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Untitled Article
Nay , led on unwittingly by the mention of the ancient republics , he tells us in a breath , that " they were us aristocraticalcommacities as any that flourished in the middle ages . The Demos of Athens was an oligarchy living upon slaves / ' The truth slips out ine
. identification is confessed . lhe nominal objects of the most glowing praise and of the fiercest vituperation are blended together , in a confusion which never happened to the expression of real feeling . V ^ e alluded to a second assumption which pervades this publication . It is , that " The House of Commons is not the House
of the People ; that it never was intended to be the House of the people , and that , if it be admitted to be so by courtesy , or become so in fact , it is all over with the English Constitution . " ( p . 207 . ) Whose house , then , is it?—if we may be permitted to ask such a question , without being deemed too inquisitive into private concerns ? The author condescends to inform us that the
"Commons ' are not the commonalty , the people , or the nation , but a " privileged order , " as much so as the Lords , only rather more numerous , and so they meet by their representatives . And to these "two orders" the English Constitution "has confided the Legislature of the realm / ' It was very kind , no doubf , tne
or English Constitution to make tins provision for us . It has "done good by stealth" for many an age ; and will perhaps " blush to find it fame" in the pages of " Runnymede . " How well the secret has been kept ! The author assures us that his Majesty ' s present ministers are in ignorance of the fact ; and we believe him . Nor did the Tories know till he told them .
Moreover , now that he Las told them , and demonstrated the constitutional right of the minority to rule and tax the majority , he lets out that they do not exactly know what to make of it . " Ihere are well-disposed persons that tremble at this reasoning-. " "
Believe and tremble , " we presume , like certain Tories of old . Former Whigs , former Tories , former Legislatures , and all previous writers on the Constitution , lived and died in blank ignorance of this grand revelation . The irregularities of the system were
always palliated by some talk about " virtual representation , " or " identity of interests , " or " trusteeship and responsibility of the electors ; " pleas all founded upon the heresy which Iluniiymede has arisen to explode . Holding , ourselves , with roval Edward and his annual Parliaments , that " laws which bind all should
be assented toby all , " we ask , in our author ' s words , —" some 300 , 000 individuals sent up , at the last general election , their representatives to Westminster ; well , are these 800 , 000 persons the people of England ? " And with liim we answer , No . For ourselves we add , except by a legal fiction ; which legal fiction is a constitutional principle that has made some advances towards becoming a literal fact , and will in time complete the transforma-
Untitled Article
Letters of Runnynxede . 545
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1836, page 545, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2661/page/21/
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