The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Constitutional History of England From
1760 to 1860, by Charles Duke Yonge

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Title: The Constitutional History of England From 1760 to 1860

Author: Charles Duke Yonge

Release Date: January 23, 2004 [EBook #10807]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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THE

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY

OF

ENGLAND

from 1760 to 1860

BY CHARLES DUKE YONGE, M.A.
REGIUS PROFESSOR OF MODERN HISTORY, QUEEN'S COLLEGE, BELFAST
AND AUTHOR OF "THE HISTORY OF THE BRITISH NAVY"
"THE LIFE OF MARIE ANTOINETTE" ETC.

1882

PREFACE.

Mr. Hallam's "Constitutional History" closes, as is well known, with the
death of George II. The Reformation, the great Rebellion, and the
Revolution, all of which are embraced in the period of which it treats,
are events of such surpassing importance, and such all-pervading and
lasting influence, that no subsequent transactions can ever attract
entirely equal attention. Yet the century which has elapsed since the
accession of George III. has also witnessed occurrences not only full of
exciting interest at the moment, but calculated to affect the policy of
the kingdom and the condition of the people, for all future time, in a
degree only second to the Revolution itself. Indeed, the change in some
leading features and principles of the constitution wrought by the
Reform Bill of 1832, exceeds any that were enacted by the Bill of Rights
or the Act of Settlement. The only absolutely new principle introduced
in 1688 was that establishment of Protestant ascendency which was
contained in the clause which disabled any Roman Catholic from wearing
the crown. In other respects, those great statutes were not so much the
introduction of new principles, as a recognition of privileges of the
people which had been long established, but which, in too many
instances, had been disregarded and violated.

But the Reform Bill conferred political power on classes which had never
before been admitted to be entitled to it; and their enfranchisement
could not fai