In the summer of 1911 Mr. Asquith, the Liberal Prime Minister, after prolonged and heated discussion, forced the House of Lords to accept the Veto Bill, which is now law.  He did this by using the same threat which enable Earl Grey to carry the Reform Bill of 1832 (S582).  The Veto Act makes it impossible for the House of Lords to defeat any Public Bill which the House of Commons has passed for three successive sessions, extending over a period of not less than two years.  This momentous Act was passed at a critical time when the great Dockers Strike had practically closed the port of London, and had cut off the chief food supply of the city.  A little later, the Prime Minister passed the Salary Bill, which pays the members of the House of Commons 400 pounds annually (S591).  Next, the Government passed (1911) the Workmen’s Compulsory Insurance Bill against sickness and unemployment.  The worker and his employer contribute small sums weekly, the Government gives the rest.  The law has an excellent motive.

632.  General Summary of the Development of the English Nation.

Such is the condition of the English nation in the twentieth century and in the reign of King George V. Looking back to the time when Caesar landed in Britain, we see that since that period an island which then had a population of a few thousand “barbarians” (SS4, 18) has gradually become the center of a great and powerful empire (SS14, 15).

The true history of the country began, however, not with Caesar’s landing, but with the Saxon invasion in 449, about five centuries later.  Then the fierce blue-eyed German and Scandinavian races living on the shores of the Baltic and North Seas took possession of Britain.  They, with the help of the primitive British, or Celtic, stock, laid the foundation of a new nation.  Their speech in a modified form, their laws, and their customs became in large degree permanent.

Later, missionaries from Rome converted this mixed population to the Christian faith.  They baptized Britain with the name England, which it has ever since retained (S50).

In the eleventh century the Normans, who sprang originally from the same stock as the Northmen and Saxons, conquered the island.  They grafted onto the civilization which they found there certain elements of Continental civilization (S126).  Eventually the Saxon yeoman and the Norman knight joined hands and fortunes, and became one people (S192).

This union was first unmistakable recognized in the provisions of Magna Carta (S199).  When in 1215 the barons forced King John to grant that memorable document they found it expedient to protect the rights of every class of the population.  Then nobles, clergy, farmers, townsmen, and laborers whether bond or free, stood, as it were, shoulder to shoulder.

The rise of free towns marked another long step forward (S183).  That movement secured to their inhabitants many precious privileges of self-government.  Then the Wat Tyler insurrection of a subsequent period (S251) led gradually to the emancipation of that numerous class which had long been in partial bondage (S252).