CONTENTS. xi Conduct of Public Prosecutions-Arrest of Prisoners by the pp. 139-147 HOW WE ARE GOVERNED. LETTER I. Introduction-Purpose of this Work. MY DEAR SON, You have now reached an age at which it is desirable that you should acquire some knowledge of the institutions under which you have the happiness to live; of the machinery by which the government of the country is conducted; and of the judicial tribunals by which obedience to the law is enforced. That information I propose to impart to you in a series of Letters. I cannot of course enter very minutely into the details of so large a subject. For these I must refer you to other works; but I hope to be able to give you such an outline of our constitutional system as will not only be useful in itself, but will serve as an introduction to the more complete and careful study of this extensive and interesting field of inquiry. I propose to trace the rise and growth of our mixed constitution; to point out the powers now possessed by the different estates of the realm; and to indicate the manner in which they fulfil their functions. I shall devote a Letter to the National Debt; and another to the not less important subject of that Local Self-Government, through which so much is done in England that is elsewhere the work of a highly centralized administration. The Church, the Army, and the Navy, will each receive due attention; and I shall describe, with as much fulness as my space will permit, the different courts of Law and Equity, and the methods of procedure in both civil and criminal cases. You will thus, I trust, be placed in a position to understand the various political questions which you may hear discussed B around you, and to appreciate both the substantial merits and the slight defects of a system, which has been formed by the persevering and patriotic efforts of many generations of Englishmen, and under which the British empire has come to be what we see it to-day-the envy and admiration of less fortunate nations. Your affectionate father, A. B. LETTER II. THE CONSTITUTION. The Origin of the British Constitution Of Parliamentary Government -The Feudal System-Taxation of the Country-Origin of the Houses of Lords and Commons-Parliament-Rights of Englishmen-Magna Carta-Habeas Corpus Act-Bill of Rights-Freedom of the Press. THIS Letter must be considered as a sort of introduction to those which follow; and in it I am obliged to depart from the rule of confining myself to treating of our institutions as they now exist for reasons which you will very soon perceive. The "constitution" of a country is the established system under which its government is conducted. It is defined by Paley to be "so much of its law as relates to the designation and power of the legislature; the rights and functions of the several parts of the legislative body; the construction, office, and jurisdiction of courts of justice." The origin of the British Constitution is hidden amidst the general obscurity which surrounds the early history of our ancestors. Harassed as they were by repeated invasions, and unsettled by consequent changes amongst their rulers, they have left us a very indistinct idea of the manner in which the business of their government was carried on. The principle, however, which guided it is clear; for from a period long before the union of the states of the Heptarchy under one crown, the sway of their princes was assisted, and in some measure controlled, by assemblages of their people, which may be taken to be the origin of the parliaments of the present day. These assemblages were known under various names. In Saxon, as the Micel Gemote, or Great Meeting; the Micel Synod, or Great Council; and the Wittena Gemote, or Meeting of Wise Men. After the consolidation of the seven kingdoms the united council was called in Latin Commune Concilium Regni, "the Common Council of the Kingdom;" Magnum Concilium Regis, "the Great Council of the King;" Curia Magna, |