Qualified Toleration: Bermuda and the English Revolution

Central to both the causes and development of the English revolution was the demand for reformation of the Church of England. The question of what shape this reform should take, however, divided English men and women. Debates over the further reformation of the Church of England were also complicated by the emergence of increasingly vocal and powerfully‐placed calls for freedom of religion, ranging from a limited toleration for a certain few to a broader liberty of conscience for all. This article looks at the debate surrounding liberty of conscience during the English revolution in 1644–5, but from a fresh angle: examining the context and rationale for the parliamentary ordered religious settlement of the English Atlantic colony of Bermuda in October of 1645. Integrating the fortunes of this Atlantic colony into the history of the English revolution reconfigures our understanding and analysis of revolutionary religion and politics.     

After Emancipation: Thomas Fowell Buxton and Evangelical Politics in the 1830s

After the Emancipation Act of 1833 officially abolished slavery in the British empire, it became clear that the anti‐slavery coalition was even more tenuous than many had believed. The expectations created by reform, and by the previous measures removing disabilities on dissenters and catholics, sent the various elements within the anti‐slavery camp in different directions. This splintering of efforts was especially true of evangelicals in parliament. During the next four years, the anti‐slavery leader, Thomas Fowell Buxton, went through a reorientation as he worked to make sense of his priorities under new political conditions. Although involved with many issues of the day, Buxton came to focus on the plight of aboriginal peoples in the British empire and then formulated his proposals to end African slavery. Buxton's shift represents a larger one for evangelicals in England. While they could not all agree on the benefits or morality of poor law reform or the appropriate way to handle the Irish Church question, most could agree that the peoples coming under British rule should have their rights protected, especially if it opened a way for further missionary activity. By 1840, Buxton's efforts provided a set of concepts and an agenda for many people of otherwise diverse political bent. Domestically, the evangelical communities in Britain might disagree on what policy and programmes served their civilisation best; but they all agreed that Britain's growing empire needed to be directed in a way that promoted christianity and commerce, and hence the spread of ‘civilisation’.     

MPs on the Subject of STEMM: What Can Oral History Tell Us?*

A growing collection of archived oral history interviews with former MPs offers historians new opportunities to study the influences that have directed MPs’ routes into elected office and their behaviour in the house of commons. This article draws on evidence in the interviews to consider the extent to which an MP's background in science, technology, engineering, maths, and medicine (so-called STEMM subjects) has contributed to his or her activity as a parliamentarian. When concerns are raised about the House's capacity to effectively debate and scrutinise legislation concerning STEMM matters, those concerns are often accompanied by calls for more MPs with a STEMM background. Listening to these oral history interviews to hear what individual MPs say about their connections with STEMM – whether before, during, or after their time in the Commons – provides an insight into the relevance of having a STEMM background as an MP and offers explanations as to why MPs with a STEMM background are in a minority in the House. As such, this examination of historical material contributes to the ongoing debate about the role of STEMM experts in parliament while demonstrating the value of consulting archived oral history interviews when researching 20th-century parliamentary history.     

贵州省赈务会的成立及其演变概况探析

民国时期,灾荒与战争在贵州大地交相发生,由此给生活在黔中大地的人们带来了严重灾祸。在这一背景之下,根据国民政府的统一部署,贵州成立了省赈务会。赈务会的中心任务就是救济因灾或战争而产生的难民,它属于贵州救济难民的一个官方机构。正因其特殊的官方背景,因此,自其成立之后,既要接受国民政府相关救济机构的指导,同样亦应纳入贵州省政府的直接领导之下。由此,随着岁月的变迁与国民政府政治的调整与变化,贵州省赈务会成立之后,亦经历了一个不断演变直至终结的历史过程。通过对贵州省赈务会演变的历史分析,让我们从赈务的层面认识与了解到民国时期贵州官方赈务组织机构变化发展的基本概况。     

略论新中国成立以来中国共产党对军队的绝对领导

中国共产党对军队的绝对领导,即"党指挥枪",是马克思主义建党建军学说与中国军事斗争实践相结合的伟大创造,是毛泽东建军思想的重要组成部分。新中国成立后,中国共产党逐步发展和完善了一整套领导人民军队的基本制度,实现了党的组织与军队建制的有机融合,实现了党的思想政治领导与军事行政领导的内在统一,并从新的高度深刻论述和发展了毛泽东"党指挥枪"的建军思想,为坚持党对军队的绝对领导奠定了新的理论基础。     

“A Most Revolting State of Affairs”: Theodore Roosevelt’s Aldermanic Bill and the New York Assembly City Investigating Committee of 1884

In 1884 Theodore Roosevelt chaired a special committee of the New York Assembly, charged with investigating corruption in New York City departments. Roosevelt had also presented to the Assembly a bill to strip the city’s Board of Aldermen of their power to confirm mayoral appointments. The “Roosevelt bill” sought to break the power of Tammany over these appointments, and reduce waste and corruption. While the committee’s investigation provided the press lurid examples of corruption and incompetence, in the end it did little to diminish Tammany’s power. For Roosevelt, however, the committee hearings served as a perfect backdrop to his Aldermanic bill which was eventually signed into law by Governor Grover Cleveland. The parallel paths of the bill and the committee revealed Roosevelt as a shrewd politico building his reputation as an urban reformer.     

民主革命时期中共"地委"组织考论

民主革命时期的中共地委组织是党的组织体系中的一个重要组织层级和管理机构。它经历了一个从初创、探索到重建、全面发展和基本定型的历史过程。在初创和探索时期(1921～1927),地委组织从制度上看呈逐渐严密、从设置上看呈逐渐增多的特点,而总的看,地委的组织层级地位尚不明确,地委的设置从全国的组织体系看还表现为临时性和不稳定性。在重建、全面发展和基本定型时期(1938—1949),地委组织确立了省(边区)和县之间一个地方层级的地位,地委的组织制度在早期探索的基础上逐渐完备和定型,地委在全国的地方党的组织体系中的组织和层级地位在法律上(党的章程及有关文件)和实践上得以确立。     

House of Lords Committee Accommodation and Its Use: Restoration and Renewal in the 19th and 20th Centuries*

Following the 1834 fire, the work of house of lords committees continued virtually without interruption, at first in temporary accommodation and, from 1846, in rooms in the new palace designed by Charles Barry. This article charts the history of house of lords committee activity and the varied use of its accommodation at Westminster from 1834 to the present. Major committee work immediately following the fire included an inquiry into prison reform. Barry's accommodation was scantily fitted out, and quickly needed technical and other adaptations. Committees themselves changed too, with the heaviest phase of private bill activity needed for the creation of the railways tailing off by the late 1860s. Following a low point in committee activity between 1940 and 1970 committee work has developed in fits and starts from 1971 onwards. The further expansion of committees following the Jellicoe committee report of 1992 was accommodated by the reform of private bill procedure, which helped free up committee rooms, and in October 2009, the establishment of the Supreme Court meant that the law lords no longer sat judicially in the large committee rooms 1 and 2. Since 2012, however, the further expansion of committee activity has not been matched by an increase in its accommodation.     

Did 1979 Make Much Difference? An Alternative View of Select Committee Reform in the 1970s and 1980s*

An emphasis on the distinctive nature and effectiveness of the post-1979 ‘departmental’ select committee system has tended to dominate the academic literature. This article demonstrates that, on the contrary, many of the most important elements of these changes in the parliamentary environment were already in place by the mid 1970s, and, in particular, that MPs were working effectively to challenge government on select committees well before the advent of the departmental committees. It therefore concludes, contrary to the impression given by conventional accounts of the development of select committees, that the 1979 changes should be seen largely as a sensible restructuring; they were not, as has been claimed, the key event in the advance of select committee scrutiny, but, instead, should be regarded as one step in a gradual process of reform and improvement that began in the mid 1960s.     

The British Parliamentary Labour Party and the Government of Ireland Act 1920

Immediately after the First World War the British Labour Party was forced to reconsider its relationship with an increasingly militant Irish nationalism. This reassessment occurred at the same time as it was becoming a major political and electoral force in post‐war Britain. The political imperative from the party's perspective was to portray itself as a responsible, moderate and patriotic alternative governing party. Thus it was fearful of the potential negative impact of too close an association with, and perceived sympathy for, extreme Irish nationalism. This explains the party's often bewildering changes in policy on Ireland at various party conferences in 1919 and 1920, ranging from support for home rule to federalism throughout the United Kingdom to ‘dominion home rule’ as part of a wider evolving British Commonwealth to adopting outright ‘ self‐determination’ for a completely independent Ireland outside both United Kingdom and empire. On one aspect of its Irish policy, however, the party was adamant and united – its opposition to the partition of Ireland, which was the fundamental principle of Lloyd George's Government of Ireland Bill of 1920 which established Northern Ireland. Curiously, that aspect of Labour's Irish policy was never discussed in the party at large. All the running was made by the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) in the house of commons in 1920. The PLP's outright opposition to the bill acted as balm throughout the wider party, binding together the confusing, and often contradictory, positions promulgated on the long‐term constitutional future of Ireland and its relationship with Britain.