Yet by the blow that laid thee low, Shall rise our vows to Heaven! Our church and laws, your common cause,― On Evesham's plain, &c. With De Montfort fell for a time the system he had devised; but it was for a brief time only. The man who overthrew him, as he subsequently overthrew and murdered the Scottish patriot Wallace, Prince (afterwards King) Edward, and whose conscience had evidently been with De Montfort, as for some years had been his influence, now treated this great principle as he did most of the other principles against which he had fought in fighting De Montfort, their representative, he accepted them, and consolidated into law and practice much of what had been previously only parts of the written Charter. We cannot quarrel with Edward for this; but neither can we forget his previous slaughter of De Montfort, and of the patriots of England, to whom we are really indebted for what appear to be Edward's statesmanlike acts. Let us, therefore, never forget those men. How is it we do not see De Montfort's name among the list of personages who are to have statues in the new houses? Edward is to be there, and his other illustrious victim and "traitor "--Wallace; why not De Montfort? We can conceive nothing more nationally degrading than such an omission must appear to an enlightened foreigner. And it would be as meaningless as degrading. Include Hampden and Cromwell, and exclude De Montfort? The thing is too absurd. Lord Campbell well observes, that then resided; and the earl, on perceiving the king approach, gladly hastened to meet him. Saluting him most respectfully, and consoling him under his alarm in a becoming manner, he said, "Why should you be afraid, since the tempest is over?" To which the king replied, not lightly, but seriously, and with a severe countenance, "Above measure I dread thunder and lightning; but, by the hand of God! I am more in terror of thee than of all the lightning in the world." The reign of Edward I., for the reasons above shown, becomes apparently, therefore, the great epoch from which may be dated many of the more important features of our parliamentary system. The general objects of parliament were most felicitously expressed in the writs issued by Edward :--"It is a most equitable rule that what concerns all should be approved by all; and common danger repelled by united efforts." Have we really improved upon this formula? Of course we have greatly improved some parts of the practical machinery for carrying it out, so far as we have chosen to carry it out; but a more frequent reference to this first great principle, so clearly enunciated by our English historians, would even now be very beneficial, in our parliamentary deliberations. Following this enunciation of the general theory of parliament, we find the particular-and grand-essential of its practice also boldly avowed by the parliament, and frankly acknowledged by the king in the council of 1296; when, on the 1st of August, it was enacted, "that no tax should be levied without the consent of the knights, citizens, and burgesses in parliament." So De Montfort's great plan was realized; the citizens and burgesses maintained, under Edward I., and ever after, the right to a share in the representation of the country which the great earl had bequeathed to them at the price of his blood. It is interesting to mark the positions by this time taken up by these several powers. The great Council was still essentially the parliament; but had con descendingly taken advice from time to time from the knightly or free-holding body, and now they admitted to a similar privilege the representatives of the chief industrial places in the kingdom: of course for the same "Some writers have attempted to give a much earlier date to the popular representation in England, but I think without reason; for not only are no earlier writs for the election of representatives extant, but there is no trace of the existence of such a body in accounts of parliamentary proceedings, where, if it had existed, it must have been mentioned as the trial of Thomas à Becket, which is as minutely re-object in both cases, the greater convenience of taxing, ported as the impeachment of Warren Hastings. The great council of the nation hitherto consisted of the prelates and barons, assisted by the officers of state, and the judges;" and also, occasionally, as we have seen, by the knights or freeholders. Matthew Paris gives us an interesting anecdote illustrative of the personal relations of Henry III. and De Montfort, who, it will be remembered, had married the king's sister. In July, 1258, the king, leaving his palace to dine, took a boat at Westminster; but when on the Thames the sky grew dark, and such a storm of thunder and lightning and rain came on, that the affrighted monarch, who at all times was alarmed at tempestuous weather, ordered his attendants to put him ashore. The skiff was very near the noble palace of the bishop of Durham, where the earl of Leicester (De Montfort) under such circumstances, the respective classes represented. That such was the state of things as regards all the three bodies that went to the composition of the parliament, in its more complete aspect, in the time of Edward I., is evident from the writs he issued in the 23rd year of his reign, which directed that the elected citizens and burgesses should have full power to act in behalf of the citizens and burgesses at large, separately from the county representatives, for transacting what should be ordained by the great Council, &c. But this separation of the two lesser bodies was but a temporary phase of their contemporaneous existence; the tendency of events speedily led to their amalgamation, and lo! the homely-sounding but grandly suggestive word "Commons," as applied to both knights and citizens, &c., for the first time appears in the records of 66 that great national measure of 1327, which closed the | increasing through the increase of the value of the vast infamous career of Edward II. We learn from them territories they possessed-the spoil of the Conquest, that it was by the "council and assent" of the Com- and wealth thus flowed in upon them in some shape or mons, as well as by those of the prelates, barons, &c., other, far beyond their necessary expenditure: on the that Edward II. was deposed and that Edward III. other hand, the smaller occupants of the land-the ascended the throne. Something had been obtained, knighthood or gentry generally, whose property and however, even in that disastrous reign. The parlia- revenue were more narrowly balanced, found themmentarians of that day, finding that the principles so well selves pressed upon not only by their leviathan neighset forth by the first Edward, were not bearing fruit bours, but also by the growing power of the citizens under the auspices of the second, but that on the con- and burgesses of the chief marts of English industry trary, to use their own words, many people be and commerce; who grew richer than themselves, aggrieved by the king's ministers, against right, in obtained mortgages often leading to purchases of the respect to which grievance no one can recover without knights' estates, surpassed them in general social energy a common parliament;" there was then added to the of character outvied them in wealth and in all the Great Charter, the following important law, "We do external tokens that so impress the imaginations of the order that the king shall hold a parliament once a year, semi-cultivated. Again, "knight of the shire" was or twice if need be." So that the regular executive not then, as it is now, a mere figure of speech, for any government, the routine administration of law, was sort of representative, who possesses the requisite still a thing essentially of and for the king, and for qualification of landed property, but veritable warriors, such justice among his subjects as involved no question or men fitted for war, trained in all its discipline, and of the rights and privileges belonging to-or the bound to be ready at any moment to lead forth their wrongs and oppressions done by-the king and his retainers, in whatever cause and to whatever part of the official servants: when they offended, the ordinary world the sovereign might require. Thus in the writs tribunals, however high, were closed to the injured issued for the parliament of 1373, the sheriff of every people; parliament alone could interfere to recompense county was "ordered to cause to be chosen two dubbed them for the past, and shield them for the future. knights, or the most honest, worthy, and discreet The use made of this new privilege shows its estimated esquires of the county, the most expert in feats of value during the following reign, that of Edward III., arms, and no others." Lord Campbell calls these nearly fifty parliaments were held at Westminster. In "new-fangled" writs; possibly the old rule had been one of these the popular weapon was fairly unsheathed, relaxed, but every thing goes to prove that this, if a and its force and temper tried. In 1346, Edward com- revival of an old rule, was no more. Now many of pelled every landowner, by proclamation, to furnish the gentry were doubtless by this time trying to settle horsemen and archers in proportion to his estate, while down in peace to the cultivation of their estates, and the cities and boroughs were required to furnish their were by no means inclined either to war, or to its severe staple commodity-money. The Commons petitioned and protracted preliminary training. Lastly, there was against this ordinance, as issued without their consent; the sense of humiliation in the continuous approximathe king replied it was a measure of necessity; the tion towards themselves and their power, of the men of Commons repeated their objection still more the craft, and the town. The force of this feeling urgently, and then the king promised the ordinance may be judged from a law passed in the reign of Henry should not form a precedent for future exactions. This III., enacting that "feudal lords [who were not was substantially the people's triumph. necessarily barons, or the highest class of landholders,] who marry those they have in ward to villeins or others, as burgesses, whereby they are disparaged, shall lose wardship, and the profit shall be converted to the use of the heir for the shame done to him." And now these burgesses were acknowledged a power in the state like unto themselves. And thus, at last, we see the people represented; not only by the freeholders of the land, but by the chief employers of all sorts of industrial labour in the cities and larger towns. Yet was the right so accorded anything but a pleasant one to exercise; and on the whole, knights and citizens seem to have alike looked on a seat in parliament as a thing particularly to be shunned. Each class had its own special reasons for disliking it. It was very expensive to the knights, who were not, like the citizens, supported by the places they represented. Serious changes had been going on in their position, as compared with that of the baronial body to which they in a great measure belonged. While the latter had been constantly rising, they had been apparently on the whole as constantly falling, during the progress of the mighty transformation that had been wrought in the social condition of England between the periods of the Conquest, and of the reign of Edward I. The power of the former was constantly The special causes of dislike on the part of the citizens were still more numerous and intense. To be elected was at once to become a mark, as a rich man, for the rapacious attacks of unprincipled but powerful personages of all kinds, from the king downwards. Then again, how could such an one avoid offending either the general authority on the one hand, or his own particular municipality who had elected him on the other, in the various questions that from time to time arose, as to the moneys to be contributed from his town or city, the privileges he was expected to obtain, the wrongs to have redressed, and so on? Doubtless he would choose on the whole the patriotie side, and stand by his fellows; and then also, doubtless, fines and forfeitures would, at every possible opportunity, be rained upon his devoted head, with occasionally, perhaps, a taste of the air in the dungeon of some one of the king's castles. Then there were execrable roads to be traversed, and for distances in those days enormous; good businesses to be left to injury in the hands of subordinates at home, while voting away perhaps no inconsiderable portion of the profits already accumulated by hard industry and indomitable perseverance. Lastly, there was the bitter sense of contempt to bear up against. If the knights felt degraded to come near them, what must they have felt? Hume, commenting on the position of the citizens and burgesses, the progenitors of our present all-powerful middle class, says, "they composed not, properly speaking, any essential part of the Parliament; they met apart both from the barons and knights, who disdained to mix with such mean personages: after they had given their consent to the taxes required of them, their business being now finished, they separated, even though the Parliament still continued to sit and to canvass the national business." This passage requires, however, to be understood with considerable modification, if it be applied to any lengthened period even of early parliamentary history. For in 1349, we find that Edward III. specially asked the advice of the Commons about his going to war with France; which, after a debate of four days, they declined to give, saying they were not able, and desiring the king to be advised by his nobles and council, and that, whatever they should determine, the Commons would confirm: an instructive passage, and not at all a difficult one to read. The king wanted as much money and war material as he could get, which objects would of course be most effectually served by making the war popular with those who were to supply his wants. On the other hand, the Commons evidently desiring not to promote the proposed war, but knowing they had no actual power to prevent it, took the most prudent and conciliatory way of letting their opinions be known. Clearly, however, here were the Commons sitting, in Hume's own words, to canvass the national business;" but how that privilege would become a right they may not have cared to speculate; and certainly they could not ever dream of the portentous power they were really beginning to found. And so everything relating to expressions of their feeling on the subject of M.P.-ship, that has been recorded, is in the same strain-great unwillingness to serve great efforts made to be relieved when singled out to serve, and doubtless great exuberance of joy at the escape when their efforts were successful. One fact speaks trumpet-tongued upon this matter; sureties had to be given for the attendance of the persons chosen. 66 The writs of 1373, before named, as pointing out that knights were really to be worthy of their name, proceeds with equal precision to point out what sort of persons should be elected for cities and boroughs; there were to be from every city two citizens, and of every borough two burgesses, discreet and sufficient, and such as had the greatest skill in shipping and merchandising. Lord Campbell commenting on this says, "There was no open exclusion of lawyers any more than of non-combatant country gentlemen; but no individual of either class could well be brought within either category in the writ." Evidently the theory was very clear, simple, and profound; knights and (knights in embryo) the squires to deal with the military requisitions of the kingdom, citizens and burgesses to deal with its trade and commerce. Compare these with the great number and immense influence of the various classes that now claim, and successfully, to be represented in parliament; and which, as a whole, disturb, nay almost shut out, the idea so grand in its simplicity, so healthful in its unity of interest, the people itself, independent of all classes. It is curious how often we go back, while very earnestly desiring to go more rapidly forward; and of course if the truth is behind us, there can be no better course. Thus the principle of payment of members, which many are striving to establish now, was an old and thoroughly established principle with our forefathers. Doubtless it was intended to lessen the extreme unwillingness to serve, that so often exhibited itself on the part of representatives, as well as to bear, in a spirit of justice, those expenses which the individual could not. It does not seem to have struck our ancestors, that the way to get over the difficulty, in the way of the people's being duly represented, was to require that all their representatives should be rich men. The payment of a knight of the shire, varied from three to five shillings a day, and that of a citizen, from two to three shillings-equivalent possibly to as many pounds of our money. Expenses for going to and returning from parliament were also defrayed. The burdens of the civic and town representatives fell upon the places they represented, which was their reason for so often petitioning to be relieved altogether from the right that they either found too costly for them, or that they fancied returned them no sufficient equivalent. The comparative number of the knightly and civic representatives, during the reign of Edward III., will surprise many of our readers; there were only 74 of the former to 282 of the latter. An unmistakeable evidence of the declension of the one class, and of the corresponding rise of the other, that had within a century or two taken place. It was only fitting that the English language should be spoken in what was now become an English parliament, and so that improvement marked the reign of the third Edward. The earliest record of any parliamentary proceeding in English, occurs in that monarch's thirty-sixth year of rule. The roll of the year is found in French as usual, but it expressly states that the cause of sum moning was declared (en Englois) in English. From this time all the proceedings were carried on in the native tongue, with the exception of the giving the royal assent to bills, "although," says Lord Campbell with covert satire, "the entry of some of those proceedings in the reign of Queen Victoria is still in Norman-French." Another improvement, dating from the reign of Edward III., was the cessation of the migratory habits of parliament. Before that time they were held wherever the sovereign found it most convenient to himself to be at the time, so that they were as often held out of as in London; but since then the occasions have been few when any other place than the existing one was chosen. The last point we shall comment on refers to the question often debated-When did the separation of the parliament into two Houses take place? The answer commonly given, and by Lord Campbell among others, is-the reign of Edward III. We believe, on the contrary, that they never did separate, inasmuch as they were never united in any other way than the two houses are now united as forming one parliament; or at least, with only this difference, that occasionally the knights in the earlier period of parliamentary history, and subsequently the knights and burgesses, or "Commons," were allowed to participate in certain deliberations of the great council, and apparently in the same chamber. But that was the extraordinary not the ordinary state of things. The question put should, in fact, merge into another-when did the sittings of the Commons become sufficiently regular, and the subject matter of deliberation sufficiently wide in its scope, and their determinations enjoy sufficient respect, as to really constitute them a practical part of the parliament? A question, obviously, not to be answered by a reference to any particular date; for their power not only advanced slowly but fitfully, with alternate successes and failures. But there is one event that we think may be taken as really simultaneous with the recognition of their existence as an independent-and in that sense separate-body,-the election of a Speaker, which took place for the first time, so far as we know, in the year 1377. Certainly from that period we find the Commons exercising an important, and, on the whole, an increasing influence on the destinies of the country. In the reign of Elizabeth, we find the Commons quarrelling with their former masters, the Lords, for failing in civility to them, by receiving their messages with their hats on, and by allowing the Keeper to return an answer in the same negligent manner; but the Lords stood upon the 66 custom" and "usage of parliament," and so the matter ended. We must not attempt to enter into the subsequent history of Parliament. Such periods as that of the Civil War,-such events as those of the attempted abolition of the House of Lords by the Commons, the visit of Charles I. in the hope of arresting the five members who had offended him, the famous dissolution by Cromwell, &c., are, we think, best left in their own stern simplicity, by the briefest possible mention, unless more space could be devoted to them than is here at our disposal, or requisite for the fulfilment of our object, which is to describe the House of Parliament-not its history; although we have thought an episodical account of the early growth of such a power, may be useful in itself, and calculated to enhance the reader's interest in the place devoted to it. And now we are once more before the entrance, or north front of Westminster Hall; a part added to Rufus's original edifice by Richard II. We need not describe it; our engravings will make it familiar to those who are not already well acquainted with it. Let us enter, and in so doing, recall, in memory, the leading incidents of its history. An inexhaustible topic! So rich, various, and eventful, have been the uses of the Hall. Thus, looked at as the Banquetting Hall, we remember that here have taken place nearly all the coronation feasts of England, as well as many other feasts, involving even still more attractive features for those whose love of the past is based essentially on their enjoyment of its picturesqueness of incident. Parliaments used for some time to sit here. Here Cromwell was inaugurated. And here have taken place the chief state-trials of Englandincluding those of Sir Thomas More, the illustrious author of Utopia,'-Lady Jane Grey's relatives,Elizabeth's favourite Essex, and his friend Southampton,-Stafford,-Laud,-and, most tremendous of all, Charles I.,-the seven bishops,-Kilmarnock and his coadjutors in the rebellion of the last century,—and Warren Hastings. What events-all to have taken place within these same four walls that stretch around us! Could we but revive the echoes of the voices that have swelled forth within them in tones of the deepest pathos, most fervent indignation, most lofty eloquence, how one's heart would almost cease to beat, while we listened! Even now we seem to hear King Charles' startling Ha! reverberating through the place, as the word Traitor! was applied to him in the indictment. There is little to describe in Westminster Hall. Its two grand features are the size-239 feet long, 68 feet wide, and 90 feet high-and the roof of timber, formed into a continuous series of great arches, a work of almost unrivalled elaboration and magnificence. It is of oak, and very old. The superincumbent angels who look down from the bases of the central arches seem to have kept true watch and ward over it. Mr. Barry, who is repairing the hall in various parts, is, we believe touched with the true feeling of reverence for this almost sacred spot, and wishes but to conserve not alter. The chief novelties are these:-the window facing the entrance, at the other extremity, has given place to an enormous arch, embracing nearly the whole space from floor to roof, and beneath which rises a broad magnificent staircase, now in course of erection. On either side of this staircase rise two gigantic pedestals for statues. If the shades of great men are permitted to revisit us, it must make them shiver to think of being mounted in effigy on such a base. A man must be very great indeed, to deserve to be immortalised there. The other change is the opening a new archway in the left or eastern wall, which leads into a low corridor profusely decorated, presently winding, and growing richer and richer at every step, until the very walls seem ornament-shaped into and answering for walls, rather than walls made ornamental, and so at last we arrive at a spot where the way divides into three; the door on the left opening into the Star Chamber Court, which will be the Commons' chief entrance, a staircase in front, leading up to their house, and on the right the Cloisters, a perfect blaze of architectural light. The richness here surpasses all belief that the eye itself does not suggest and confirm. The roof, a perfect marvel of sportive play in stone, is ancient, but the continuous row of windows that look into, and as it were, enclose the cloister court, are for the most part restorations. Projecting into the court beyond the inner outline of the cloister walls and windows, is an antique looking building, the Oratory of the old convent, entered from the cloisters by a curious, old, very monkish-looking sort of door, with stained glass above. Within it are niches with rich canopies, and a roof still more elaborately beautiful, (in the same style,) than that of the cloisters itself. The view from this cloister court is extraordinarily fine. Exquisite beauties surround you closely at the base; the exterior of St. Stephen's Hall rises above; also the gigantic Central Tower contrasting with one of the light towers for ventilation; and lastly, you see the upper portion of Westminster Hall, with its flying buttresses; all these are comprised within the horizon of this little court. While here we must not forget to look into St. Stephen's Crypt, the former basement story of St. Stephen's Chapel, the old House of Commons; and which is about to be restored and converted into a place of worship for the residents of the new pile: a happy idea. There will be doubtless many participants with them from beyond the walls. Returning now to Westminster Hall, and ascending as well as we may, over the great brick arches that are to support the grand staircase, we pass beneath the enormous arch we have spoken of, which nearly occupies the whole height and breadth of the Hall, and find ourselves in a porch of the same breadth, and the entire |