Diana Doctor <ddoctor@cyg.net> asks us
>I am looking for biographical information on each of the British Prime
>Ministers for a possible book project.
When should we (I mean 'we all' historians of Britain) consider
that this request starts (the question is to all of us too, not to Diana
personally, though she can tell us more about her project by answering)???
does the query start when the phrase appears (was it not rather 'first
minister' at first?), viz under Walpole, unless I'm wrong?
Or should we go back further, to include Chancellors since
Clarendon? Would Strafford be eligible? I see no one who would really
qualify as much as him under James I, several who would qualify under
Bessie, though it's more problematic because the constitutional mentalities
and practices were very different, weren't they?
If I mentioned Wentworth/Strafford, it's not because I'm a mid-17th
century scholar, but because I'm afraid the first instance in British
history of a man who was set into place to be a surrogate of the royal
executive was Strafford, under the "tyrannical" 11 years of Charles I's
personal rule. Would Thomas Cromwell be a forerunner? or Cecil? that's what
I'm asking you and what I think we should be asking ourselves.
If I said "I'm afraid it's Strafford", it's because I'm afraid that
anti-parliamentary period of executive practices in British constitutional
history, strongly contributed to the erection of the function which has
remained one of the marks of the British parliamentary constitution: the PM
rules, the monarch reigns, but reigning gives no power because heredity is
not a proper foundation for executive power, though citizens' votes are.
Right'o, folks, this is the version of a French republican with
strong Harringtonian leanings (as regards the interpretation of the
constitutional situation in the 17th century), yet... the matter has
weighty implications.
This shouldn't prevent you from answering Diana's query. I
apologise to her for having, as it were, gate-crashed on her message.
Ridete et bibete
Luc
**********************TIME TRIETH TRUTH********************
Luc Borot <lb@alor.univ-montp3.fr> home 33-67 52 07 98
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Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches sur la Renaissance Anglaise
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