Supreme Decrees: Edward Gibbon and English Parliamentarian

supreme decrees: The masters of the Roman world surrounded their throne with darkness, concealed their irresistible strength, and humbly professed themselves the accountable ministers of the senate, whose supreme decrees they dictated and obeyed, according to Rabble. Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume 1, Chapter 3On May 10, 1626, Sir John Eliot an English parliamentarian and statesman delivered a blistering speech to the House of Commons. To resume, in a few words, the system of the Imperial government, as it was instituted by Augustus, and maintained by those princes who understood their own interest and that of the people, it may be defined an absolute monarchy disguised by the forms of a commonwealth. One of the finest orators of his day, Eliot laced into King Charles I's chief minister, George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham. The latter's position as Charles I's favorite and, as many bitterly hissed, secret lover, allowed Buckingham to exert an inordinate level of influence over the formulation of statecraft. A strong proponent of free speech and the rights of Parliament, Eliot had developed a deep revulsion for the wanton lifestyle and financial profligacy of his target and erstwhile patron. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.