Letters on England [16]
this style: "We grant, of our own free will,
the following privileges to the archbishops, bishops, priors, and
barons of our kingdom," etc.
The House of Commons is not once mentioned in the articles of this
Charter--a proof that it did not yet exist, or that it existed
without power. Mention is therein made, by name, of the freemen of
England--a melancholy proof that some were not so. It appears, by
Article XXXII., that these pretended freemen owed service to their
lords. Such a liberty as this was not many removes from slavery.
By Article XXI., the king ordains that his officers shall not
henceforward seize upon, unless they pay for them, the horses and
carts of freemen. The people considered this ordinance as a real
liberty, though it was a greater tyranny. Henry VII., that happy
usurper and great politician, who pretended to love the barons,
though he in reality hated and feared them, got their lands
alienated. By this means the villains, afterwards acquiring riches
by their industry, purchased the estates and country seats of the
illustrious peers who had ruined themselves by their folly and
extravagance, and all the lands got by insensible degrees into other
hands.
The power of the House of Commons increased every day. The families
of the ancient peers were at last extinct; and as peers only are
properly noble in England, there would be no such thing in
strictness of law as nobility in that island, had not the kings
created new barons from time to time, and preserved the body of
peers, once a terror to them, to oppose them to the Commons, since
become so formidable.
All these new peers who compose the Higher House receive nothing but
their titles from the king, and very few of them have estates in
those places whence they take their titles. One shall be Duke of D-
, though he has not a foot of land in Dorsetshire; and another is
Earl of a village, though he scarce knows where it is situated. The
peers have power, but it is only in the Parliament House.
There is no such thing here as haute, moyenne, and basse justice--
that is, a power to judge in all matters civil and criminal; nor a
right or privilege of hunting in the grounds of a citizen, who at
the same time is not permitted to fire a gun in his own field.
No one is exempted in this country from paying certain taxes because
he is a nobleman or a priest. All duties and taxes are settled by
the House of Commons, whose power is greater than that of the Peers,
though inferior to it in dignity. The spiritual as well as temporal
Lords have the liberty to reject a Money Bill brought in by the
Commons; but they are not allowed to alter anything in it, and must
either pass or throw it out without restriction. When the Bill has
passed the Lords and is signed by the king, then the whole nation
pays, every man in proportion to his revenue or estate, not
according to his title, which would be absurd. There is no such
thing as an arbitrary subsidy or poll-tax, but a real tax on the
lands, of all which an estimate was made in the reign of the famous
King William III.
The land-tax continues still upon the same foot, though the revenue
of the lands is increased. Thus no one is tyrannised over, and
every one is easy. The feet of the peasants are not bruised by
wooden shoes; they eat white bread, are well clothed, and are not
afraid of increasing their stock of cattle, nor of tiling their
houses, from any apprehension that their taxes will be raised the
year following. The annual income of the estates of a great many
commoners in England amounts to two hundred thousand livres, and yet
these do not think it beneath them to plough the lands which enrich
them, and on which they enjoy their liberty.
LETTER X.--ON TRADE
As trade enriched the citizens in England, so it contributed to
their freedom, and this freedom on the other side extended
the following privileges to the archbishops, bishops, priors, and
barons of our kingdom," etc.
The House of Commons is not once mentioned in the articles of this
Charter--a proof that it did not yet exist, or that it existed
without power. Mention is therein made, by name, of the freemen of
England--a melancholy proof that some were not so. It appears, by
Article XXXII., that these pretended freemen owed service to their
lords. Such a liberty as this was not many removes from slavery.
By Article XXI., the king ordains that his officers shall not
henceforward seize upon, unless they pay for them, the horses and
carts of freemen. The people considered this ordinance as a real
liberty, though it was a greater tyranny. Henry VII., that happy
usurper and great politician, who pretended to love the barons,
though he in reality hated and feared them, got their lands
alienated. By this means the villains, afterwards acquiring riches
by their industry, purchased the estates and country seats of the
illustrious peers who had ruined themselves by their folly and
extravagance, and all the lands got by insensible degrees into other
hands.
The power of the House of Commons increased every day. The families
of the ancient peers were at last extinct; and as peers only are
properly noble in England, there would be no such thing in
strictness of law as nobility in that island, had not the kings
created new barons from time to time, and preserved the body of
peers, once a terror to them, to oppose them to the Commons, since
become so formidable.
All these new peers who compose the Higher House receive nothing but
their titles from the king, and very few of them have estates in
those places whence they take their titles. One shall be Duke of D-
, though he has not a foot of land in Dorsetshire; and another is
Earl of a village, though he scarce knows where it is situated. The
peers have power, but it is only in the Parliament House.
There is no such thing here as haute, moyenne, and basse justice--
that is, a power to judge in all matters civil and criminal; nor a
right or privilege of hunting in the grounds of a citizen, who at
the same time is not permitted to fire a gun in his own field.
No one is exempted in this country from paying certain taxes because
he is a nobleman or a priest. All duties and taxes are settled by
the House of Commons, whose power is greater than that of the Peers,
though inferior to it in dignity. The spiritual as well as temporal
Lords have the liberty to reject a Money Bill brought in by the
Commons; but they are not allowed to alter anything in it, and must
either pass or throw it out without restriction. When the Bill has
passed the Lords and is signed by the king, then the whole nation
pays, every man in proportion to his revenue or estate, not
according to his title, which would be absurd. There is no such
thing as an arbitrary subsidy or poll-tax, but a real tax on the
lands, of all which an estimate was made in the reign of the famous
King William III.
The land-tax continues still upon the same foot, though the revenue
of the lands is increased. Thus no one is tyrannised over, and
every one is easy. The feet of the peasants are not bruised by
wooden shoes; they eat white bread, are well clothed, and are not
afraid of increasing their stock of cattle, nor of tiling their
houses, from any apprehension that their taxes will be raised the
year following. The annual income of the estates of a great many
commoners in England amounts to two hundred thousand livres, and yet
these do not think it beneath them to plough the lands which enrich
them, and on which they enjoy their liberty.
LETTER X.--ON TRADE
As trade enriched the citizens in England, so it contributed to
their freedom, and this freedom on the other side extended