Alpha Book

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[Sidenote: Significance of English Constitutional Development in the
Seventeenth and Early Eighteenth Centuries]
This indeed is the salient fact in the evolution of constitutional
government in England. While in other countries late in the eighteenth
century monarchs still ruled by divine right, in England Parliament and
ministers were the real rulers, and, in theory at least, they ruled by
the will of the people. That England was able to develop this form of
government may have been due in part to her insular position, her
constitutional traditions, and the ill-advised conduct of the Stuart
kings, but most of all it was due to the great commercial and
industrial development which made her merchant class rich and powerful
enough to demand and secure a share in government.
[Sidenote: Great Britain Parliamentarian but not Democratic]
In their admiration for the English government, many popular writers
have fallen into the error of confounding the struggle for
parliamentary supremacy with the struggle for democracy.


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