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year of the rtign of Edward I. (A.D. 1295)1 t^'^t the 6c- 

 putict of towns and borou;^ht were, by a regal fummons, 

 admitted into parliament. This is therefore regarded as the 

 le^al and true epoch of the lioiife of commons, and the faint 

 dawu of popular government in Enijland. Lciccllcr's ufurp- 

 atiuo produced only a temporary cflLd, and the fummons of 

 rc(jrelcntativej from boroU(;li3 wasdifcontinued in fubftqucnt 

 parlumcnt:> ; but from this period burj^elTcs became a per- 

 manent part of the Urituh Icgiflature. The ncceiriiics of 

 £dtvard, occaGoncd by his continual wars, and by the dimi- 

 nution of his dcmtfnei, induced him to recur to this nuafurc 

 for obtaini'ig rtqnifitc fupplics ; and he became ftnfible, that 

 inllcad of impoling taxes by his prtiof^ntive, and enforcing 

 Ikii cdifls for thin purp^fe, a more tx[)>.\lilious and tfitdlual 

 mode was to aifcmble the deputies of all the boroughs, to 

 lay before ihem the iieceflUits of the (late, to difcufs the 

 milter in their prtfince. and to require their confcnt to the 

 demands of their foveieign. Willi this view he ilTuci writs 

 to the fiitrifTi, enjoining them to fend to p;irlianicnt, along 

 with two knights of the fltirc, two deputies from each bo- 

 rough within their county, and thefe provided with fufficicnt 

 powers from their community, to confeiit in their name, to 

 what he and his council ihoiild require of them. Accord- 

 ingly, writs were iffned to about 120 cities and boroughs. 

 *' As it is a mod equitable rule," fays lie in his preamble 

 to this writ, " that what concerns all (hould be approved by 

 all, and common dangers be repelled by united x-H"orts ;" a 

 noble principle, which may feem to indicate, fays Mr. Hume, 

 u liberal mind in the king, and which laid the foundation of 

 a free and an equitable govtnmient. The writs of the parlia- 

 ment immediately preceding remain ; and the return of 

 knights is there required, but not a word of the boroughs ; 

 a demonllration, according to Brady (of Boroughs), that this 

 was the veiy year in which they commenced. 



After the eleftion of thefe deputies by the aldermen and 

 common-council, they gave fureties for their attendance be- 

 fore the king and parliament ; their charges were rcfpec- 

 tivcly borne by the borough which fent them ; and they had 

 fo little idea of appearing as legiflators, — a cluirafter fo re- 

 mote from their low rank and condition, — that no intelligence 

 could be more difagreeable to any borough, than to find that 

 they mull eleft, or to any individual, than that he was tleCled 

 to a trull, from which no profit or honour could pofTibly be 

 derived. Properly fpcaking, they did not compofe any ed'en- 

 tial part of the parliament ; they fat apart both from the barons 

 and knights, who difdained to mix with fuch mean perfon- 

 agcs ; and after they had given their confent to the taxes 

 required of them, their bufinefs being then finifiied, they fe- 

 paratcd, even though the parliament ftill continued to fit 

 and to canvafs the national bufinefs. As they were all real 

 burgefles of the places from which they were fent, the (he- 

 litf, when he found no ptrfon of abilities or wealth fufficient 

 for the ofEce, often took the liberty of omitting particular 

 boroughs in his returns ; and as he received the thanks of 

 the people for this indulgence, he gave no difpleafure to the 

 court, which levied on all t!ie boroughs without dilliuAion 

 the tax agreed to by the majority of the deputies. It was 

 not till the reign of Richard II. that the flicriffs were de- 

 prived of the power of omitting boroughs at plcafure. 

 5 Ric. II. cap. 4. 



The union of tiie reprefentatives from the boroughs gra- 

 dually gave more weight to their whole order ; and it be- 

 came cullomary for them, in return for the fupplics which 

 they granted, to prefer petitions to the crown for the redrefs 

 of any particular grievance, of which they found leafon to 

 complain. Thefe petitions received the fanAion of royal 

 authority, and acquired validity, even without the confent 



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of the nobks. Afterwards, however, the houfe of peer?, 

 the moll powerful order m the fbte, reafonably cxpeaed, 

 that their alTent fliould be expreisly granted to all public 

 ordinances ; and in the rdgn of Henry V., the commons 

 required that no laws fliould be framed merely upon tucir pe- 

 titions, unlefs the (latutes were worded by thcmlelves, and 

 had paired their houfe in the form of a bill. At this tune, 

 the commons were much below the rank of leg'llators ; and 

 throughout the reign of Edward I. their affcnt is not once 

 exprelitd in any of the enading claufes ; nor in the reigns 

 enfuing, till the .;th of Edward III. nor in any of the enacl- 

 iiig claufes of 16 Ric. II. Nay even fo low as Henry VF. 

 from the beginning till the 8th of his reign, the aflent of the 

 commons is not once cxprelTed in any enafting claule. Prcf. 

 to llMffhead's edition of the llatutes, p. 7. The commrn* 

 were fo little accullomed to traiifaiil public bufinefs, that 

 they had no fpeaker till after the^arliament 6th Edw. III.; 

 and in the opinion of moll antiquaries, not till the ift of 

 Richard 11. The houfe of reprefentatives from the counties 

 war, gradually fep.irated from that of the peers, and ft rined 

 a dilliiicl order in the (late. Neverthelefs the knights of 

 (liires did not form the fame houfe with the burgcffes. But 

 by degrees the growth of commerce aui^mented the private 

 wealth and confideration of the burgeffcs ; the frequent de- 

 mands of the crown incrcafed their public importance ; and as 

 they reprefented particular bodies of men, rcfembling in this 

 refp.--<il the knights of (hires, they were united together in the 

 fame houfe. Mr. Carte, after having carefully confultcd the 

 rolls of parliament, affirms (Hift. vol. ii. p. 451.), that they 

 never appear to have been united till the i6th of Edward 

 III. But this union docs not feem to have been final ; for, 

 ill 1,573, the burgcffes aftcd by thcnifelves, and voted a tax 

 after the knights were dilmified ; and inflances occur at later 

 periods of their adling feparately. The chief baron Gilbert 

 (Hifl. of the Exchequer, p. 37.), is of opinion, that the 

 reafon why taxes always began with the commons, or bur- 

 gelfes, was, that they were limited by the inftruftions of their 

 boroughs. In the manner above ilated, the third eilate, or 

 that of the commons, reached at lall its prefent form ; and 

 as the country gentlemen made theiiceforwards no fcruple of 

 appearing as deputies from the boroughs, the diilimJtion be- 

 tween the members was entirely loll, and the lower houfe 

 thence acquired a great acceffiou of weight and importance 

 in the kingdom. Still, however, the office of this eflate 

 was very different from that which it has fince exercifed with 

 fo much advantage tu the public. Inflead of checking and 

 controling the authority of the king, they were naturally 

 induced to adhere to him, as the great fountain of law 

 andjuflice, and to fupport Tiim againll the power of the 

 ariilocracy, which was at once the fource of opprelTion to 

 theinfelvcs, and diflurbed him in the execution of the laws. 

 The king, in his turn, gave countenance to an order of menj 

 fo ufefnl, and fo little dangerous ; the peers were alf j 

 obliged to pay them fome confideration ; and thus the third 

 eflate, formerly fo abject in Eiigland, as well as in all other 

 European nations, rofe by flow degrees to its prefent im- 

 portance ; and in its progrefs, made arts and commerce, the 

 necefTary attendants of liberty and equaUty, flouriflt in the 

 kingdom. 



In addition to what has been already advanced, Mr. 

 Hume alleges a further evidence, that the commencement of 

 the houfe of burgcffes, who are the true commons, was not 

 an affair of chance, but arofc from the neceffuics of tlie pre- 

 fent fituation ; viz. that Edward, at the very fame time, 

 fummoned deputies from the inferior clergy, the firfl that 

 ever met in England, and required them to impofc taxes on 

 their conllituents for the public fervice. 



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