Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: ENGLAND. CHAPTER II. ENGLAND BEFORE THE REFORM OF 1832. England in the nineteenth century has served as a political model for Europe. The English people developed the political mechanism of modern Europe, constitutional monarchy, parliamentary government, and safeguards for personal liberty. The other nations have only imitated them. The parties that distinguish the political life of the nineteenth century (conservative, liberal, radical, and socialist) were constituted in England before appearing in other countries. It is therefore natural to begin the political history with England. ENGLAND BEFORE THE REFORM BILL. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland emerged in 1814 from a long war, almost continuous since 1793, which had enlarged its colonial empire and strengthened its internal organization. The Old England of the eighteenth century stood firm; having had no revolution, it needed no restoration. In order to understand this Old England it is necessary to know the organization of the English government, the composition of English society, and the special condition of Ireland. The public life of Great Britain centred in three groups of old institutions, so long united that they seemed inseparable: the central government, the local authorities, and the Church. The Central Government. -- The central government of England, extending since 1707 to Scotland and since 1800 to Ireland, was made up officially of three parts, the King assisted by the Privy Council, the House of Lords, and the House of Commons. These were ancient bodies, whose relations to each other had been settled by custom and tradition. The King, hereditary and inviolable, remained the legal ruler The chapters on England have been freely revised and in part rewritten....