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its own order charged with treason or felony. Furthermore, it sits, or, as we should say, a committee consisting only of its legal members sits, as a Supreme Court of Appeals for the kingdom.

THE HOUSE OF COMMONS.

As the result of successive changes in the representation of the realm, the House of Commons now numbers six hundred and seventy members. The constituencies which "return" these members are either rural-counties and subdivisions of counties; urban - boroughs and wards; or universities. On receipt of the writ, or order for an election, the "returning officer" of each constituency arranges the preliminaries and fixes a date before which all candidates must announce themselves. When that date is reached, if no more candidates appear than there are seats to be filled, the candidates are "returned" by the officer are reported as duly elected - without further formality of balloting. If, however, a seat is "contested" by two or more candidates, the officer appoints a day for "taking the poll." In general elections, therefore, it comes about that the polls are not taken in all the constituencies on the same day, but are scattered over a considerable interval of time. Thus, in a hotly contested campaign it not infrequently happens that some distinguished party champion attempts in the first instance to carry some stronghold of the enemy, is defeated there, and yet saves his place in Parliament by offering himself at the eleventh hour as a candidate in one of these later elections. Any fully qualified citizen not a member of the House of Lords, an officer of government, nor a clergyman either of the Established or Roman Church, may "stand; i.e., is eligible to Parliament. Residence outside of the district is no bar, as we have seen above. The candidate not only pays all the expenses of his canvass, but must render a sworn statement of every item of it. If successful, he is free thereafter to serve the public in Parliament at his own expense, for the government allows him no compensation whatever. Only in very rare cases does a constituency volunteer to maintain in Parliament a member too poor to maintain himself. If the member becomes distinguished enough to be sought for high political office, such as a

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place in the Cabinet, he must, by submitting to a second election, obtain from his constituency permission to serve them in the double capacity of member and minister.

The old Houses of Parliament, in which Burke, Chatham, and Macaulay spoke, were destroyed by fire in 1834. Their essential features, arrangements, and usages, however, have all been repeated in the new Houses; and these will require some brief notice in view of the frequent reference made to them in the speeches. The "House" in which the Commons sit, and in which is transacted the business of the British Empire, is an oblong chamber surrounded by lobbies. At one end, on an elevated platform, is the Speaker's Chair. At a table below and in front of him sit the Clerks; beyond them lies the Mace, emblem of the Speaker's authority. Parallel with the sides and with the further end of the room are arranged the members' seats, tier above tier, filling the whole space with the exception of a narrow, oblong portion of open floor in the centre. From this open space the main aisle runs down the centre of the chamber; while an aisle at right angles to this, and known as the "gangway," intersects the side benches. There are three well-known groups of sittings: The front row of seats on the Speaker's right is called the Treasury Bench, and is occupied by the Ministers. Behind these are ranged the supporters of the Government. the members of the dominant party. The seats on the Speaker's left, and directly facing these last, are the Opposition Benches, occupied by the leaders and body of "Her Majesty's Opposition." The "cross-benches" at the end of the room, directly facing the Speaker, are the place for members who do not affiliate with either of the great parties. One's location in the House is thus an indication of his political relationships. No member, however, can claim exclusive right to any particular seat, since the sittings are far fewer than the membership. There are regularly five sessions a week; four of these run from 4 o'clock P.M. till late at night—sometimes till after day-break and one, on Wednesday, from midday till 6 o'clock P.M. Members sit with their hats on, but remove them when they rise to speak.

The "House" of the Lords is in the same building with that

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of the Commons, but at the further end of the corridor. Its general arrangements are not unlike those of the other chamber, save that the Speaker's seat the woolsack - is moved forward toward the centre to make place for a raised platform and the royal throne at the end of the room.

FORMS OF PROCEDURE.

At the opening of Parliament the Commons, headed by their Speaker, attend at the bar1 of the Lords to listen to the Speech from the Throne, a paper prepared, of course, by the Ministry, and resembling somewhat, in its general scope, our President's Message. At the close of the Speech they retire to their chamber, and, first of all, go through the form of reading some unimportant bill, in order to assert once more their right to deliberate freely about whatever they will, even though matters urged upon them by the Crown have to wait. Some member previously designated for this duty then moves the "Address" - the formal reply to the royal Speech, couched in subservient language, and strictly echoing the tone and the suggestions of that paper. In the debate which follows, there is a general airing of views of all sorts, and not infrequently amendments are proposed sharply criticising the acts or the policy of Government.2 These matters disposed of, the regular business of the session begins. Of this there is inevitably an enormous amount, since many matters which in our country never come before Congress, but belong either to State, or to county, or to municipal government, are in England directly under the control of Parliament. But there is no such deluge of proposed legislation as that which greets us Americans at the opening of Congress. The House of Lords, as we have seen, does very little in initiating measures; while individual members of the Commons may introduce bills but sparingly, not as of right, but only by consent of the House. Furthermore, only the Wednesday afternoon

1 A movable barrier or rail in the main aisle of each House, beyond which none but officers and members are allowed to pass.

2 A debate upon a similar Address in the House of Lords was the occasion of Chatham's speech printed in this volume, and of an amendment proposed by him.

session of each week is available for the consideration of business so introduced. The Ministry is held responsible for the introduction of all necessary legislation; while the duty of the House is primarily to scrutinize, discuss, amend, accept, or reject the measures the Ministry proposes. Government measures have, therefore, large right of way; three full sessions each week are devoted to them exclusively. Questions propounded to the Ministry form a noteworthy feature of the Parliamentary scheme, affording, as they do, to the House an admirable means of informing itself on matters it needs to know, and to the Ministers an opportunity of directly stating their case and explaining their action. But neither measures nor questions may be sprung upon the House unawares. Full notice and precise statement of each must in all cases be previously given.

The regular course through which a Bill must pass to become a a law is as follows: The Bill, having been drafted, printed, and properly endorsed, comes to its "first reading," after due notice given and motion passed "for leave to bring in the Bill." Its title then is read aloud by the Clerk, and a motion is made that the Bill be read a second time on a future day named. When the day arrives, the proposer moves its second reading, and enters into a full explanation and defence of its provisions. Debate follows; and if the House consents to the second reading, it is understood as accepting the general principle of the measure, though not committing itself to the details. If the House refuses, the Bill is of course defeated. This second reading is therefore the most critical stage of a Bill in its course in the Commons, and calls for the most strenuous efforts of its defenders. After its second reading, the House votes to consider it in detail in a Committee on some future day named. In this Committee changes and amendments are agreed upon, and the Committee rises and reports to the House the Bill, usually in its final shape. The House orders its third reading, again in the future; and when this is reached, the motion is put "that the Bill be passed." Votes in the House are taken first viva voce; but if the result is doubted, a "division" is taken in this way: Those voting "Ay" pass out of the chamber into the lobby on the Speaker's right,

while those voting “No” pass into the lobby on the left, until the Speaker remains alone. The members are counted as they file back into the chamber, and the result is announced. A Bill that successfully passes this stage is sent up to the Lords. If the Lords accept it, it receives, as a matter of course, the royal assent,1 and becomes a law. If the Lords amend it, it must return to the Commons for their concurrence in the amendments. If the Lords "throw it out," or if the Commons refuse to accept the amendments of the Lords, the Bill, of course, is lost.

FINANCE AND TAXATION.

The principle that a free people must be free to tax itself and to spend its money as it will, is a principle which our fathers brought with them from the old country. The difference between a tax "given and granted" to the Crown by the people themselves, and a tax imposed by the Crown upon the people, was in the last century, to Englishmen on both sides of the Atlantic, a very vital difference the difference between freedom and subjugation. Burke speaks of this point on p. 49, l. 13-21; and the whole subject is eloquently set forth by him in a speech upon American Taxation, not included in this volume. Out of this very matter grew our Revolutionary War. Since that war, however, there has been for us neither Crown nor subject, nor any participant in our government other than the people itself; and the old distinction is lost. Our governments of all degrees regularly levy, or impose, taxes; and the form of expression no longer awakes our wrath. But in England the old distinction and the old usage still hold. There the vast framework of government-outside of the Commons has absolutely no vital or sustaining power within itself; it can levy no tax, can raise no revenue for its own support, has no income at all save what the people from year to year through their representatives, the Commons, actually "give and grant." The Queen, in her Speech from the Throne, must each year ask anew that "her faithful Commons" vote her the

1 There was once a veto power resident in the Sovereign, but it is now practically lost. The Queen must assent to whatever passes the two Houses. The last veto in English history was by Queen Anne.

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