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LECTURE 20 Condition and attributes ofthe Parliament during the reign ofEdward II (IJ07-IJ27). ~ Empire offavourites. ~ Struggle ofthe barons against the favourites. _, Aristocraticfactions. ........_, Petitions to the king. ........_, Forms ofdeliberations on this subject. ........_, Deposition ofEdwardII INorder to explain the manner in which the British Parliament was formed, I have found it necessary, up to this point, to follow history step by step-to enter into all the details, and to collect all the facts, that might serve as proofs either ofits existence, or ofits participation in public affairs. I have now another object to attain, and I must therefore pursue another course. The Parliament is now definitively formed; and ifl were to continue to narrate all the facts which relate to it, and to keep a register, as it were, ofall its acts, I should write the history of the country, and not that of its institutions. What I am seeking to describe , is the development of representative government; and I shall avoid all questions unconnected with this object. The extension which the Parliament received, the revolutions which it underwent-in a word, its personal and internal life, will constitute the subject to which our attention must be directed. On considering the reign ofEdward I. from a political point ofview, it is evident that, notwithstanding the agitations by which it was disturbed, there was, during that reign, some wholeness and unity in the exercise ofpower. Edward was a firm and capable prince, who well knew how to concentrate and direct the various forces ofsociety; in him, the State possessed a centre and a chief Under Edward II., the English government lost all solidity and unity: no intelligent and determined will presided over it; the nation had no rallying-point; the string ofthe bundle was broken; all forces and all passions were displayed at hap-hazard, and came into conflict upon the interests ofindividuals or factions. In such a state ofthings, what could the Parliament be? Nothing, or next to nothing, unless it were an instrument of factions. The body of barons was then, and long continued to be, the preponderant portion ofthe assembly: the Commons, though strong enough sometimes to defend themselves when their J82 LECTURE 20 own interests were at stake, were not sufficiently powerful to interfere, in a decisive manner, in public affairs, and to become the centre ofthe government. All matters were, therefore, arranged between the court and the barons, or rather between the different factions into which the body of barons was divided. The Commons appeared in the train ofone or other party, to give their alternate triumphs the appearance ofa national adhesion, but without ever determining the course ofevents, or even modifying them in any effectual manner. The supreme power and the country were a prey to the conflicts and schisms ofthe high aristocracy . In order clearly to demonstrate that such was the state ofinstitutions and ofthe central government at this period, it will be sufficient to refer to the three principal events ofthis reign. The first is the conflict which the English barons maintained against the king, with regard to a favourite, Piers Gaveston, whom, in spite of his father's advice, Edward II. had persisted in retaining in his confidence. The favourite and his creatures absorbed all the power and advantages ofthe court; and in 1311, the barons, desiring their share ofriches and favours, after having attempted all other means for his overthrow, demanded his dismissal with arms in their hands. Their enterprise was evidently intended neither to promote the interests ofthe people nor those ofthe king; it was a revolt ofcourtiers. They fought, not to assert the inviolability of charters or rights, but to obtain the employments and treasures of a favourite. Nevertheless, they attempted to give a national colour to their rebellion. The plans and measures ofthe great rebel Parliament held at Oxford during the reign of Henry III. were revived; Lords Ordainers were appointed to reform the State; they bid for public favour by the abolition of a few abuses; they enacted that the possessors of landed property alone should be appointed sheriffs; they limited the right of purveyance, which was held by the crown; and they prohibited all grants of royal letters-patent ordering the suspension of the regular course ofjustice. But these were merely outward appearances intended to conceal the selfish egotism of the great barons; their only object was to make themselves masters of the royal authority, ofthe right ofappointing to the chiefoffices ofstate...

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