nly with fellow men. With his Kentucky Resolutions he gave
the first stab to the Union and the Constitution. What were Burr's
childish schemes, which would have fallen to the ground from their own
weakness, compared with that? From Jefferson through Calhoun to
Jefferson Davis the diabolic succession of conspirators is complete.

THE ENGLISH PRESS.

II.

It has become the fashion to sneer at the Long Parliament: but for all
this it cannot be denied that that assemblage rendered services of
incalculable importance to the state. Extreme old age forms at all times
an object of pity, and, with the thoughtless and inconsiderate, it is
but too often an object of ridicule and contempt. Many a great man has,
ere now, survived to reach this sad stage in his career; but it does not
therefore follow that the glorious deeds of his prime are to be ignored
or forgotten. As it has been with the distinguished warrior or statesman
or author, so it is with the Long Parliament. England owes it a great
debt of gratitude on many accounts, but the one with which we have more
especially to do on the present occasion is, that with it originated the
custom of making public proceedings in Parliament. By this act was the
supremacy of the people over the Parliament acknowledged, for the very
publication of its transactions was an appeal to the people for approval
and support. This printed record of parliamentary affairs came out in
1641, and was entitled _The Diurnal Occurrences, or Daily Proceedings of
both Houses in this great and happy Parliament, from the 3d of November,
1640, to the 3d of November, 1641._ The speeches delivered from the
first date down to the following June were also published in two
volumes, and in 1642 weekly instalments appeared under various titles,
such as _The Heads of all the Proceedings of both Houses of
Parliament--Account of Proceedings of both Houses of Parliament--A
perfect Diurnal of the Passages in Parliament_, etc., etc. There was no
reporter's gallery in those days, and the Parliament only printed _what
they pleased_; still this was a step in the right direction. After
Parliaments occasionally evinced bitter hostility toward the press, but
that which boasted Sawyer Lenthal for its speaker was its friend (at all
events, at first, though afterward, as we shall notice by and by, it
displayed some animosity against its early _protege_), and from this
meagre beginning took its rise that which is beyond dou