Parliamentary History Research Articles

The History of Parliament: Past, Present—and Future?*

The History of Parliament: Past, Present—and Future?*

The History of Parliament: beyond 1832

The History of Parliament: beyond 1832

The History of Parliament: Past, Present - and Future?

The History of Parliament: Past, Present - and Future?

Publishing Parliamentary Oratory: The Case of Edmund Burke

This volume of Parliamentary History is held by the University of Leicester Library as a book: Peacey, J., ed. The print culture of Parliament, 1600-1800. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press for the Parliamentary History Yearbook Trust, 2007. Held at the David Wilson Library, 941.06 PRI - click the link to the Library Catalogue to check availability.

Unrepentant Tory. Political Selections from the Diaries of the Fourth Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne, 1827-38 (review)

Reviewed by: Unrepentant Tory. Political Selections from the Diaries of the Fourth Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne, 1827-38 Richard W. Davis Unrepentant Tory. Political Selections from the Diaries of the Fourth Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne, 1827-38. Edited by Richard A. Gaunt. (Parliamentary History Record Series, 3). Woodbridge: The Boydell Press for the Parliamentary History Yearbook Trust. 2006. xl, 405 pp. £50.00. ISBN 1843832666. For two and a half decades after 1820 ultra tories played a significant role in British political life. In their eyes two great causes were paramount. The first was the continued spiritual and political supremacy of the Church of England, the keystone of the protestant constitution they and others considered the precious legacy of the Glorious Revolution of 1688. The second was agricultural protection. Shortly after 1820 these two causes became major foci of political attention, and it became clear, even to tory governments, that the futures of these causes were not bright. Catholic emancipation bills began to be passed routinely in the house of commons and defeated in the Lords, but only by uncomfortably small majorities. At the same time, politicians began to seek a way to reduce the prohibitory tariff on corn established in 1815, which had proved completely satisfactory to no one and deeply resented by most outside the landed classes. But as tory leaders began to reconcile themselves to future change, a significant portion of their followers became adamantine in their defence of the existing institutions in Church and state. Ultra positions were supported by votes numbering in the 80s and 90s, roughly half the Conservative peers, with about 50 consistent voters. But though their numbers were formidable, the ultras were never really an organized party. Typically, it was about a dozen peers who exercised the functions of leadership. Probably the most important of these, and certainly the most remarkable, was the fourth duke of Newcastle. Richard Gaunt has studied Newcastle for many years, and taught us much about the ultras in the process. Now, in this meticulously edited volume, he reveals the man himself, or perhaps more accurately allows the duke to reveal himself. In his own time, and since, Newcastle has been looked upon as an eccentric, if not a little mad, failed politician. In fact, many of his eccentricities have been shared by large numbers of christians over the ages. As for being a failure in his public life, he was more cunning than mad. He knew what he was doing, and he could be very successful. Religion was at the very centre of his life. He was a dedicated member of the established Church, devoted to its rituals and formulations, and vigilant in observing the practices of others. So far as he could tell Canning had died without any clergyman coming near him to administer the sacrament. On another occasion when there was talk of Wellington's government setting up a commission to alter the Church liturgy, Newcastle observed that it was just what might have been expected of a minister who held most of his cabinets on a 'Sunday and at Church time'. This was nothing compared to his reaction to the whig government allowing the debate on the second reading of the Reform Bill to run over into a Sunday morning. That 'it should so far forget itself as to overstep the acknowledged bounds of religious propriety in the [End Page 255] due and solemn observance of & respect for the Sabbath, is quite a new event in our history'. It was the work of a 'reforming, revolutionary, and I suppose atheistical Ministry'. It was 'a gross outrage of public morals & national decency as a wanton parliamentary desecration of the Sabbath'. Even matters more apparently innocent could bring down denunciations almost as severe. In 1834 Newcastle made an attempt in the house of lords to halt the holding of a musical festival in Westminster Abbey. 'I think such uses of a Church are most improper & indecent - I would go so far as calling it sacrilegious.' He was aware that he was 'treading on a hornets nest', for the festival had a powerful friend in King William himself, 'but I know that I am doing...

The parliament of Tatarstan, 1990–2005: vain hopes, or the Russian way towards parliamentary democracy in a regional dimension

SUMMARY In this article, Izmail Sharifzhanov examines a short period of Tatar parliamentary history—its last fifteen years (1990–2005). These years were crucial ones indeed: first, they coincided with tremendous events in Russian history on the threshold of the twenty-first century and, second, they had decisive consequences for Tatar history itself. They aroused great enthusiasm among the Tatar people: for the first time in its tsarist and Soviet history it could hope to achieve real national sovereignty, but it proved, as usual, that these expectations were vain. Moscow and the local bureaucratic elite did their utmost to restrain a radical national movement and establish their power in the republic. The parliament again lost its initial rebellious spirit and political independence.

‘Property Talk’ and the Revival of Blackstonian Copyright

‘Property Talk’ and the Revival of Blackstonian Copyright

Conscription in the French Restoration: The 1818 Debate on Military Service

The article analyses the parliamentary debate in the French Chambers of Deputies and of Peers on the Gouvion-Saint-Cyr law. Conscription having been abolished by the restoration, its re-establishment confronted the monarchy with ideological trouble, and the law gave rise to one of the most remarkable debates in French parliamentary history, because virtually all modern political ideologies - conservatism, liberalism, constitutional monarchism, republicanism - confronted each other in theoretically very elaborated speeches. The debate is thus both a summary of the revolutionary experience and a look towards the nineteenth century.

The History of the Scottish Parliament, Volume Two. Parliament and Politics in Scotland, 1567-1707 (review)

Reviewed by: The History of the Scottish Parliament, Volume Two. Parliament and Politics in Scotland, 1567-1707 David L. Smith The History of the Scottish Parliament, Volume Two. Parliament and Politics in Scotland, 1567–1707. Edited by Keith M. Brown and Alastair J. Mann. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. 2005. xii, 303 pp. £50.00. ISBN 0748614958. The creation of a new Scottish parliament in 1999 has naturally helped to stimulate a resurgence of interest in the history of the parliament that existed in Scotland up until the union with England in 1707. That interest has borne fruit most notably in the Scottish Parliament Project (S.P.P.) at the University of St Andrews, which was established in 1997 under the direction of Keith Brown. With funding from the Scottish Office and latterly the Scottish Executive, together with the British Academy, the S.P.P. has created a new digital edition of the acts of the Scottish parliament from its earliest known proceedings in 1235 up to 1707. The S.P.P. is also producing a three-volume history of the Scottish parliament, of which the present volume is the second. This is a fascinating and highly accomplished collection that takes discussion of the Scottish parliament during the later sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to a new level of sophistication while also locating it within the wider context of early-modern European assemblies most successfully. The introduction, by Keith Brown and AlastairMann, presents a splendidly detailed survey of the historiography and sources for the Scottish parliament in this period. Their discussion shows the need not only to assess the Scottish parliament on its own terms without imposing inappropriate (frequently English) yardsticks of comparison, but also to set it against the background of continental assemblies, whose equal it was in terms of political effectiveness and procedural development. In particular, the continuing influence of the nobility in leading the unicameral Scottish parliament emerges very strongly in the introduction and in many of the essays that follow. To take just one example, John Scally's excellent study of the Covenanter parliaments between 1639 and 1651 demonstrates the crucial role that James Hamilton, third [End Page 270] marquess and first duke of Hamilton, played in guiding both the parliaments and Scottish politics more generally. This essay is particularly notable for its use of Hamilton's parliamentary diary for 1648 - a 12,000-word manuscript which has only recently been discovered - and it whets the appetite for Scally's edition of this diary and for his biography of Hamilton. A number of the essays are significant for the light that they throw on individual monarchs and the changing nature of royal policies. Alan MacDonald and Vaughan Wells draw out the underlying wisdom and skill of James VI in handling the parliaments of 1592, 1612 and 1621. By contrast, John Young shows why Charles I's Scottish coronation in June 1633 was so provocative, and why his treatment of the Scottish parliament that met in the same month, together with his sweeping aside of grievances that the conventions of estates had expressed in 1625 and 1630, appeared unnecessarily high-handed. Perhaps the most striking reassessment of a monarch's behaviour is Alastair Mann's study of James VII, which suggests that James's greatest failing was not that he was guilty of unprecedentedly heavy-handed manipulation of the Scottish parliament, but rather that he insisted on working with a dangerously narrow circle of advisers comprising only a few favoured ministers. This opens the way to a major revision of James's rule in Scotland and the origins of the revolution of 1688-9. Another virtue of this collection is that its coverage extends to sections of the story that have often been relatively neglected hitherto. Thus Gillian MacIntosh's account of the Restoration period and the role of Lauderdale examines Charles II's reign as a whole, whereas many previous accounts (Clare Jackson's is an important and noteworthy exception) have tended to concentrate on the years 1660-3. Similarly, the 1690s are often a rather shadowy decade, sandwiched between the drama of the revolution against James II and the events leading up to the union of 1707...

Movers and Seconders of the Address in Reply to the Speech in the Commons and the Lords, 1715-1831

Movers and Seconders of the Address in Reply to the Speech in the Commons and the Lords, 1715–1831 J .C. Sainty The following lists are designed to make available the names of those moving and seconding the address in reply to the speech from the throne in both houses of parliament from 1715 to 1831. The main source for this information are the reports of debates contained in the Parliamentary History to 1803 and the successive series of Parliamentary Debates thereafter. For the house of commons the biographies of members published in successive sections of the History of Parliament are also of assistance. Where these sources fail to provide details information has been sought elsewhere, principally in successive editions of the Political State of Great Britain but also in collections of correspondence. The Journals of the two Houses do not record the names of movers and seconders as such. However, for the Commons, it is a matter of observation that there is generally a close correlation between the mover and seconder and the members named first and second to the committee responsible for drafting the address. The same cannot be said for the house of lords where it was the invariable practice for the Journals to marshal the names of members of the committee in order of precedence. However, for the years 1724-34 and 1744 the manuscript minutes, the preliminary record of proceedings which form the basis of the Journals, do not observe this practice and there is good reason to believe that, as in the Commons, the first two names listed in these documents are in fact the mover and seconder. In both Houses there is a close correlation between the mover and the member who reports the address from the committee. In view of these considerations it has been considered helpful to include details from the Journals and the manuscript minutes in the following lists where no other information is available but it should be stressed that, while the conventions described were well established, they were not invariably observed. Abbreviations B.L., Add. MS British Library, Additional Manuscript C.J. Commons Journals (E) Peer of England H.P. History of Parliament (I) Peer of Ireland L.J. Lords Journals MS Minute House of Lords Record Office, manuscript minute of the house of lords P.D. Parliamentary Debates P.H. Parliamentary History Political State Political State of Great Britain (S) Peer of Scotland (UK) Peer of United Kingdom House of Commons 1715 23 Mar. Mover: Robert Walpole (King's Lynn) (H.P. 1715-54, II, 267; P.H., VII, 47) Seconder: Edward Richard (Montagu) Viscount Hinchingbrooke (Huntingdon) (H.P. 1715-54, II, 267; P.H., VII, 47) 1716 9 Jan. Mover and seconder: neither noted in H.P. or P.H. Richard Edgcumbe (Plympton Erle) named first of committee and reporter of address; Algernon (Seymour) earl of Hertford (Northumberland) named second of committee (C.J., XVIII, 330, 334) 1717 20 Feb. Mover: Hon. Thomas Onslow (Surrey) (H.P. 1715-54, II, 311; P.H., VII, 424) Seconder: Sir John Brownlow, 5th bt (Lincolnshire) (Political State (1717), XIII, 220). 1717 21 Nov. Mover and Seconder: neither noted in H.P. or P.H. Nicholas Lechmere (Tewkesbury) named first of committee (C.J., XVIII, 628); Edward Richard (Montagu) Viscount Hinchingbrooke (Huntingdon) named second of committee and reporter of address (ibid., 628, 629) 1718 11 Nov. Mover: Edward Richard (Montagu) Viscount Hinchingbrooke (Huntingdon) (H.P. 1715-54, II, 267; P.H., VII, 562) Seconder: not noted in H.P. or P.H. John (Brownlow) 1st Viscount Tyrconnel (Lincolnshire) named second of committee (C.J., XIX, 4) 1719 23 Nov. Mover: Algernon (Seymour) earl of Hertford (Northumberland) (H.P. 1715-54, II, 417) Seconder: not noted in H.P or P.H. Lord William Powlett (Winchester) named second of committee (C.J., XIX, 166) 1720 8 Dec. Mover:William Pulteney (Hedon) (P.H., VII, 680) Seconder: Hon. Henry Pelham (Seaford) (P.H., VII, 681) 1721 19 Oct. Mover: Sir George Oxenden, 4th bt (Sandwich) (H.P. 1715-54, II, 317; P.H., VII, 915) Seconder: Charles Talbot (Tregony) (Political State (1721), XXII, 386). 1722 15 Oct. Mover: William...

Práxedes Mateo Sagasta y Escolar. Estudio y análisis de las características extrínsecas e intrínsecas halladas en la documentación electoral sagastina (1854-1901) ubicada en el Archivo Histórico del Congreso de los Diputados de España

The subject of the article is based on the parliamentary activity developed by D. Praxedes Mateo- Sagasta y Escolar, parliamentary activity reflected, shaped and conserved, —from half of the S.XIX to principles of the S.XX— in handwritten electoral documents, that they justify all the events of par- liamentary character that happened during the presidency in Spanish Parliament of the investigated deputy.The Historic Archive of the Congress of the Spain Deputies conserves within the Section of Parliamentary Documentation (Series of Electoral Documentation) Sagasta’s electoral documentation (1854/1901), which is conserved in printed format, in the same documentary support in which it was deposited in the moment of its elaboration. For that reason, the objective of the present article is to manifest the intrinsic and extrinsic characteristics found in such documentary collection. Once discovered, studied and/or analyzed these characteristics establish theoretic solutions and in practice immediately, they may eliminate the found deficiencies in the different administrative processes and of classification that has applied on this unique and irreplaceable documentary treasure in the parliamentary history and of the Spanish constitutional law.

THE RAGE OF PARLIAMENTS: THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, 1690–1715

The history of parliament: the House of Commons, 1690–1715. Edited by Eveline Cruickshanks, Stuart Handley, and D. W. Hayton. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. 5 vols. i: Introductory survey (pp. xvi+958 and CD-ROM); ii: Constituencies (pp. xvi+945); iii: Members A–F (pp. xvi+1,134); iv: Members G–N (pp. xvi+1,052); v: Members O–Z (pp. xvi+962). ISBN 0-521-77221-4. £250.00 (introductory price); thereafter £300.00.The publication of these five volumes represents the eighth contribution to the History of Parliament Trust's record of the House of Commons that now extends to twenty-eight volumes containing nearly twenty million words in over 20,000 pages. According to the Trust's chairman, Ted Rowlands MP, completing these volumes that cover the period 1690–1715 ‘has been a thirty-year odyssey’ (i, p. xi) successively directed by Eveline Cruickshanks and David Hayton as editors and Stuart Handley as associate editor. Their appearance completes the Trust's history of the Commons during the ‘long eighteenth century’ from Charles II's restoration in 1660 to George IV's death in 1820, whilst the periods 1384–1421 and 1509–1603 are covered in previously published volumes. In 1998, all the information contained in the twenty-three extant volumes was incorporated into a single text-file CD-ROM with various electronic search functions. Compiled by a team of fourteen distinguished contributors, the format of the volumes here reviewed follows that of earlier publications by the Trust. The first comprises a masterful ‘introductory survey’ by Hayton that extends to over 500 pages with twenty-seven appendices and confers coherence on the other volumes by enumerating the diverse range of constituency customs, election procedures, membership, organization, and activities characteristic of the Commons between 1690 and 1715. The second contains detailed profiles of the 317 English, Welsh, and Scottish constituencies, whilst the remaining three supply biographical entries of the 1,982 Members who sat in the Commons during this period.

イギリスの『議会の歴史』とその中世の部(歴史の風)

イギリスの『議会の歴史』とその中世の部(歴史の風)

The History of Parliament in 2004

The History of Parliament in 2004

The Right Nation: Conservative Power in America

The Right Nation is not liberals, and it's not conservatives. It's for any of us who want to understand one of the most important forces shaping American life. How did America's government become so much more conservative in just a generation? Compared to Europe-or to America under Richard Nixon-even President Howard Dean would preside over a distinctly more conservative nation in many crucial respects: welfare is gone; the death penalty is deeply rooted; abortion is under siege; regulations are being rolled back; the pillars of New Deal liberalism are turning to sand. Conservative positions have not prevailed everywhere, of course, but this book shows us why they've been so successfully advanced over such a broad front: because the battle has been waged by well-organized, shrewd, and committed troops who to some extent have been lucky in their enemies.John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge, like modern-day Tocquevilles, have the perspective to see this vast subject in the round, unbeholden to forces on either side. They steer The Economist's coverage of the United States and have unrivaled access to resources and-because of the magazine's renown for iconoclasm and analytical rigor-have had open-door access wherever the book's research has led them. And it has led them everywhere: To reckon with the American right, you have to get out there where its centers are and understand the power flow among the brain trusts, the mouthpieces, the organizers, and the foot soldiers. The authors write with wit and skewer whole herds of sacred cows, but they also bring empathy to bear on a subject that sees all too little of it. You won't recognize this America from the far-left's or the far-right's caricatures. Divided into three parts-history, anatomy, and prophecy-The Right Nation comes neither to bury the American conservative movement nor to praise it blindly but to understand it, in all its dimensions, as the most powerful and effective political movement of our age. Chapter One FROM KENNEBUNKPORT TO CRAWFORD Sir Lewis Namier, the great historian of politics in the age of George III, once remarked that English history, and especially parliamentary history, is made by families rather than individuals. The same could be said of American political history, especially in the age of George I and George II. There is no better introduction to the radical transformation of Republicanism in the past generation-from patrician to populist, from Northeastern to Southwestern, from pragmatic to ideological-than the radical transformation of Republicanism's current leading family, the Bushes. Grandfather Prescott The Bushes began political life as classic establishment Republicans: WASPs who summered in Kennebunkport, educated their children at boarding schools and the Ivy League and claimed family ties to the British royal family (Queen Elizabeth II is the thirteenth cousin of the first President Bush). George W.'s paternal great-grandfather, Samuel P. Bush, was a steel and railroad executive who became the first president of the National Association of Manufacturers and a founding member of the United States Chamber of Commerce. His maternal great-grandfather, George Herbert Walker, was even grander. The cofounder of W. A. Harriman, Wall Street's oldest private investment bank, Walker's stature was summed up by his twin Manhattan addresses: his office at One Wall Street and his home at One Sutton Place. There was certainly muck beneath this brass: both Walker and Bush had their share of Wall Street shenanigans and cozy government deals, but in the age...

The History of Parliament: The House of Commons, 1690-1715

1University College London The History of Parliament: The House of Commons, 1690–1715 Eveline Cruickshanks Stuart Handley D.W. Hayton 2002 5000 £ 250

Electoral reform and the political modernization of England, 1832–1841

SUMMARY Philip Salmon re-examines the place of the Reform Act of 1832 in English parliamentary history as a supposed turning point which averted revolution. Recent scholarship has shown that already before 1832 English radical traditions favoured popular constitutional reform over republicanism, and that changes to the electoral system were in practice not extensive after 1832. The analysis of pollbooks reveals, however, that the incidence of party-based voting was higher after the reform. The author explains how changes in the electoral laws, including those for local elections in the Municipal Corporations Act of 1835, altered the nature of electioneering. The new, more bureaucratic electoral laws on voter registration and qualification, on the manner of taking the poll, and on permitted election costs, all placed a premium on party organization for both local and national elections. The legal complexities led to the formation of local party associations to tackle them, as especially the registration of party supporters as voters required constant vigilance between elections. The adversarial system of registration was a key element in the rise of party-based voting in the 1830s. Confrontational electoral practices politicized the electorate for local as well as national contests, and so contributed to the advance of more persistent party allegiances at both levels. This constitutional realignment underpinned the growth of a more modern English representative democracy.

Parliament and the Church, 1529–1960. Edited by J. P. Parry and Stephen Taylor. Pp. viii+193. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press (for the Parliamentary History Yearbook Trust), 2000. £14.95 (paper). 0 7486 1445 1

Parliament and the Church, 1529–1960. Edited by J. P. Parry and Stephen Taylor. Pp. viii+193. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press (for the Parliamentary History Yearbook Trust), 2000. £14.95 (paper). 0 7486 1445 1 - Volume 53 Issue 1

‘It will be a Scandal to show what we have done with such a number:’ House of Commons Committee Attendance Lists, 1606–1628

That committee membership has played a significant role in parliamentary history is beyond question. It formed an important part of the analysis of the importance of Members of Parliament in the Elizabethan History of Parliament volumes and appointments have frequendy been used to illustrate the particular interest of Members in parliamentary issues and legislation. However, much of the analysis has been undertaken in a simplistic fashion, derived solely from the Underclerk's record in the Commons Journal and subjected to little more than superficial scrutiny. Stuart historians have been slow to heed Lord Macaulay's advice that Victoria Tower is ‘that dark repository in which the abortive statutes of many generations sleep a sleep rarely disturbed by the historian or antiquary’, for it is in the House of Lords Record Office that the majority of committee lists survive. And the existence of these attendance records allows us to expand and clarify previous analyses of Commons attendance. In particular, they show the munutiae of Parliament at work on a day-to-day basis as well as providing valuable biographical information. Viewed individually or taken as a whole, the documents also allow the development of broad and far-reaching conclusions about Parliament itself. The thirty-three committee lists transcribed below cover the period 1606–1628 and offer insights into local issues, such as the presentment to the parsonage of Radipoll, Dorset, and matters which concerned the commonweal, for example, purveyance and debt collection.

Introduction

Early modern English Parliaments were institutional events: institutional because they occupied a significant role in the governance of the realm, and after the Reformation Parliament statute law became omnicompetent. Furthermore, they established and followed (more or less) fixed procedures and had a permanent clerical staff. However, they were also events, summoned and dissolved at irregular intervals by the monarch, at least until the passage of the Triennial Act in February 1641. The very nature of the assembly and its power, influence and role in English society and politics has been hotly debated by historians for many years and continues today to fill the pages of scholarly journals and the catalogues of publishers. No less controversial than the nature and role of the assembly is the impact and validity of its sources, official and unofficial. It is the aim of this introduction and the ensuing editorials and documents to discuss and deconstruct the nature of parliamentary sources and how they can be utilised in the study of parliamentary history.