of Parliament to five years."
52
The following further Resolutions stand upon the Notice Paper and still await consideration: —
"(1) That in future the House of Lords shall consist of Lords of Parliament: A. Chosen by the whole body of hereditary peers from among themselves and by nomination by the Crown. B. Sitting by virtue of offices and of qualifications held by them. C. Chosen from outside.
"(2) That the term of tenure for all Lords of Parliament shall be the same, except in the case of those who sit ex-officio, who would sit so long as they held the office for which they sit."
53
Hayward's "Essays," p. 305.
54
Hansard, vol. 289, p. 957 (1884).
55
Durham, both County and City, was not enfranchised until 1673, and Monmouth was regarded as a Welsh County.
56
"The House of Commons is called the Lower House in twenty Acts of Parliament," says Selden. "But what are twenty Acts of Parliament amongst friends?" – "Table Talk," p. 36.
57
"Quarterly Review," vol. xxix. p. 63.
58
Raikes's "Journal," vol. i. p. 157.
59
"Pall Mall Gazette," December 28, 1860.
60
The Irish members were increased to 105 in 1832, but subsequently reduced to 103, fifty years later.
61
Hansard, "Debates," 18 April, 1864.
62
The General Election of 1880 cost £1,700,000. This expenditure was reduced to about a million pounds after the passing of the Corrupt and Illegal Practices Prevention Act and the Redistribution Bill of 1883 and 1885. By the former the expenses in boroughs are limited to £350, if the number of electors does not exceed 2000; and to £380 if it does exceed 2000, with an extra £30 for every further 1000 electors. In counties, where the electors do not exceed 2000, the expenses are limited to £650, and to £710 if they exceed 2000, with an extra £60 for every further 1000 electors. These sums do not include personal expenses up to £100 and the charges of the returning officer.
63
Hansard, "Debates," vol. 288, p. 1563. (5 June, 1884.) (The phrase was first used in a novel entitled, "Friends of Bohemia, or Phases of London Life," published in 1857, by a Parliamentary writer named E. M. Whitty.)
64
"Parliamentary History," vol. i. p. 766.
65
Andrew Marvell continued to receive a salary from Hull until his death in 1678 (see his "Works," vol. ii., xxxv.), and the member for Harwich obtained a writ against that borough for his salary in 1681.
66
"Diary," 30 March, 1668.
67
Irving's "Annals of Our Time," p. 912. (The majority in 1870 was 187.)
68
"Autobiography of Mrs. Delany," vol. ii. p. 511.
69
Wraxall's "Posthumous Memoirs."
70
p. 270.
71
Speech at Bristol in 1774. ("Works and Correspondence of E. Burke," vol. iii. p. 236). Algernon Sidney anticipated this remark. "It is not therefore for Kent or Sussex, Lewes or Maidstone, but for the whole nation, that the members chosen in those places are sent to serve in Parliament." – "Discourse Concerning Government," vol. ii. p. 370.
72
Bell's "Biographical Sketches," p. 82.
73
Croker, in 1820, complains of having to attend a three o'clock dinner and dance at Bodmin, when he stood as candidate; the whole affair being, he says, "at once tiresome and foolish." "Croker Papers," vol. i. p. 166.
74
"Institute of the Laws of England," 4th part, p. 3.
75
Sir H. C. Robinson's "Diary and Reminiscences," vol. ii. pp. 315-6.
76
Moore wrote to Lady Donegal in 1807: "I begin at last to find out that
77
Prior's "Life of Burke," vol. ii. p. 454.
78
Buxton's "Memoirs," p. 154.
79
In olden days members used to return from Westminster to London through lanes infested with robbers. This cry enabled them to assemble and leave the House in one another's company.
80
It is curious to reflect that a man may be a member of Parliament even though he is not entitled to a vote as an elector. The Rt. Hon. Austen Chamberlain was not only a member, but even a Cabinet Minister, at a time when he had no vote.
81
Naunton's "Fragmenta Regalia," p. 21.
82
Shaftesbury's "Life," vol. i. p. 30 n.
83
Townsend's "History," vol. ii. p. 400.
84
Reresby's "Memoirs," p. 51.
85
"Sir," he said in debate, "the atrocious crime of being a young man, which the hon. gentleman (Horace Walpole) has with such decency and spirit charged against me, I shall neither attempt to palliate or deny; but content myself with wishing that I may be one of those whose follies may cease with their youth, and not of that number who are ignorant in spite of experience."
86
Chesterfield's "Letters," vol. ii. p. 339. In order to escape the fine of £50 °Chesterfield retired from political life for a short time.
87
Grant's "Recollections," p. 62.
88
See Hansard, vol. clxii. p. 1941.
89
When the Lords were temporarily abolished in 1648, peers were elected to the Commons, but only a few seem to have availed themselves of this privilege. Porritt's "Unreformed House of Commons," vol. i. p. 123.
90
Horne Tooke was a man of strength and determination. Upon all great public questions, as he once declared, "neither friends nor foes, nor life nor death, nor thunder nor lightning, would ever make him give way the breadth of one hair." When Lord Temple claimed a superior right to sit in Parliament because he had "a stake in the country," "So have I," said Tooke, "but it was not stolen from a public hedge!"
91
In 1558 it was voted by a small majority that one outlawed or guilty of various frauds might sit in the House if duly elected, his crimes being apparently purged by virtue of his election. See Raikes's "English Constitution," vol. i. p. 323.
92
See the "Black Book," p. 61.
93
"Edinburgh Review" (October, 1838), vol. lxviii. p. 114. The two happiest days of a statesman's life are said to be the day when he accepts high office and the day when he resigns it (Campbell's "Lives of the Chancellors," vol. i. p. 561). Lord Rosebery defined the acceptance and resignation of office as "the two supreme pleasures – one ideal, the other real."
94
Speech made to the farmers at Amersham Market, 1847.
95
Knight's "London," vol. vi. p. 135.
96
Stow's "A Survey of London," p. 173.
97
The Lord Great Chamberlain, who holds an hereditary freehold office of state, is the custodian of the Palace of Westminster. He was originally an executive officer of the King's household, appointed to look after the royal residence. In 1133 the office was granted by Henry I. to Aubrey de Vere, father of the first Earl of Oxford, and to his heirs. Henry VIII. gave the post on several occasions for life to different favourites, not necessarily of the De Vere family, but since the time of Elizabeth the Lord Great Chamberlainship has been held without exception by descendants of the Earl of Oxford. To-day the families of Cholmondeley on the one side, and Ancaster and Carrington on the other, share the privileges of the office, a representative of each branch
