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the earliest Teutonic assemblies every freeman had his place. There is no doubt that in England every freeman kept his place in the smaller local assemblies of the
mark, the
hundred, and the
shire67. He still, where modern legislation has not wholly swept it away, keeps, as I hinted in my former lecture, some faint shadow of the old right when he gives a vote in the assembly, in which the assembly of the mark still lives on, that is, in the vestry of his parish. But how as to the great assembly of all, the Assembly of the Wise, the Witenagemót of the whole realm? No ancient record gives us any clear or formal account of the constitution of that body. It is commonly spoken of in a vague way as a gathering of the wise, the noble, the great men
68. But, alongside of passages like these, we find other passages which speak of it in a way which implies a far more popular constitution. King Eadward is said to be chosen King by “all folk.” Earl Godwine “makes his speech before the King and all the people of the land.” Judicial sentences and other acts of authority are voted by the army, that is by the people under arms. Sometimes we find direct mention of the presence of large and popular classes of men, as the citizens of London or Winchester
69. The inference from all this is obvious. The right of the ordinary freeman to attend, to vote – it might perhaps be nearer the truth to say to shout
70– in the general Assembly of the whole realm was never formally taken away. But it was a right which, in its own nature, most men could hardly ever exercise. None but men of wealth would have the means, none but men of some personal importance would have any temptation, to take long journeys for such a purpose. It is not likely that any great multitude would, under ordinary circumstances, set off from Northern England to attend meetings which were habitually held at Westminster, Winchester, and Gloucester. It is plain that the habitual attendance would not go beyond a small body of chief men, Earls, Bishops, Abbots, the officers of the King’s court, the Thegns of the greatest wealth or the highest personal influence. But it is plain that, when the heart of the nation was specially stirred by some overwhelming interest, many men would find their way to the Assembly who would not find their way to it in ordinary times. And, when the Assembly was held in a town, the citizens of that town at once formed a popular element ready on the spot. Hence we can account for the seemingly contradictory way in which the Assembly is spoken of, sometimes in language which would imply an aristocratic body, sometimes in language which would imply a body highly democratic. It was in fact a body, democratic in ancient theory, aristocratic in ordinary practice, but to which any strong popular impulse could at any time restore its ancient democratic character
71. Acts done by a freely chosen representative body may, without much straining of language, be said to be done by the whole people. But acts done by a body not representative could never be called the acts of the whole people, unless the whole people had an acknowledged right to attend its meetings, though that right might, under all ordinary circumstances, be exercised only by a few of their number.
