26.]
from the abolished House of Lords. But, after all, what right could this
handful of men have to impose a new constitution on the kingdom? Ought they
not, in consistency with their own principles, to have ascertained the
sense of the nation by calling a new parliament? The question was raised,
but the leaders, aware that their power was based on the sword of the
military, shrunk from the experiment; and, to elude the demands of their
opponents, appointed a committee to regulate the succession of parliaments
and the election of members; a committee, which repeatedly met and
deliberated, but never brought the question to any definitive conclusion.
Still, when the new authorities looked around the house, and observed the
empty benches, they were admonished of their own insignificance, and of the
hollowness of their pretensions. They claimed the sovereign authority,
as the representatives of the people; but the majority of those
representatives had been excluded by successive acts of military violence;
and the house had been reduced from more than five hundred members, to
less than one-seventh of that number. For the credit and security of the
government it was necessary both to supply the deficiency, and, at the same
time, to oppose a bar to the introduction of men of opposite principles.
Pages:
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368