A COMMENTARY ON ITS NATURE AND GROWTH BY JESSE MACY, M.A., PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL SCIENCE IN IOWA COLLEGE LIBRARY OF THE OF CALIFORNIA New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., LTD. 1906 All rights reserved PREFACE My knowledge of the present English Constitution has been derived primarily from the study of standard works upon the subject, but that has been supplemented by two periods of personal observation. A year's residence in England, from July, 1887, to July, 1888, gave opportunity for an acquaintance with British politics at a most interesting and important juncture of affairs. It covered the later month of the Queen's Jubilee year, and the time when, the Liberals having been defeated on the Home Rule Bill for Ireland, the Conservatives were inducted into office through the coöperation of the Liberal Unionists. Eight years later, I passed the months from February to July, 1896, in London, when the same party had again. just returned to power after the failure of the second Home Rule Bill. In the prosecution of the work of direct observation, I have been the recipient of innumerable courtesies and favours in the form of gifts of books and papers, access to records, and personal information of great value. Among those thus furthering my plans, I take pleasure in mentioning Mr. James Bryce, M.P.; the late Professor Edward A. Freeman; Mr. Sam: Timmins, of Birmingham; Mr. H. H. Howorth, M.P., of Manchester; Mr. Joseph Wilkinson, of York; the late Canon Raine, of York Cathedral; Judge Chalmers, of Leamington; Mr. Alexander Ure, of Edinburgh; and the late Mr. Henry Richards, M.P. For more direct aid, I gratefully acknowledge deep obligations to Professor John Kirkpatrick, of Edinburgh University, who revised a portion of my manuscript; to Sir Frederick Pollock, Bart., who read the entire manuscript and gave me the benefit of his criticisms and advice. To Professor W. J. Ashley, of Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., I am espe |