The Representative History of Great Britain an Ireland; being a History of the House of Commons, and of the Counties, Cities, and Boroughs, of the United Kingdom, from the earliest Period. By T. H. B. Oldfield. Six volumes. Price £3 12s. London, Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy. 1816.

try, they might, properly enough, perhaps, have insisted on the immutability of their institutions; but, if the circumstances of their country, like all other things under heaven, were the subjects of vicissitude, on what principle could they indulge the imagination that their descendants should refrain from all change, whether with design to improve the political system generally, or with design to adopt it to events rising fresh with every shifting age? In fact, the antients never entertained notions so absurd: and those who look back to past ages, wishing to enjoy parts of what, in their imagination, was good, must allow us to say, that unless they are willing to take the whole, as things then stood, their appeal is entitled to little attention.

When the violence of the French Revolution burst on the astonished world, those who were but partially informed on the probable consequences, proclaimed their rapturous expectations without reserve. Instead of waiting to witness the course it might take, they called on all nations to imitate the example, and change---or, in the party language of the day, to reform the tyranny under There is every reason to believe that which they groaned. It cannot be dethe States of Europe, in what the Ronied, by any rational mind, that the fluctuating course of human affairs, in-mans-and we from them, have been variably brings with it a variety of imperfections and weaknesses: neither can it be denied, that the energies of the human intellect are constantly employed in counteracting this principle of deterioration, by endeavouring to convert it to advantage. Times change, and with them manners.

pleased to call their barbarous state, discussed their national affairs in national assemblies. This we learn from Tacitus; and there are remains of these institutions in Germany, Bohemia, Hungary, and other countries to this day.

When the army of the Franks passed the Rhine, the monarch consulted the It was not to be expected that our army on measures to be taken. That own constitution, especially the popular these measures were made known to the part of it, the representative, should whole, as Gregory of Tours says, in escape from this phrenzy of reforma-universis Leudis tam sublimibus quàm tion; and the publication before us was pauperibus, of all ranks, high aud then compiled with a view to forward the low, is credible enough; though it cangood work of restoring it, to what the not be thought that the voice of the writer supposed it to be, many centuries chiefs was not predominant in the issue. ago. If the purpose had been honest, And we find the monarch answering to and the conduct of the author had been a proposal of importance, that he must consult the general assembly of the Frank people, before he could give a determinate answer. The admission of the Bishops somewhat varied the compo sition of the States General, but did not greatly change it.

impartial, we should have hailed the communication with joy. But, the purpose could not be pronounced honest, in the sense of benevolent, till it had been proved, that what was suitable to the state of society and of the country, in antient times, is suited to the state of the country now. Our forefathers might, with the greatest propriety, establish proceedings and principles for themselves they were competent judges * Conventum nobilium debere eum of their then situation, and of the pur-aggregare Francorum, et communi statu poses they intended to answer. Could de omnibus consulere rebus: se vero they also have conferred immutabilityjudicio illorum, in omnibus pariturum, on the then circumstances of their coun- nec preceptis promisit obstaturum.

When Pepin desired to divide his dominions between Carloman and Charlemagne, he convoked an Assembly of the

Franks, and the Bishops, at St. Denis. | others but possessors of land, who could The Assembly consented, and the par- claim the legislative and judicial privi. tition was made: but, the Bishops were leges. Arts and commerce had not then now summoned as lords of territory, in created other ranks to assume the exaddition to their spiritual character. In ercise of this invaluable blessing.". 806 Charlemagne also desired to divide "As land was the only original posseshis Realm; but, not without the univer- sion of our Saxon ancestors, it was this sal consent of his people :---ut plenitur species of property alone, which could omnes consentire debeant. Aud when entitle them to the right of freemen." in 813, he wished to place the Imperial Now, if he thinks proper to annul arts crown on the head of his son, Louis le and commerce, and to reduce all proDébonnaire, he held a national assem-perty to that of land alone, as in the bly at Aix la Chapelle, in which he de-Saxon times, then let him fairly restore manded from each member individually, the Saxon constitution, as a proper acwhether it was his pleasure that he should confer the title of Emperor on his Son? Having received a unanimous answer, Yes, he pronounced him his associate in the empire; and directed him to go to the Altar, and take the crown from off it, and place it on his head. "This was to shew," says Mezerai," that he held it from God, by the voice of his people."

But, it cannot be imagined, that every individual of the French people could assist at St. Denis, or at Aix la Chapelle, or at any other council, though called General: the chiefs or principals, the leading personages, only, could transact the business, really; and this appears, as history gradually opens on us, with further particulars. So Louis VIII. speaks of the advice and consent of his Archiepiscoporum, Episcoporum, Comitum, Baronum, et Militum regni Franciae;---in which list, however, the military, not the populace, the landholders, not the husbandmen, are the parties considered. And much the same was the estimation of ranks, in our own island: those Britons to whom it is customary to trace up principles, differed little or nothing from their continental neighbours.

companiment to his favourite state of things. But, that he will persuade the present, or any succeeding generation, to realize a dream so destructive, can excite no apprehension, even among the most ignorant.

The character Mr. Oldfield gives of the Saxons, as a band of robbers, obtaining settlements by violence, at the expense of the original possessors, the Britons, is little calculated to raise favourable anticipations of the purity of their institutions, political or legislative. That what they had acquired by rapine they would secure by enactment, cannot be doubted; but, in the mean while, what became of the rights and privileges of that prior population, which they allowed to remain among them? What was good for the Saxons, was surely bad for the Britons; what established these, most certainly subjugated those: and, as to the principle of universal suffrage, supposing it might, by possibility, extend to the lords and masters, the conquerors, the Saxons; did it include the labourers, the menials, the Britons?

Mr. Oldfield is desirous of displaying an acquaintance with the state of the Britons before the arrival of the Saxons; and he talks of Hu the mighty, the Cymri, and Dyonwal Maelmwd, as if he believed, or could persuade his reader to believe, that he understood the subject on which he discourses. No such thing; and, to supply a part of his deficiency, we adduce the following evidence, from Roberts's Chronicle of the | Kings of Britain.---Appendix, No. V. mode, and improvements upon this mode, The following Triad exhibits the original of collecting the popular suffrages, in order

to obviate the difficulty of assembling the whole population. "There are three ways of enacting and confirming those laws, which are obligatory on the country in general.

"1. By a General Assembly of Cymru Paramount, that is, a general assembly of the heads of claus, and families, and freeholders from all the districts, territories. kingdoms, and departments of the Cymry. For Cymru Paramount denotes but one And this court shall country, one nation make, abrogate, or amend laws, according as occasion shall require, by general opinion, judgment, and assent.'

rate ratification of Cymru Paramount; and
a law so ratified will be the law of every
country, territory, kingdom, court, place of
worship and district; and equal in force
as if it had been confirmed by a Geueral
Assembly; and requires no appeal to the
constitutional law of the country. For the
constitutional law says, It has had the as-
sent and consent of Cymru Puramount, and
therefore it is established. For if no appeal
be made within the three years and three
days, it shall be held that country, and dis-
trict, clan, and allied clan, ratify it, since
no one can plead ignorance of that which
shall have thus been lawfully proclaimed
as to time and place, whether in a sove-
reign dominion, an inferior kingdom, or
separate government; and the opportunity
and power of opposing it, or suggesting
amendment, has been given."

"There are three National Sessions by
1. The
privilege in the island of Britain.
Session of the Bards, which is the most an-

"The second is by a confederate Assem bly of a country or territory. That is to say, when the court of the government of a country or territory unanimously desires a new law, or the amendment, or abrogation of a law; notice of it shall be given, by proclamation, to all the courts within the territories of Cymru Paramount, cient in dignity. 2. The Session of Counin order that such law may be amended, enacted, or abrogated, as it shall in justice try and Lord. That is to say, a court of or reason be deemed requisite, Thus the law, consisting of a general assembly of process shall be carried on, through all the judges, and constitutional assessors. And S The Session of Union and Maintenance. courts and clans, till their decision be That is to say, a session of country and known, and their common assent be ob-district, consisting of rulers, chiefs of clans, tained, without opposition, and without objection. When this is obtained, the courts and sessions shall be advertised, by procia'mation, of the time when the three years of notice shall terminate; and the Confederate Assembly shall meet at the end of the three years. This is called GORSEDD GYFALLWY, and it shall go on through allment of privilege and privilege, for the the governments, and its decision be equivalent to that of the general assembly of Cymru Paramount."

"The third mode of enacting or abrogating a law, by the full authority of country and clan, is by provisional proclamation and advertisement of it, until there be a Confederate Assembly. That is to say, that whatever be the intention as to a law, it is necessary in order to ratify such intention, that it be publicly proclaimed, for one year and a day, by cry of country and district, in every court and place of worship; every fair, and market, and every other re

and men of wisdom, from country and dis trict, for the purpose of enacting general laws, to be observed in, or between, country and district, or adjoining country, by and with the assent and consoat of country and country, ruler and ruler, and the agree

sake of peace and justice. And this shall bind all parties. No weapon is to appear drawn in these sessions, or within their limits, or during their continuance." Triad 59. p. 280.

Now, we ask, what could be the nature of the law, and what the state of society, when three years might be allowed to elapse between the proposition of a public regulation and the enactment of it, by universal consent? What resemblance has this slow process to the telegraphic dispatch necessary on many points submitted to a British parliament of our own day?

gular meeting of country and district, until
the decision of every court, country, and
district be obtained, together with such
amendments, or corrections, as may be ap;
proved of by country and district, and
there is no farther opposition. And when
this is known, it is again to be proclaimed,
as before, for one year and a day; until
the time of a confederate Assembly; the
proclamation continuing in all for the space
of three years. Thus it will be a confede-acres of land."

Neither is it clear, that the right of sanctioning by a vote any law intended to be cominon, was possessed by every individual without exception; for we are told, by the same authority, (the Anci ent Triads) that "every Welshman bad a right to a freehold possession of fiv

"One who has no lands ought not to onal liberty has been, eventually, incalcuput his hand to the sword, as he has no-lable; for, all know, that a single acre, or thing to lose; and it is not just that he half an acre, or much less, may be rendershould be compelled to lose life or limb fored worth more than forty shillings per ananother. He ought therefore to be left to num; so that where the original British his own will (in this respect;) and if he takes the sword in his hand he is called laws admitted of one vote only, the preBrydil (i. e. feeble), and his privilege is that sent system admits a score. To this only of those who are so called." Triad must be added, the gradual and continual 244. page 316. decrease in the value of money. Perhaps, we should err but little, in estimating the forty shillings of Henry's days at forty pounds of our present money value. What a prodigious increase of voters, then, is made, by retaining that nominal estimate, now reduced to one twentieth part of its former legal and established standard!

66

So then, a class of inhabitants, "haying no lands," was known at this very time; and it was inferior in privileges; for beside this express mention of the lesser privileges of the Brydd, we read of three who acquire the FULL privileges of a Briton, by accident; one of which is, "A man of no landed property, who rescues a Briton in danger of losing his life." Triad 198. The Ro-densed population, could neither be remans decreed a civic crown to him who saved the life of a citizen (civilis quercus. Virg.); the Britons conferred on him the FULL privileges of their country which was the noblest reward, let our readers judge.

There is a singular trait of humanity, in not calling to arms the man who has no property to defend; the same distinction was certainly made in other privileges-(for bearing arms is constantly enumerated among the privileges of a Welshman)---and it should appear, that

as the freeholder defended his land with his "sword and spear, and twelve arrows in a quiver," so he voted in conse> quence of his possessions :---his property in land was his qualification, equally as a warrior and as a legislator.

Admitting this, we have only to reflect on the progressive advances of commerce, which naturally produced a more general circulation of money, with an increasing habit of recurring to it as the standard of value, to form a true estimate of the supposed violation of the ancient British rights by Henry VI. who restricted the exercise of voting for representatives, to freeholds of forty shillings yearly value.

Were the five acres of a Welsh freehold worth about forty shillings yearly? if they were, no innovation was committed on the rights of the people, neither was a single individual disfranchised by this law: the only alteration made, was in the standard adopted---money rather than land. And the advantage of this to nati

But towns, as they consisted of con

Such

gulated by the law of five acres, nor by
the yearly value of freeholds; for it
might so happen, as it actually does
happen, in thousands of instances, that
a man possessing the highest skill in
his profession, of the greatest advantage
to his fellow-citizens, and to the com-
munity, by his superior qualifications,
should possess no freehold at all.
a man, under the Welsh laws, obtained
the full privileges of a Briton; and under
the corporate towns he exercised his
right of voting as an inhabitant house-
holder. That this right has been im-
prudently and corruptly narrowed in
succeeding times, must be acknowledged
and regretted.

Mr. Oldfield talks currently of the right of sending members to parliament; whereas, he ought to have called it the burden of that duty. For, he knows very well, that formerly many places petitioned, to be relieved from the in. convenience; some pleading poverty, or other causes of exemption, and even individuals, he knows, who stated various pretences why they should not be bound to attend elections. True it is, that these pleas were used when the representatives were paid by their constituents; a time which Mr. O. himfelt, on

The wages for each knight, were four shillings a day; for each citizen and burgess, two shillings; for " going, returning, and remaining, to transact the said business in the parliament then assembled."

second thoughts, would not wish should return, as it would throw the whole power of representation into the hands of those persons, or bodies, who were rich enough to pay for it; and thus wealth would be the criterion of right!

whether he be an in, or an out, whether a peer, or a commoner, whether wishing for place and pension, or already enjoying his share of the loaves and fishes, the iniquity, is equal without distinction of person.

ous particulars from the Population Returns; such as, the number of the people, their employments, their proportionate poor-rate, &c. These additions shew the relative population of

Now, we would not be understood to We have already dated this book palliate the crime of corruption in the about the beginning of the French Re choice of representatives; but we de-volution: it was then comprized in two precate a remedy which may prove volumes; it is now much enlarged, and worse than the disease. Let it be re-greatly improved by introducing varicollected, that the privilege of choosing members of parliament has not secured those boroughs, marked by our author as rotten, from decay; that the absence of that privilege has not prevented places not long ago mere deserts, or vil-counties and places; and not their lages, scarcely honoured with a name, magnitude merely,but also their strength from becoming great towns, equal to and importance. cities that if these places had enjoyed the right of election, they would never have been chosen by their creators for the scenes of their industry; and that, if they were now endowed with that right, they would soon, in all probability, be reduced to their original state of desert, or insignificance, and become as rotten, in their turn, as those which are so vehemently impugned by Mr. Oldfield.

These volumes afford matter for eurious speculation: for instance-How many counties, having formerly wit nessed the evils of obstinately contested elections, have agreed to choose members supported by different interests? Perhaps, on examination, it would be found that full two-thirds of the counties in England have taken refuge in compromise. Now we cannot say, with Mr. 0. therefore they are not represented, at all: for, we venture to assert, that if they choose wise and moderate men

But, Mr. Oldfield, in his fury for reformation is guilty of gross partiality; for, if an unfortunate borough is under the controul of Lord A. who supports and no other should be chosen— the present Ministry, the author em- that they will rarely embrace extremes, ploys the whole energy of his style to unless on violent party questions. They brand it with the foulest epithets cha-will, if men of sense, consider thenracteristic of slavery and corruption: selves as sent by their constituents to while another, which is equally under the Grand Council of the nation to giv the controul of Lord B. who is in present advice, to assign reasons for their ad vice given, and to promote the interests opposition, passes uncensured; and some places formerly enthralled by of their country, at large; not those of Lord. C. (a courtier) have been it a narrow party, intent only on power, and willing to sacrifice the whole comseems, restored to liberty, by the predominant influence of Lord D. (a pa-munity to the despicable interests of a triot.) Now, this restoration to liberty, factious portion of it. by whatever name a partizan, invoking the freedom of election, may please to call it, is in our view, neither more nor less than a change of tyrant: but, a change of tyrant is not the same thing as a deliverance from tyranny.

We say, whatever nobleman-no matter for his party-interferes in a popular election, the guilt is exactly the same: and whoever commits an election fraud,

This we say of county members; and much the same may be said of members returned by bodies corporate, in conse quence of compromise. We look not at the party; we look at the men: if they be honest, intelligent, virtuous, in good repute among their constituents, they will do their country justice and for that justice the nation is obliged to them: can greater honour be desired ? If they