Coleridge and opium-eating, and other writings / [Thomas De Quincey].
- Thomas De Quincey
- Date:
- 1863
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Coleridge and opium-eating, and other writings / [Thomas De Quincey]. Source: Wellcome Collection.
329/356 (page 313)
![FALSIFICATION OF ENGLISH HISTORY. I am myself, and always have been, a member of the Church of England, and am grieved to hear the many at- tacks against the Church [frequently most illiberal at- tacks] which not so much religion as political rancour gives birth to in every third journal that I take up. This I say to acquit myself of all dishonourable feelings, such as I would abhor to co-operate with, in bringing a very heavy charge against that great body in its literary capa- city. Whosoever has reflected on the history of the English constitution must be aware that the most im- portant stage of its development lies within the reign of Charles I. It is true that the judicial execution of that prince has been allowed by many persons to vitiate all that was done by the heroic parliament of November 1640; and the ordinary histories of England assume as a matter of course that the whole period of parliamentary history through those times is to be regarded as a period of confusion. Our constitution, say they, was formed in 1688-9. Meantime it is evident to any reflecting man that the Eevolution simply re-affirmed the principles de- veloped in the strife between the two great parties which had arisen in the reign of James I., and had ripened and xi.—o](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b24853987_0329.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
