleveland, 0. ; to Mr. F. I. Herriott, of Des Moines, la. ; to Professor George Huntington, of Carleton College, Northfield, Minn.; and to Mr. I . B. Richman, United States Consul-General at St. Gall, Switzerland. It is not an empty form of words when I say that whatever merits may be found in this book are due in no small degree to the kindness of generous friends ; while for its inaccuracies and defects the author is alone responsible. In the introductory chapter, the statement is made that one object of the book is to enable American readers to gain a better knowledge of the American government.

It may be an advantage to some readers for me to add that Part I. was prepared specifically in order that Americans might be able to read with greater profit Bryce's The American Common wealth. To fully appreciate that great work, the American needs to be well grounded in English politics. He must know the present Constitution in its theory and in its practice. Part II. is designed to answer certain questions often raised in an attempt to understand the present English Constitution. Americans should never forget that, until the founding of the colonies, English history is our history. Nor should they fail to remember that for a hundred years after, there was a per sistent effort to establish in England a government according to what would now be called the American model, — that is, a government based upon an artificial constitution whereby the Legislature and the Executive should be balanced one against the other.

It was not until the coming in of the House of Hanover, in 1715, that English constitution-making became of a distinctly different character. If this book shall prove to be of interest to English readers, it will be by reason of the presentation of the subject treated from an American point of view, rather than from any dis play of superior knowledge. Jancaet, 1S97. CONTENTS PAGE \ Introduction 1 Part I THE NATURE OF THE CONSTITUTION

Chapter I

\_ A Comparative View of the English and American Constitutions ........... 9 Sovereignty in the United States and in England ... 9 Simplicity and brevity of the English Constitution ... 13 Meaning of the term " Constitution " ..... 14 Sources of the Constitution . . . . . ... 16

Chapter II

The House of Commons and the Cabinet ..... 17 Meaning of the term " Parliament " . . . . . .17 The House of Lords and the Crown subject to the will of the nation ............ 18 " Election of the Commons 19 v Choosing of the Executive ........ 20 Importance of political parties ....... 24 Law-making in the House of Commons . . . 27 Financiering 29 The daily questions in the House 31

Chapter III

Checks and Balances ......... 33 N The great power of the House of Commons .... 33 v Distinct sources of power aud influence in the House and the electorate .......... 34 v Enforcement of the Constitution ...... 36 v Parliamentary procedure as a check ...... 37 CONTENTS X

Chapter IV Page

The House of Lords 40 Composition of the House • . . . . ' . . .40 Creation and duration of Peerages ...... 42 Non-democratic character of the House ..... 43 Attendance of members ........ 43 Organization and politics of the House ..... 44 The Lords a legal check upon the Commons . . . • . 45 14 Lords have coordinate power over non-Cabinet legislation 46 When the Lords must yield to the Commons .... 47 Relation of the Lords to a Conservative Cabinet ... 48 Relation of the Lords to a Liberal Cabinet .... 49 Lords may force a Liberal Cabinet to resign .... 50 Methods of securing acquiescence of the Lords .... 51 ** The House of Lords as a revisory body 53 v The " Sick Man " of the Constitution 54

Chapter V

The Crown 56 The high prerogatives of the Crown mere forms of law . . 57 X Five terms used in describing the Executive . . 59 Monarch acts only through Ministers 60 Royal prerogative in the hands of the Cabinet strengthens the democracy .......... 61 Forms of law contradict facts of the Constitution . - . .64 s House of Lords and the Senate of the United States ... 65 Power and influence remaining to the Monarch ... 66 Royal right to information 68 The Monarch must not betray his Ministers .... 69 The royal correspondence ........ 69 Influence of the Monarch still great 70 Democracy jealous of secret influence 73 Sentimental devotion to the Monarch 74 Dicey's plan for royal referendum 75 75

Chapter VI

The Ministry .......... 77 Cabinet of 1896 77 Ministers not in this Cabinet ...... 78 Permanent administrative force ..... CONTENTS XI r.\GE v Four classes of Executive officers 80 The Prime Minister . . .80 Relation of Cabinet officers to each other 82 "> Unity of the Cabinet 84 Ministers are partisans 85 Lower civil-service officers non-partisan 86 The Privy Council- 86 Its relation to the Cabinet 86 Its duties 87

Chapter VII

The Courts 89 v American courts interpret this Constitution 89 Legislative acts modified by the courts ..... 91 Common law of judicial origin 93 \ English courts protect the citizen against the Executive ; American, against the Legislature 93 Personal rights of Englishmen dependent on judicial decisions . 94 House of Lords as a court . . .96 Judicial Committee of the Privy Council 98 The Supreme Court of Judicature ...... 99 The County Courts 100 Quarter Sessions . . . 101

Chapter VIII

The Church 103 Bishops in the House of Lords ....... 103 The Established Church and other churches .... 104 Disestablishment 105

Chapter IX

Sources of the Constitution 107 The courts as one source 107 s Blackstone's view 108 > Changes in the Constitution ....... 109 » Conflict between law and Constitution 110 v In what sense is the Constitution old ? . . . . .111 > An outgrowth of English history ...... CONTENTS Part II GROWTH OF THE CONSTITUTION

Chapter X Page

Sources of Power and Influence in the Norman Period . 117 Comparison with the present Constitution . . . . .117 Crown overshadowed all ....... 118 Conditioned by the barons 119 By the Church 121 By the people 122 Importance of local government 124 The Crown described ......... 124 Nobility 125 Church 126 Teaching function of the Church ...... 127 The people 128 Towns and cities ......... 129 Origin of juries .......... 129 Thefyrd 130 Political parties 131

Chapter XI

Early Contention and Strife 133 The King and the national assembly ...... 133 Feudal dues .......... 135 Danegeld and other taxes 136 Revenues of the Church ........ 137 William II. crowned 138 Supported by the English 139 Weakness of the Great Council 140 Anselm and the King ........ 141 Henry I. and the national assembly 143

Chapter XII

Royal Rule by Means of the Council 145 The Curia Regis ......... 145 Stephen and the Church 147 Henry II. crowned CONTENTS XIII Development of the Curia Regis 149 Becket resists the King 150 Constitutions of Clarendon 151 Death of Becket 151 Notable barons' war 152 Comparison with earlier and later Constitution . . . 154 Justices of the Peace 157

Chapter XIII

Magna Ciiarta 158 Ten years of strife 159 The appointing of an archbishop 160 John becomes the Pope's vassal 161 At Runnymede 162 The Charter as a harmonizing agency 162 Items in the Charter 163 Its practical nature 164 Meaning of terms used . 164 Fifteen years of Charter privilege 167

Chapter XIV

The Power of the Crown regained by Means of Parliament 169 Alliance between Henry III. and the Pope . 169 Efforts to control the ministers 170 The Provisions of Oxford ........ 171 Parliament as a field for contending factions .... 172 Edward I. regains confidence of the people .... 173 Organization of courts ........ 174 The Model Parliament 176 Earlier and later Parliament 177 The King defies the clergy and yields to the barons . . . 179

Chapter XV

Parliament as an Agency of Faction 182 Edward II. and the Ordainers ....... 182 The Commons share in legislation ...... 183 Edward III. and the militia ....... 183 ""^Separation of Parliament into two Houses . .... 184 The Good Parliament of 1376 CONTENTS PAGE Richard II. and the Peasants' Revolt . . . . .188 The King and the Lords Appellant ...... 189 The King deposed 190 Local government 191 Liveries and social conditions 192 The High Courts 193 The Privy Council 194

Chapter XVI

The Nobility weakened by Faction ...... 196 The Lancastrians ......... 196 Events leading to the Wars of the Roses ..... 196 The position of the Church 197 Henry IV. and Parliament ....... 197 The limitation of the franchise, 1431 199 Wars of the Roses -. 200 Effect upon the Crown ........ 201 Constitutional forms 202

Chapter XVII

Early Training for Democracy ....... 204 Form and substance in the Constitution 204 Courts tended to limit lawlessness ...... 205 Diversity of industries ........ 205 Various organizations among the people ..... 206 Their relation to Democracy ....... 208 Democracy of the modern type of recent origin . . . 209 Swiss democracy . . . . . . . .211

Chapter XVIII

Henry VII. ......... 213 The Tudor century and the growth of Parliament . . . 213 Henry VII. as a chief constable 215 Henry and the Star Chamber 216 Tudor dependence upon the middle classes .... 217 Their financial policy CONTENTS XV

Chapter XIX Page

Henry VIII. and the Reformation 220 The reign characterized by great changes 220 Henry and his great minister 221 Utopia and democratic ideas ....... 221 Industrial changes ......... 222 Effects of religious controversy upon the people . . . 223 Resistance to taxation 224 Independent leadership of lords and clergy ceases . . . 226 Growth of public opinion 227 Henry VIII. reflects the religious opinion of his age . . . 228 Importance of the House of Commons 229 Infatuation for law ......... 230 The Commons a tool of the King 231

Chapter XX

Religious Dissension and the Growth of the House of Commons 234 Protestant rule of Edward VI. followed by the Catholic rule of Mary 235 Relative strength of parties at the death of Mary . . . 235 Elizabeth leaves England Protestant ...... 236 Prejudice against the Pope 237 Character of Elizabeth ........ 238 Her relation to parties 239 Elizabeth and the House of Commons ..... 239 Literature and industrial changes ...... 241 The Constitution at the close of the Tudor century . . . 242 Growth of the House of Commons 243 Increased importance of Privy Council 245

Chapter XXI

The Crown and the House of Commons 247 Comparison between Tudors and Stuarts 247 The England of the Stuarts . . ... . . .248 The early Stuarts and their supporters 250 Supporters of the House of Commons 252 Conflicting theories of the Constitution 253 James I. in Scotland . CONTENTS XVI PAGE Divine-right theories of King and Church 255 Pretensions of the Commons 256 Their position strengthened by the divine-right theory . 259 Conflicting theories reconciled in the Cabinet .... 260

Chapter XXII

The Early Stuarts and the Courts 261 The Bates case 261 Naturalization of Scottish residents 262 Chief Justice Coke 262 The Star Chamber and other courts 263 The House of Commons a court 264 Impeachment .......... 265 Ministerial responsibility ........ 266 Bills of attainder 266

Chapter XXIII

A Sovereign King versus a Sovereign Parliament . . . 268 The power of the purse . 268 James's theory of finance 269 The theory of the Commons 269 Superior position of the Commons 270 Petition of Right 271 The King as a law-breaker ........ 272 The Petition compared with Magna Charta .... 273

Chapter XXIV

Religious Controversy 274 Puritans and Presbyterians ....... 275 Attempted compromise 276 James's friendship for Spain ....... 277 The Puritans and the Bible 277 Archbishop Laud ......... 278 Thomas Wentworth 279 Scottish policy of Charles 280 Ship-money 281 Parliament of 1640 . CONTENTS XVII

Chapter XXV Page

Toleration and Democracy 283 Self-restraint of the common people 283 Democracy an unattained ideal 284 Toleration in the Church of the Middle Ages .... 285 The Covenant adopted by Parliament 286 Toleration and the army 287 Presbyterian Church government not democratic . . . 288 Independents and Baptists democratic 288 Political debate favourable to democracy . . . . . 289

Chapter XXVI

The Rebellion and the Commonwealth ..... 291 First acts of the Long Parliament 291 The Grand Remonstrance 292 Beginning of war ......... 292 Oliver Cromwell and his army 293 Contributions of the Commonwealth to the Constitution . . 294 Permanent division in the Church 297

Chapter XXVII

The Monarchy of the Restoration 299 Difficulty between King and Parliament unsettled . . . 299 Charles II. and James II. refuse to limit Royal Prerogative . 300 Reaction from Puritan restraints 301 The Commons of England versus the common people . . 302 Non-conformists become Dissenters 303 Acts against Dissenters 303 Ministers of Charles II 304

Chapter XXVIII

The Beginnings of Political Parties. ..... 306 Early divisions 306 Principles of the two parties 307 Conflict between Danby and Shaftesbury 308 " Petitioners " and " Abhorrers " 309 Triumph of the King 310 Reorganization of municipal corporations ..... 310 Rye House Plot CONTENTS

Chapter XXIX Page

The Tyranny of James II 312 James a high Tory ......... 312 He secures obedient courts ........ 313 Fails to secure an obedient Parliament 314 Declaration of Indulgence 314 Acquittal of the bishops 315 William of Orange invited by Tories and Whigs to deliver them from their King 316

Chapter XXXIII

Other Acts following the Revolution ..... 333 The Jacobites ......... 333 Freedom of the Press 334 Mutiny Act of 1689 335 Denial of the right of petition 336 Absolutism in the two Houses . , . ... . . CONTENTS XIX

Chapter XXXIV

» PAGE Origin of the Cabinet 338 Meaning of the term 338 Allied institutions 339 All dependent on the King 340 Growth of legislation by the two Houses 340 Conflict between King and Parliament 341 Sir William Temple's plan of government 342 Cabinets of William III 344

Chapter XXXV

Queen Anne and the Cabinet 346 Marlborough 346 Party government gains 347 Tories triumphant 348 George I. restores the Whigs to power 348 Tories out of office forty-five years 350

Chapter XXXVI

Walpole and the Cabinet 352 Parliamentary title 352 Walpole compared with Tudors 353 Harmony between Ministry and Commons 356 Bribery 357 \ The modern Cabinet compared with the Cabinet of Walpole . 359 Walpole created the office of Prime Minister .... 364 His government not democratic 367

Chapter XXXVII

Walpole's Successors 370 The Pelham Ministry 370 The King coerced 371 v Impeachment 372 Pitt's Ministry 373 George III CONTENTS XX

Chapter Xxxviii Page

Taxation and the Unrepresented Nation 375 Resistance to taxes in England and America .... 375 Taxation by Walpole 377 Peculiar conditions in America 379 Duty of resisting acts of Government 380

Chapter XXXIX

Government by a Divided Cabinet 382 Earlier and later Georges 382 Character of George III 383 Lord Bute's Ministry 384 Ministry of Lord North 385 Increased power of the Crown 386 Rockingham Ministry 387 Coalition Ministry 388 Pitt defies the Commons 388

Chapter XL

Pitt and the Cabinet 391 Secret advisers of the King 391 Failure of the Reform Bill 392 The "divine right" of the Heir Apparent 393 The French Revolution ' 394 Pitt driven from office 395 Conflict between King and Cabinet 397 Pitt restored to office 399 Catholics and Dissenters 400 Weakness of Parliament 402 Debate over the duties of the Cabinet 403

Chapter XLI

The Cabinet under George IV 407 Tory Ministry continued in office .... 407 Catholic Emancipation ina Quarrel in the royal family <08 Lord Brougham's resolution 4q9 CONTENTS XXI

Chapter XLII Page

Political Parties previous to 1832 411 Party factions 411 The " Good Men " of George III 412 The political machines in the hands of the King . . . 413 Coalition Ministry of 1782 413 Opposition to mixed ministries 414 Pitt a Tory by accident 415 Changes in party constituents 415 Transfer of population 416 Whig party never popular 417 Wilkes as a leader of mobs 418 Effects of the war with France 419 Whig doctrines 420

Chapter XLIII

Popular Movements previous to 1832 ...... 421 Early instances 422 " Society of the Friends of the People " 422 Long period of repression 423 Macaulay's speech on the Reform Bill 423

Chapter XLIV

The Great Reform .......... 425 The Duke of Wellington 425 Changes in the law 425 Crown made subject to the Cabinet 426 The Cabinet and the early Hanoverians 426 William IV. yields to the Democracy 430 The mob gives place to Democracy 431 The Reform of 1832 a greater revolution than that of 1688 . 432 Coercion of the Lords 434 Changes in party names 435

Chapter XLV

Later Reform Movements .... ... 436 The Chartist agitation . . ■ 437 The Acts of 1867 and 1885 438 Civil service reform of 1857 438 Municipal Corporations Act CONTENTS

Chapter XLVI Page

Local Government and the Constitution 441 The people loyal to the early kings 441 Decline of local governments 443 Advantages of Democracy without its responsibilities . . 444 The people always influential 445 Close corporations in towns 446 Control of boroughs by kings and magnates .... 447

Chapter XLVII

Origin of the Term "Constitution" 449 In the Charter of Virginia, 1609 449 Penn uses the term in the modern sense 450 Algernon Sidney and James Harrington 451 Constitutions of Clarendon 452 Burnet's illustration 452 Peculiar use in the eighteenth century 453 The Leviathan of Hobbes 454 Locke's Civil Government 455 The influence of the contract theory 456 Blackstone 458 Constitution adored by all parties 460

Chapter XLVIII

Burke and the Constitution 461 Constitution as a sentimental bond 461 Burke attacks the Influence of the King 463 Encourages the Americans 463 Appeal to the People 464 Burke not a Democrat 466 His application of the contract theory 467 A new divine-right theory 468 Definition of " The People " 469 The Constitution apotheosized 470 Both changes dreaded by Burke have been adopted . . . CONTENTS XXIII

Magna Charta 487 The Petition of Right, 1628 497 The Habeas Corpus Act, 1679 500 Bill of Rights, 1689 508 The Act of Settlement, 1700

Introduction

HE American lives under a constitution which he -*- thinks he understands. He reads it. As a school boy he often commits it to memory. He knows when and how it was made. In the course of his life he learns many facts about the agencies of government. Many strong tendencies combine to give to the American an impression that he possesses a knowledge of his own government in advance of his actual knowledge, and to create a belief that the Constitution is more artificial than it really is. The natural and convenient corrective to these erroneous impressions and false beliefs is a study of the English origin of our own political institutions. And to keep the American citizen alive to the fact that he is subject to a living and ever-changing constitution nothing is more effective than a study, by way of comparison and contrast, of the latest developments of the Constitution of the mother-country.

In a recent work on Sir Robert Walpole, Mr. John Morley observes : " The great constitutional question of the eighteenth century, as every reader knows, was whether the government of the realm should be parliamentary or monarchical. Was it to be an absolute rule of the king ; or, as Cromwell sought, a Parliament making laws and voting money, coordinate with the Chief Person, and not meddling with the Executive ; or a Parliament contain- B l

INTRODUCTION.

■J. ing, nominating, guiding, and controlling its own Executive ? " 1 Apart from the absolute monarchy there are here recog nized two distinct forms of free government. America to-day represents one form, and England is the best repre sentative of the other form. The Chief Person in the United States is the President of the Republic, and it is the business of Congress to make laws, to vote money, and not to meddle with the Executive ; while in each State the Chief Person is the Governor of the State, and it is the business of the State Legislature to make laws, vote sup plies, and not meddle with the Executive. The American colonies were founded during the cen tury in which there was continuous discussion of the nature of the English Constitution — the century in which there were many efforts made to change in an artificial way the English government.

All such efforts at conscious artificial alteration failed, and the English Constitution, as Americans would say, was allowed to drift. Or, as the English are wont to say, after the century of debate and attempted revolution the English Constitution went on growing and developing in its characteristic, normal way. In America the normal way for a constitution to be made or changed is by a conscious act of the people, and this idea has been emphasized in such a way as to tend to ob scure the equally important fact of the unconscious growth and development of the American Constitution. In no way can the American citizen so conveniently and so profitably gain the needed sense of the natural growth of his own Constitution independently of all efforts at con scious amendment, as by following out and studying the results of such change in the other branch of the common constitutional stem. This work on the English Constitution has grown out 1 Walpole, p. 139.

INTRODUCTION.

3 of efforts to assist American students to a better under standing of the constitution of their own government. In order to secure in the mind of an American student a continued interest in a constitution he must at least be made to believe that it is being explained. It is a fundamental element in his notion of a constitution that it is something to be commented upon and explained. To the Englishman the Constitution of his country is simply an undistinguished part of that universe of which he is him self a part. He has no acute sense of the need of an explanation of the one more than of the other. Many British writers have done admirable and useful work in explaining the present English Constitution, just as many of them have taken a leading part in the scientific ex planation of the universe.

But it is not to be expected that an English author would furnish such a commentary upon his own government as would be in all respects suited to the needs of the average American. In the same chapter of Mr. Morley's life of Walpole, from which I have already quoted, are found the words : "To-day it is correct to say that the Cabinet has drawn to itself all, and more than all, of the royal power over legislation, as well as many of the most important legislative powers of Parliament." How is it that a Parliament " contains, nominates, guides, and controls its own Execu tive," while at the same time the Executive has drawn to itself all, and more than all, the royal power over legislation, as well as many of the most important legislative powers of Parliament ? To the English statesman, or to the American, whose acquaintance with the political liter ature of England has enabled him to use words in the English sense, the question suggests no difficulty — he sees nothing to be explained. Parliament is the name of the united government exercising sovereign power — legislative and executive as well. It is, however, a cus-

INTRODUCTION.

4 tomary form of speech to use the word in a more limited sense as applied to the two Houses apart from the Execu tive. So to the Briton there is an obvious sense in which the Cabinet controls the two Houses, and likewise an obvious sense in which the two Houses control the Cab inet. But to the ordinary American reader Parliament is but one of a multitude of names for a legislative body, and with him it is a cardinal principle that a legislature shall not meddle with the Executive. There is, of course, no difficulty in understanding the bare fact that the Parliament contains the chief executive officers. But the American sense of the word Parliament, and the American sympathy with and prejudice in favour of the parliamentary party, as presented in English history and jn the political writings of Englishmen which Americans read with approval, all tend to give undue emphasis to the importance of the two Houses apart from the Execu tive, and to obscure the actual relations of the Cabinet and the Crown to the Houses.

Only since the formation of the American Union can it be said that Parliament has in any proper sense habitu ally nominated, guided, and controlled the Executive. Parliament has always in a manner contained the Execu tive ; but until recent years it would be much nearer the truth to say that the Executive habitually nominated, guided, and controlled the House of Commons, than that the House chose and controlled the Executive. The dominance of the House of Commons has been attained only after centuries of political conflict ; centuries of contention that Parliament, or the nation as represented in Parliament, ought to rule. The triumph of Parlia ment has been secured in large part because of the fact that the English political writing with which Americans are most familiar has emphasized, often beyond the line of accurate statement, the powers of Parliament as

INTRODUCTION.

5 compared with those of the Crown. And the peculiar difficulty which the American reader experiences in understanding the executive side of Parliament is there fore rather increased by his acquaintance with this partisan political literature. Those who read attentively such books as Bagehot's English Constitution, Anson's Laiv and Custom of the Constitution, and Dicey's Introduction to the Study of the Law of the Constitution, get a clear idea of the work ing of the present Constitution. But an American reader is not satisfied with knowing what a constitution is ; he wants also to know how it was made. In this work I have undertaken first to translate into American forms of speech English descriptions of the English Constitution, and second to explain the origin of the present Constitution.

I have not intended to furnish in any sense a substitute for English works on the same subject, but rather to facilitate their use. The work is in fact the result of experience in the effort to interest American college students in the study of standard authorities on the English government. The Second Part of my book is not a constitutional history of England in the accepted meaning of the term. It is rather a commentary on that history. It is a selection of such facts, incidents, and opinions as I believe to be helpful to an understanding of the present Constitution. In the ordinary constitutional history the point of view is from the contemporary society of each period described. In such a history events are recorded without especial reference to their obvious bearing upon present political experience.

In this work the point of view is present facts and experience. Events in the past not having obvious bearing upon the present Constitution are intentionally omitted. This plan necessitates "tracing history backwards." It is a use of political literature for

INTRODUCTION.

6 the single purpose of explaining present political institu tions in their practical workings. The aim is to make the existing Constitution thinkable. A thinkable consti tution must necessarily precede a correctly understood constitution. It is by no means expected that all the views and opinions here expressed will be accepted as correct by that class of readers who take the trouble to think for themselves upon the subjects discussed. I have written the book without attempting a formal, technical definition of the principal term. It may, how ever, be helpful to the reader to accept the following as a convenient working definition : A political constitution is that whereby the instrumentalities and potvers of government are distributed and harmonized. If there is any peculiar merit in this definition apart from its brevity, it is found in the words "that whereby."