The English ConstitutionA classic study of the British constitution, paying special attention to how Parliament and the monarchy work. The author frequently draws comparisons with the American Constitution, being generally critical of the American system of government. |
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Page v
... representations things which never were contem- poraneous in reality . The difficulty is the greater because a writer who deals with a living government naturally compares it with the most important other living govern- ments I II.
... representations things which never were contem- poraneous in reality . The difficulty is the greater because a writer who deals with a living government naturally compares it with the most important other living govern- ments I II.
Page vi
Walter Bagehot. compares it with the most important other living govern- ments , and these are changing too ; what he illustrates are altered in one way , and his sources of illustration are altered probably in a different way . This ...
Walter Bagehot. compares it with the most important other living govern- ments , and these are changing too ; what he illustrates are altered in one way , and his sources of illustration are altered probably in a different way . This ...
Page x
... important an inno- vation as the Reform Act of 1867 will not have very great effects . It must , in all likelihood , have many great ones . I am only saying that as yet we do not know what those effects are ; that the great evident ...
... important an inno- vation as the Reform Act of 1867 will not have very great effects . It must , in all likelihood , have many great ones . I am only saying that as yet we do not know what those effects are ; that the great evident ...
Page xix
... important as the selection of these questions . It is for our principal statesmen to lead the public , and not to let the public lead them . No doubt when statesmen live by public favour , as ours do , this is a hard saying , and it ...
... important as the selection of these questions . It is for our principal statesmen to lead the public , and not to let the public lead them . No doubt when statesmen live by public favour , as ours do , this is a hard saying , and it ...
Page xx
... important truth . And so he will both guide and benefit the nation . But if , especially at a time when great ignorance has an unusual power in public affairs , he chooses to accept and reiterate the decisions of that ignorance , he is ...
... important truth . And so he will both guide and benefit the nation . But if , especially at a time when great ignorance has an unusual power in public affairs , he chooses to accept and reiterate the decisions of that ignorance , he is ...
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Common terms and phrases
administration American arguments aristocracy assembly authority better Bill cabinet government chamber choose committee consti constitutional monarch critical Crown defect despotic difficulty discussion duty eager educated effect elected electors England English Constitution evil executive Executive Government fact feeling foreign function George George III give greatest head hereditary House of Commons House of Lords House of Peers imagine influence interest judgment king lative leader legislation legislature liament look Lord Palmerston majority matter ment mind minister ministry monarch nation nature never organisation Parlia Parliament parliamentary government party peculiar peers perhaps persons plutocracy political popular premier present President presidential government presidential system principle Queen questions Reform Act royalty rule rulers Sir George Lewis society sort sovereign speak statesmen sure theory things thought tion Tory treaty truth vote Whig whole wish
Popular passages
Page 72 - Having once given her sanction to a measure, that it be not arbitrarily altered or modified by the Minister; such an act she must consider as failing in sincerity towards the Crown, and justly to be visited by the exercise of her Constitutional right of dismissing that Minister.
Page 73 - To state the matter shortly, the sovereign has, under a constitutional monarchy such as ours, three rights — the right to be consulted, the right to encourage, the right to warn. And a king of great sense and sagacity would want no others.
Page 14 - hyphen which joins, a buckle which fastens the legislative part of the State to the executive part".
Page 291 - CHANGE OF AIR AND SCENE. A Physician's Hints about Doctors, Patients, Hygiene, and Society ; with Notes of Excursions for health in the Pyrenees, and amongst the Watering-places of France (Inland and Seaward), Switzerland, Corsica, and the Mediterranean. By Dr.
Page 10 - The efficient secret of the English Constitution may be described as the close union, the nearly complete fusion, of the executive and legislative powers.
Page 293 - FIRST BOOK OF BOTANY. Designed to Cultivate the Observing Powers of Children. With 300 Engravings, New and Cheaper Edition. Crown 8vo.
Page 293 - YOUMANS (Eliza A.). An Essay on the Culture of the Observing Powers of Children, especially in connection with the Study of Botany. Edited, with Notes and a Supplement, by Joseph Payne, FCP, Author of " Lectures on the Science and Art of Education,
Page 292 - BRIEFS AND PAPERS. Being Sketches of the Bar and the Press. By Two Idle Apprentices. Crown 8vo. 7^. 6d. " Written with spirit and knowledge, and give some curious glimpses into what the majority will regard as strange and unknown territories." — Daily News. " This is one of the best books to while away an hour and cause a generous laugh that we have come across for a long time.