The constitution violated : an essay / by the author of the "Memoir of John Grey of Dilston".

  • Butler, Josephine Elizabeth Grey, 1828-1906.
Date:
1871
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The constitution violated : an essay / by the author of the "Memoir of John Grey of Dilston". Source: Wellcome Collection.

    27/220 (page 15)
    De Lolme quotes this as an instance of the habit of the English people of falling back upon their ancient constitutional rights, remarking that in this instance, although the nose in question was so skilfully needled up as to be as good as ever, still it was deemed by Par- liament that the clause “ nor in any ways destroyed 55 of Magna Charta had been violated by this assault, and adds that the whole of Parliament was thrown into such a passion of fury on the occasion that nothing would serve them but the passing of the Act which stands upon the statute-books till this day as the Coventry Act. If I dared to bring before my readers the comparison of this slight personal insult offered to one man on one occasion, with those day by day perpetrated under the Acts which we oppose, whose effects are to degrade and harden, the nation would not rest content with repeal, but would require an Act to be framed which would render such outrages impossible in the future.1 Without needlessly multiplying quotations from our great constitutional writers, it is impossible to convey 1 Sir Charles Trevelyan, in Good Words of January 1, 1871, says —“ It is well that the ladies of England have protested against their sex being recognised by Parliament as a corpus vile for the indulgence of irregular lust. If it were possible for them to explain the real extent of the outrage upon womanhood, there would be one universal cry for repeal throughout the land.”