Excerpt from European Constitutional History, or the Origin and Development of the Governments of Modern Europe: From the Fall of the Western Roman Empire to the Close of the Nineteenth Century He who would study constitutional law must look through the whole history of a people. Sometimes changes in a constitution are written by gleaming bayonets amid the flashes of musketry, and are promulgated by the deafening roar of artillery; but more frequently they are to be sought in the gradual uplift of the toiling millions, or in the steady expansion of commerce and increase of manufacture through the exertions of enterprising mer chants and bold adventurers, or in the new development of the forces of nature under the genius of the inventor and the penetrating mind of the scientist. However brought about, they enter into the life and customs and laws of the people, and become the fundamental standard by which individual conduct, and legislative enactment, and official action are to be judged. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.