CHAPTER V.

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY.*

THE author in his preface remarks, that "knowing nothing of the history of the institutions under which they have the good fortune to live, and consequently ignorant how much of her greatness England owes to the present form of her constitution, which has been the slow growth of centuries, the masses are only too ready to listen to unprincipled demagogues, and to believe that instead of being the most fortunate they are the most miserable of mankind.

"I trust this book may tend to dispel some at least of this ignorance, and that if the day should ever come when political adventurers, to answer party purposes and promote their own miserably selfish ends, shall raise their voices to bring about the abolition of the House of Lords, or the supplanting of the Monarchy, an enlightened public opinion may prevent our constitution from lying stranded, like some stately ship, upon the shore of time."

We sadly fear that, notwithstanding the publication of this Manual, the masses will continue to remain in ignorance "of the history of the institutions under which they have the good fortune to live." The term masses is somewhat indefinite, but if it comprehends the "working classes," we can only add that one seldom hears of a cobler, or a tinker, or a bricklayer, reading a work of this kind. Students for whom it appears to be principally compiled, and those who, having a taste for general literature, may be desirous of making themselves acquainted with the gradual growth and development of our constitution, certainly do not consider themselves to be "the most miserable of mankind." We have no doubt, however, that the former feel very miserable when they fail to pass their examinations!

Though this Manual contains a deal of valuable and interesting information, we regret that we cannot admire the mode in which it is distributed throughout the work. We also observe that many points, though substantially correct, are not stated with sufficient accuracy. For instance, the author tells us that "the Star Chamber lasted until the reign of Charles I., when it was finally abolished." Now, Charles I. ascended the throne in 1625, and the Star Chamber was abolished by the Long Parliament in 1640. When it is borne in mind that the Examiner in Constitutional History last term required candidates to give a precise answer to a question founded on this very point, our remarks we hope will not be considered unreasonable. Under these circumstances, a student should make himself tolerably well acquainted with English history before he peruses the work. There can be no doubt that it contains, as we remarked before, much useful information, which will enlighten the general reader on many important points, and at the same time form an excellent epitome of constitutional history for students who desire to grasp general particulars before entering into minute details, such as are contained in the works of Hallam, Creasy, May and Broom, on which this Manual is founded.

* A Manual of Constitutional History, founded on the Works of Hallam, Creasy, May and Broom. By Forrest Fulton, LL.B., B.A. (Lond.), of the Middle Temple, Esq., Barrister-at-Law. London: Butterworths, 1875.

CHAPTER VI.

THE QUESTIONS ASKED AT THE PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION HELD ON THE 10TH AND 11TH OF FEBRUARY, 1875, WITH THE ANSWERS.

I. English Composition.

Candidates were required to write an essay or letter, not less than two pages in length, on one of the following subjects.

(1.) Plan a tour you would like to take, introducing the various places and objects you would like to see.

(2.) Write an essay on the following subject.

"Nor love thy life nor hate; but what thou livest

Live well, how long or short, permit to heaven."

(3.) Write a letter to a friend, giving as vivid an account as you can of your school life.

(4.) Relate in the form of a narrative the story of Shakespeare's

"Merchant of Venice."

II. English Language.

1. Of what elements is the English language composed, and when did they respectively find their way into this country?

(1) The Celts and Čimbri, at a period before authentic history commences, overran and peopled Western Europe; and their language was the parent of the modern Gaelic, Welsh and Breton.

(2) At the beginning of the Christian era, a large part of Britain was conquered by the Roman arms.

(3) About 449 A.D. the first Saxon invasion took place, and by the middle of the ninth century a large part of England was under the dominion of the Angles and Saxons, who had by that time merged into one people.

(4) Towards the end of the eighth century the Norsemen, who were partly Swedes and Danes, but chiefly Norwegians, made a complete conquest of all the district north of the Humber, and lying between the Irish and German seas.

(5) During the ninth and tenth centuries the Danes settled in considerable numbers on the east coast of England and Scotland, and from 1016 A.D. to 1041 A.D. Danish kings ruled over the whole of England.

(6) In 1066 the Norman Conquest took place. The different elements, which have thus entered into the composition of the English language, are—

(i.) Words of Celtic origin.

(ii) Words derived from the Latin language.

(iii.) Anglo-Saxon words.

(iv.) Words derived from the Norse languages.
(v.) Words derived from the Norman-French.

2. Construct a sentence comprising all the parts of speech.

Alas! for the mournful day, though past it soon shall be.

3. Construct a sentence containing a relative which qualifies its antecedent, and also a sentence containing a relative which does not qualify its antecedent.

(1) The Earl of Essex who was beheaded.

In this sentence the relative who qualifies its antecedent Earl.

(2) Homer is remarkably concise, which renders him lively and agreeable.

This sentence is faulty. The relative which does not qualify concise, an adjective, for an adjective can never stand as an antecedent.

4. Give the perfect tense or tenses of the following verbs :-Lay, lie, cleave, forego spin, clothe, chide, freeze, sow, awake, ring, seat, fly.

(2) Reflexive: self.

(3) Indefinite and distribute: as one, any, other, who, whoever, either, &c. (4) Relative and interrogative: who, which, whoever, that, as, &c,

(5) Demonstrative: as this, that, such, &c.

Adjective pronouns are divided into

(1) Possessive: his, its, mine, thine, &c.

(2) Reflexive: my own, &c. &c.

(3) Indefinite distributive pronouns: any, each, either, &c.

(4) Relative and interrogative: which, what, whichever, &c.

(5) Demonstrative: this, that, such, &c.

6. Is there anything in English answering to the ablative absolute in Latin? If so, what case is it? Give examples.

The absolute case in English is the dative. The Anglo-Saxon language, in which the nominative and objective cases were distinguished by separate forms, shows this clearly.

Examples

(1) The door being open, the steed was stolen.

(2) He showed the greatest courage of all, him only excepted.

7. Give any words that are adjectives, adverbs, conjunctions, or prepositions, according as we use them.

No is sometimes an adjective (1); sometimes an adverb (2) :

(1) No time like the present.

(2) No, I will not.

But is sometimes an adverb (1); sometimes a conjunction (2); sometimes a preposition (3). It is also a relative.

(1) He but trifles.

(2) He spoke, but I was silent.

(3) None but the brave deserve the fair.

Well is sometimes an adjective (1); sometimes an adverb (2).

(1) He is quite well.

(2) Well! what have you to say?

Above is sometimes a preposition (1); sometimes an adjective (2); sometimes

an adverb (3).

(1) Above the ground.

(2) The above speech was well received.

(3) Above, below, and all around.

Before is used sometimes as a preposition (1); sometimes as an adverb (2); sometimes as a conjunction (3).

(1) Before the return of spring.
(2) A vision never seen before.

(3) He came on us before we were prepared.

8. How are suppositions respecting the future expressed in English? Future suppositions are expressed:

(1) By the auxiliary "shall," as :-If he shall resist, kill him.

(2) By the present subjunctive, as :-If he resist, kill him.

(3) By the auxiliary "should:"-If he should resist, kill him.

(4) By placing the auxiliary "should" before the subject, but "shall" cannot be so used, as:-Should he resist, kill him.

(5) By various periphrastic expressions, as:-If he offers to resist, kill him, &c., &c.

Will, in hypothetical sentences, always expresses the will of the subject, and does not, therefore, introduce a future supposition, properly so called.

9. As a general rule, when the subject of a sentence consists of two nouns or pronouns united by the conjunction "and," the verb must be in the plural. There are numerous exceptions to this rule. State what they are.

(1) When two subjects are connected by and, one affirmative, the other negative, the verb agrees with the affirmative:

"Our own heart, and not other men's opinions,

Forms our true honour."

(2) When two or more singular subjects connected by and are preceded by each, every, or no, the verb is singular:

66

Every limb and feature appears with its appropriate grace.”

(3) If two or more nouns or sentences, collectively represent one idea, the verb is often singular:

"Bitter constraint and sad occasion dear

Compells me to disturb your season due."

10. Distinguish between the uses of that and who.

Who is used only of rational beings; that is used of both persons and things. It may be used with advantage when the gender of the noun is doubtful (1); and where the antecedents refer to both persons and things (2), as :

(1) He said to the little child that was placed in the midst.
(2) Ulysses spoke of the man and the cities that he had seen.

11. Distinguish between the grammatical and the logical parsing of a sentence.
The grammatical parsing of a sentence investigates the relation of the words in
that sentence to one another. The logical parsing investigates the relation
of the thoughts involved, that is to say, the connection of the principal parts
of the whole sentence to one another. For instance: The grammatical subject
is the nominative simply, the logical subject includes all its adjuncts. The
grammatical predicate is the verb, the logical predicate is the entire assertion.

III. English History.

1. What are the principal sources of the English history anterior to the Conquest? What was the condition of the Britons at the time of the Saxon invasion?

The principal authorities for what we know of ancient Britain are Cæsar, Tacitus, and Diodorus Siculus. The Britons, who had lived in peace under Roman protection, were in a wretched plight when that was withdrawn. The Picts and Scots, breaking through the unguarded walls, pillaged the northern country; the pirates of the Danish and German coasts, who had hardly been kept in check by the Roman fleets, descending upon the east and south, sailed up the rivers in their light flat-bottomed skiffs, burning and slaying without mercy; while the

land was torn by internal strife between a Roman faction under Ambrosius, and a British under Vortigern. The petty British states made a feeble attempt at union by the election of a monarch, whom they called Pendragon; but the contentions for this office only made things worse.

2. What were the claims of William I. to the throne of England?

William claimed the Crown of England as a bequest made to him by Edward the Confessor, a deed which the latter was not competent to do, for the Crown could only be disposed of by the Great Council of the nation. It is also said that Harold's claim was similar in effect to William's, except that the former had the consent of the Witan. According to the Norman account, Edward, on the death of Atheling, appointed William his successor, and sent Harold to the Norman Court to make the announcement; and that William prevented Harold's return till he had solemnly sworn to aid him in obtaining possession of the English throne.

3. Relate briefly the history of English possessions in France.

In the reign of Henry II., the English acquired, through various causes, Anjou, Touraine, Guienne, Poitou, Saintonge, Auvergne, Perigord, Angoumois, Limousin, besides Nantes, Toulouse, and Brittany. The French invaded Normandy, Touraine, and Maine in the reign of Richard I., but afterwards suffered a defeat and withdrew from these provinces. John, being charged with the murder of his nephew Arthur, the French attacked his dominions in France, and Normandy submitted; the other provinces followed the example except Guienne. _Ultimately John agreed to give up all the country north of the Loire. By the Treaty of Bretigny (1360), Edward III. renounced all pretensions to the French throne, and to Normandy, Anjou, Touraine, and Maine, on condition of possessing Guienne, Poitou, and Calais. In the reign of Henry VI., all the English possessions in France were lost except Calais, which was taken by the French in 1558 (Mary). For further particulars see "Preliminary Examination Journal," No. IX.,

p. 337.

4. Distinguish between the Constitutions of Clarendon and the Assize of Clarendon, and what was the precise origin of the quarrel between Henry II. and Thomas à Becket? A dispute arose between Henry II. and Becket as to whether the clergy accused of crime should be tried by a lay or an ecclesiastical tribunal. Henry summoned the prelates to Westminster (1163), and demanded of them whether they were willing to submit to the ancient laws and customs of the kingdom, to which an evasive reply was given. The king, wishing to have the ancient customs defined, summoned a general council of barons and prelates to meet at Clarendon (1164), where the customs known since as the Constitutions of Clarendon were at once agreed to by the barons, but with much reluctance by Becket. The articles, sixteen in number, established the following leading principle, that clerical offenders should again be brought under secular jurisdiction, from which they had been removed at some period since the Conquest.

The Assize of Clarendon was passed at the same time. It consisted of a series of regulations respecting civil affairs, which, however, were not confirmed till the year 1176. They were as follows:-That no clerk should be brought personally before a secular judge for any crime whatsoever, except for offences against the forest laws, or in connection with a lay fee; that any layman knowingly killing a clerk should, besides the usual payment, forfeit all his lands of inheritance for ever; that clergymen should never be compelled to make wager of battle; that the king would not retain vacant bishoprics or abbeys beyond the term of one year.

5. What theories have been entertained respecting the origin of trial by jury?

Two theories alone are now accepted as probable. First, that the system existed in Normandy, and was introduced here as one of the results of the Conquest. The second, that trial by jury was of Anglo-Norman origin, and that its birth may be dated at 1176, i. e. during the reign of Henry II. There was also a third mode by which the truth of facts in dispute was supposed to be ascertainable, viz. by compurgation, or the oath of the twelve men summoned from the immediate neighbourhood. This mode prevailed in Anglo-Saxon times.