Ano Porter, of the Board of Trade, says :-" The charges, in ordinary times, of merely transporting a quarter of wheat from the north of Germany and the lower ports of the Baltic to England, are stated, on good authority, to be 10s. 6d. in addition to all the charges of shipping; and I am assured that in order to get back in London the cost of a quarter of wheat bought in the Dantzic market with the lowest rate of mercantile profit, it must be sold at an advance of 18s. upon the original cost."* ther eminent authority estimates the cost of importing wheat from Dantzic, warehousing it here, and keeping it six months till sold, including insurance, but without profit, at 18s. 3d. per quarter. Mr. M'Culloch, in the appendix to a pamphlet published by him in May, 1841, gives an account of the charges on 100 quarters of wheat imported from Dantzic for sale on consignment in London, in May, 1841. This includes the expenses of its importation, its landing, its retention for three weeks, and its delivery to the buyer, which amount in the aggregate to 451. 13s. 8d., and, with an allowance for waste, the cost would be raised to 50l. One hundred quarters of fine high mixed wheat, weighing about 61 lbs. per bushel, “would cost, by the latest advices, 40s. per quarter," so that this parcel of wheat could not be sold at less than 50s. per quarter, and to this has to be added the profit of the importer, which at 10 per cent. would raise the price to 54s. the quarter; and a fixed duty of 8s. would further increase it to 62s. Wheat is always cheaper in Dantzic,quality considered, than in any of the continental ports nearer London; and Mr. M'Culloch states that, whenever there is a demand from this country for 150,000 or 200,000 quarters, the price uniformly rises to 40s. the quarter; and in 1839, when 384,369 quarters of wheat were shipped at Dantzic for England, it cost the shippers 45s. to 55s. per quarter. If the ports of this country were always open, it may be concluded that the price of good wheat in Dantzic, in ordinary years, would not be under 45s. the quarter. "But taking it at the lowest limit, or 35s., and adding to it 10s. or 12s. for the freight and other charges attending its conveyance to England, and its sale to the consumer, it is obvious it could not be sold here, even if there were no duty, for less than from 45s. to 478. a quarter;" and if it were charged with a fixed duty of 8s. its price would be raised to 53s. to 55s. a quarter. Now, during the ten years ending with 1840 the average price of wheat in England and Wales was 56s. 11d. a quarter. In five of these years the the price was above this average, and in the other five years average price was 48s. 6d. per quarter. Thus, since the law of 1815, which assumed the average remunerating price of wheat at something under 80s. per quarter, the question of "protection" has been considerably narrowed, and in abundant years in this country the importation of wheat could scarcely be profitable, while in years of scarcity the demand would raise prices abroad and check them here only in the degree in which they had risen beyond the ratio of the deficiency. In the ten years ending 1820 the average price of wheat in England was 868. 3d. the quarter, and in the ten years following the average was 56s. 11 d., and yet the improvement in agriculture has been so great as to provide food for one-third more population. Mr. Tooke says, that during the three years (1834-5-6) when the price of wheat in this country was on an average under 458., there was no apparent tendency to diminished or deteriorated cultivation. The following table, showing the average prices of wheat in Prussia and in England, as stated in the Prussian Official Gazette and in the London Gazette, from 1828 to 1837, is a proof how fallacious are the fears of the corn-growers here as to Effect of Restrictions on the Importation of Corn.' By G. R. Porter. + Mr. James Wilson.-Tract on Corn Laws. From 1832 to 1835 the average yearly import of wheat was 125,200 quarters, the average price in the home market being 498. 4d. In 1839 the crop was deficient to the extent of probably one-fifth or oneseventh; the importations of wheat amounted to 2,681,390 quarters; and the average price of the period was 708. 8d., or nearly double the price of the four years ending 1835. Hist. of Prices, iii. p. 50. With a difference between the Prussian and English prices in 1829-30-31 varying from 27s. 1d. to 32s. 7d., the quantities of wheat brought from all the ports of Prussia were only 353,906 quarters in 1829; 517,844 quarters in 1830; and 298,605 quarters in 1831. Prices were higher in England in 1839 than in 1838, and yet the imports from Prussia were above an eighth less than in the previous year. When the corn-growers of England are told of wheat selling in Poland at 14s. or 15s. the quarter, they would do well to consider the cost of bringing it to the English market. The quantity which arrives at Dantzic to supply any urgent demand is brought from provinces at a distance of from 500 to 700 miles inland; and Mr. M'Culloch states that in November, 1838, when wheat sold in Dantzic for 41s. 6d. a quarter, it was selling in Lemberg, the principal corn-market of Galicia, for 158.-the difference, amounting to 26s. 6d., being the measure of the cost and risk of conveyance from Lemberg to Dantzic. The following account, taken from Mr. Jacob's First Report on the Corn Trade, succinctly describes the operations attending the transport of wheat from the interior to Dantzic. "There are," says Mr. Jacob, "two modes of conveying wheat to Dantzic by the Vistula. That which grows near the lower parts of the river, comprehending Polish Russia, and part of the province of Plock, and of Masovia, in the kingdom of Poland, which is generally of an inferior quality, is conveyed in covered boats, with shifting boards that protect the cargo from the rain, but not from pilfering. These vessels are long, and draw about fifteen inches water, and bring about 150 quarters of wheat. They are not, however, so well calculated for the upper parts of the river. From Cracow, where the Vistula first becomes navigable, to below the junction of the Bug with that stream, the wheat is mostly conveyed to Dantzic in open flats. These are constructed on the banks, in seasons of leisure, on spots far from the ordinary reach of the water, but which, when the rains of autumn, or the melted snow of the Carpathian mountains in the spring, fill and overflow the river, are easily floated. Barges of this description are about 75 feet long and 20 broad, with a depth of 2 feet. They are made of fir, rudely put together, fastened with wooden treenails, the corners dovetailed and secured with slight iron clamps-the only iron employed in their construction. A large tree, the length of the vessel, runs along the bottom, to which the timbers are secured. This roughlycut keelson rises nine or ten inches from the floor, and hurdles are laid on it which extend to the sides. They are covered with mats made of rye-straw, and serve the purpose of drainage, leaving below a space in which the water that leaks through the sides and bottom is received. The bulk is kept from the sides and ends of the barge by a similar plan. The water which these ill-constructed and imperfectly-caulked vessels receive is dipped out at the end and sides of the bulk of wheat. Vessels of this description draw from ten to twelve inches water, and yet they frequently get aground in descending the river. The cargoes usually consist of from 180 to 200 quarters of wheat. The wheat is thrown on the mats, piled as high as the gunwale, and left uncovered, exposed to all the inclemencies of the weather and to the pilfering of the crew. During the passage the barge is carried along by the force of the stream, oars being merely used at the head and stern to steer clear of the sand-banks, which are numerous and shifting, and to direct the vessel in passing under the several bridges. These vessels are conducted by six or seven men. A small boat precedes, with a man in it, who is employed sounding, in order to avoid the shifting shoals. This mode of navigation is necessarily very slow; and during the progress of it, which lasts several weeks, and even months, the rain, if any fall, soon causes the wheat to grow, and the vessel assumes the appearance of a floating meadow. The shooting of the fibres soon forms a thick mat, and prevents the rain from penetrating more than an inch or two. The bulk is protected by this kind of covering, and when that is thrown aside is found in tolerable condition. The vessels are broken up at Dantzic, and usually sell for about two-thirds of their original cost. The men who conduct them return on foot. "When the cargo arrives at Dantzic or Elbing, all but the grown surface is thrown on the land, exposed to the sun, and frequently turned over, till any slight moisture it may have imbibed is dried. If a shower of rain falls, as well as during the night, the heaps of wheat on shore are thrown together in the form of a steep roof of a house, that the rain may run off, and are covered with a linen cloth. It is thus frequently a long time after the wheat has reached Dantzic before it is fit to be placed in the warehouses." The corn-growing districts in the south-east of Europe, and in the countries bordering the Black Sea, export their produce by the Don, the Dniepr, the Dniestr, and the Danube, or by land-carriage to Odessa for shipment to foreign countries, and that port stands in the same relation to the south of Europe as Dantzic does to the northern part. The principal supply is however brought to the town in carts drawn by oxen, from distances varying from 100 to 400 miles. On an average of the seven years ending 1840 the quantity brought to Odessa amounted to only 17,760 quarters annually. During 1838-9-40 the average price of the best Odessa wheat was 34s. 6d. The voyage to England is long, and there is great risk of the grain heating; the expenses of importation amount to 15s. or 16s. and even 20s. a quarter; and it could not be sold so low as Dantzic wheat, which is far superior to the former in quality. The corn-grower of Wallachia, Bulgaria, or Bessarabia, though he sells his wheat, at 14s. or 15s. the quarter, cannot compete with the English grower who charges upwards of 50s. Mr. Jacob's account of the manner in which corn is transported to Odessa shows the physical impossibility of this competition becoming a matter of anxiety to the most timid agriculturist. He says:-"The small waggons with wheat begin to arrive at Odessa in the month of May, but the greater portion of them do not reach that place till June or July. Some days in the two latter months present the curious spectacle of five or six hundred, and occasionally of even a thousand, of these vehicles entering the city. Each of the waggons, drawn by two oxen, carries about four quarters ;* so that in the year 1817, when the trade was the most extensive, there must have arrived, supposing three-fourths of the corn to have been brought by landcarriage, about 160,000 of these vehicles in the six months from May to October. In a country where the labour of man and of cattle, and the prices of the bare necessaries of life, are very cheap, this land-carriage maintains its due proportion of low rate. Two oxen cannot travel over such rugged hills and deep sands as are to be found between the corn-growing districts *It has been recently ascertained that each of the waggons conveys eight sacks of wheat, the sack containing a Polish horsec, equal to three bushels and one peck, Winchester measure. The load of two oxen is thus three quarters and two bushels, instead of four quarters, as here calculated. The cost of conveyance, therefore, will amount to about one-fifth more than appears by the extract. and Odessa, when drawing a ton weight, at a greater rate than ten English miles per day. Each hundred miles will thus require ten days' work for two oxen and one man to proceed to the port, and about seven days to discharge the loading and to return with the empty carriage. The rate of hire for a man and two oxen is, at least in Podolia, 6d. per day. Where pasture is abundant the oxen may be fed for a mere trifle; but in the journey of near 100 miles across the steppes, in the months when the greater number of carriages pass over it, the vegetation is wholly burnt up, which, with the scarcity of water, must cause some expense in the maintenance of the cattle. If for their food and water an allowance be made of 1s. 6d. for the seventeen days, and it be added to the hire of the man and the oxen, it will make the cost of conveyance for the four quarters of wheat amount to 2s. 6d. per quarter for each hundred miles." The labour of many years, and the outlay of capital which has yet to be created, will be required before these difficulties will be overcome, and the cost of transport diminished by good roads and other facilities. The following table shows the countries which are capable of furnishing us with wheat, and the quantities which they supplied us during three successive years of high prices. AN ACCOUNT of the Quantities of Foreign and Colonial Wheat and Wheat-Flour brought into Consumption in the United Kingdom; stating the Quantities Imported from each Country during each Year from 1837 to 1839. It will be seen from this table that the importations from the United States, British North America, and other distant corn-growing countries, are quite insignificant, under the uncertainties of a fluctuating duty. The risks of the trade are so great as to present few inducements to the merchant; and when purchases of corn are made to supply our wants, it is not the surplus stock raised for the English market that we obtain, but we enter into competition with the foreign consumer, and our necessities compel us to out-bid him in his own market. If the trade were always open, England would become, as Holland was in the seventeenth century, the great entrepôt of the corn-producing countries throughout the world: large purchases would be made in abundant years, and ourselves as well as other European countries would be supplied by our merchants in years of scarcity. Sir Walter Raleigh remarked that "a dearth of only one year in any part of Europe enriches Holland for seven years ;" and there can be no doubt that a new and very important branch of commerce would spring up if England attracted to its ports the surplus produce of grain in the different parts of the world. THE IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT. BY THOMAS ERSKINE MAY. THE IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT is the legislature of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, consisting of the king or queen, the lords spiritual and temporal, and the knights, citizens, and burgesses in parliament assembled. The word is generally considered to be derived from the French, parler,' to speak. "It was first applied," says Blackstone, "to general assemblies of the states under Louis VII. in France about the middle of the twelfth century." The earliest mention of it in the statutes is in the preamble to the statute of Westminster 1st, A.D. 1272. ORIGIN AND ANTIQUITY OF PARLIAMENT. The origin of any ancient institution must be difficult to trace, when in the course of time it has undergone great changes; and few subjects have afforded to antiquaries more cause for learned research and ingenious conjecture than the growth of our parliament into the form which it had assumed when authentic records of its existence and constitution are to be found. Great councils of the nation existed in England both under the Saxons and Normans, and appear to have been common among all the nations of the North of Europe. They were called by the Saxons michel-synoth, or great council; michel-gemote, or great, meeting; and wittena-gemote, meeting of wise men-by the last of which they are now most familiarly known. There appear to have been wittena-gemotes in each of the kingdoms composing the Saxon Heptarchy, and these, after the union of the kingdoms, became united into one great assembly or council. in the orders and persons that composed it; and that the members who attended as representatives were chosen by classes analogous to those who now possess the elective franchise." (History of the Anglo-Saxons,' vol. iii., p. 180.) He considers it "incumbent on the historical antiquary to show, not when the people acceded to the wittena-gemotes, but when, if ever, they were divested of the right of attending them," as the German national councils, from which this Saxon institution derived its origin, were attended by all the people; and he argues that "the total absence of any document or date of the origin of the election of representatives by the freeholders of counties is the strongest proof we can have that the custom has been immemorial, and long preceded the Norman conquest. The facts that such representatives have been always called knights of the shire, and that milites, or an order like those afterwards termed knights, were part of the wittena-gemote, befriend this deduction." (Ib., p. 184.) As there are no records which can be held as conclusive upon this point of history, we must be satisfied with conjecture; and the liberal character of the other Saxon institutions inclines us to infer that, whether there was representation or not, the commonalty had a share in the government. That we are indebted to our Saxon ancestors for the germs of our free institutions there can be no doubt, though we cannot trace their growth so distinctly as we could wish. That the people were frequently present at the deliberations of the wittena-genote, and that the authority of their name was used, appears from many records; but whether as witnesses (in which capacity they are sometimes spoken of), or because their presence was necessary to give effect to laws, is not so clear. In the reign of Ethelwolf, A.D. 855, a great council was held at Winchester, in which a tenth of the whole nation was given to the church by "the king, the barons, and the people in an infinite multitude," but the nobles only signed the law. ('Ingulf,' p. 863.) A "copious multitude of people, with many knights," is also said to have attended a similar council in the fifth year of the reign of King Canute, but it does not appear that the people took any part in the proceedings, save as spectators. In Edward the Confessor's law de Apibus a tenth is confirmed to the church "by the king, the barons, and the people;" but in other laws of the same king the whole authority of the state is declared to be vested in the king, acting with the advice of his barons. The constitution of these councils cannot be known with any certainty, and there has been much controversy on the subject, and especially as to the share of authority enjoyed by the people. Different periods have been assigned for their admittance into the legislature. Coke, Spelman, Camden, and Prynne agree that the commons formed part of the great synods or councils before the Conquest; but how they were summoned, and what degree of power they possessed, is a matter of doubt and obscurity. Under the Saxon kings, the forms of local government were undoubtedly popular. The shire-gemote was a kind of county parliament at which the alderman or earl of the shire (being himself elected to that office by the freeholders) presided, with the bishop, the shire-gerieve (or sheriff), and the assessors appointed to assist their deliberations upon points of law. A shire-gemote was held twice a-year in every county, when the magistrates, thanes, and abbots, with all the clergy The Normans were not likely to advance the pretensions of and landholders, were obliged to be present. A variety of the people whom they had conquered. Theirs was an oppressive business was conducted, but the proceedings of these assemblies feudal government, at variance with popular privileges. All generally partook more of the character of a court of justice rank and property was the gift of the crown, involving military than of a legislative body. That the wittena-gemote or national service and subordination. Spelman, in his treatise on Parliacouncil was of an equally popular constitution with the shire- ments, thus describes the political condition of the commonalty gemote is not so certain. If the smaller proprietors of land under the feudal system :-" Every lord having authority over were not actually disqualified by law from taking part in the his tenant, the superiour, as comprehending them all, and holdproceedings, yet their poverty and the distance of the council ing in capite (i. e. in chief, or direct from the king), was tied to from their homes must generally have prevented them from the king to see all under his tenure to be of good government. attending. It has been conjectured that they were represented By reason whereof, whatsoever those their lords agreed by their tithing-men, and the inhabitants of towns by their or disagreed unto in matters of the state and commonwealth, chief magistrates; but no system of political representation it did bind every of them their inferiours. . . . Hence then can be traced back to that time. ("Squire on the English Con- it comes to pass, that in making laws of the kingdom, the stitution,' pp. 120, 244; 'Henry's History of England,' vol. iii., common people were not consulted with, but only the barons p. 372.) In the absence of any such trace, however, Mr. or those which held in capite, who then were called concilium Sharon Turner says, that "after many years' consideration of regni.' (Reliquiæ Spelmannianæ,' p. 60.) From the the question, he is inclined to believe that the Anglo-Saxon haughty character of the Norman barons, Mr. Turner infers wittena-gemote very much resembled our present parliament the improbability of an elective parliament having been insti ་ H tuted since the Conquest. Here again no positive evidence is supplied by our records. The laws and charters of the early Norman kings constantly mention councils of bishops, abbots, barous, and the chief persons of the kingdom, but are silent as to the commons. In the 22nd year of Henry II. (A.d. 1176), Benedict Abbas, one of our old monkish annalists, relates, that about the feast of St. Paul, the king came to Northampton, and there held a great council concerning the statutes of his realm, in the presence of the bishops, earls, and barons of his dominions, and with the advice of his knights and men. This is the first record which appears to include the commons in the national councils. Forty years afterwards the great charter of King John throws a light upon the constitution of parliament which no earlier record had done; but even there the origin of a representative system is left in obscurity. It reserves to the city of London, and to all other cities, boroughs, and towns, and to the Cinque ports and other ports, all their ancient liberties and free customs; but whether the summons to parliament which is there promised was then first instituted, or whether it was an ancient privilege confirmed and guaranteed for the future, the words of the charter do not sufficiently explain. From this time, however, may be clearly traced the existence of a parliament similar to that which has continued to our own days. "The main constitution of parliament, as it now stands," says Blackstone, "was marked out so long ago as the seventeenth year of King John, A.D. 1215, in the great charter granted by that prince, wherein he promises to summon all archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls, and greater barons personally, and all other tenants in chief under the crown by the sheriff and bailiffs, to meet at a certain place, with forty days' notice, to assess aids and scutages when necessary; and this constitution has subsisted, in fact at least, from the year 1266, 49 Hen. III., there being still extant writs of that date to summon knights, citizens, and burgesses to parliament." There are writs of an earlier date than that mentioned by Blackstone in the 49 Hen. III., which involve the principle of representation, though not to the same extent. One, in the 38th year of that reign, requires the sheriff of each county to cause to come before the king's council two good and discreet knights of his county, whom the men of the county shall have chosen for this purpose, in the stead of all and each of them, to consider, along with the knights of other counties, what aid they will grant the king." (2 Prynne's Register,' p. 23.) This, however, was for a particular occasion only; and to appear before the council is not to vote as an estate of the realm. Nevertheless, representation of some kind then existed, and it is interesting to observe how early the people had a share in granting subsidies. Another writ in 1261 directs the sheriffs to cause knights to repair from each county to the king at Windsor. It only remains to notice a statute passed 15 Edw. II. (1322), which declares that "the matters to be established for the estate of the king and of his heirs, and for the estate of the realm and of the people, should be treated, accorded, and established in parliament, by the king and by the assent of the prelates, earls, and barons, and the commonalty of the realm, according as had been before accustomed." In reference to this statute Mr. Hallam observes, "that it not only establishes by a legislative declaration the present constitution of parliament, but recognises it as already standing upon a custom of some length of time." (1 Const. Hist.,' p. 5.) CONSTITUENT PARTS OF PARLIAMENT. The parliament is composed of the king or queen, and the three estates of the realm,-the lords spiritual, the lords temporal, and the commons. The kingly office is hereditary, but subject to any limitations, both as to power and law of succession, which may be imposed by the authority of parliament, for the time being. The statute 6 Anne, c. 7, declares it high treason for any one to maintain and affirm by writing, printing, or preaching, "that the kings or queens of this realm, by and with the authority of parliament, are not able to make laws and statutes of sufficient force and validity to limit and bind the crown, and the descent, limitation, inheritance, and government thereof." The crown possesses no prerogatives but such as are recognised by the law. The act 12 and 13 Will. III. c. 2, declares" that the laws of England are the birthright of the people thereof; and all the kings and queens who shall ascend the throne of this realm ought to administer the government of the same according to the said laws; and all their officers and ministers ought to serve them respectively according to the same." As Into the general prerogatives of the crown it is not proposed to enter; but such as have immediate connexion with parliament require a brief notice. The legal existence of parliament depends upon the exercise of royal prerogative. the head of the church, the king appoints all archbishops and bishops, who form one of the three estates of the realm, and, as "lords spiritual," hold the highest rank, after princes of the blood royal, in the House of Lords. All titles of honour are his gift, and thus the "lords temporal" also, who form the remainder of the highest legislative body, are entirely of his creation. In early times the summons of peers to attend parliament depended entirely on the will or caprice of the king; but their hereditary titles have long since been held to confer a right to sit in parliament. To a king's writ, also, even the commons owe their legal existence. What has been already said concerning the presence of the commons in parliament is sufficient to show the obscurity in which their early history is veiled previously to the reign of King John; and thenceforward, when their history is no longer obscure, we still find them summoned by writs issued by the king, and this is the practice to the present day. In addition to these powers the king possesses various other privileges and functions in connexion with parliament, which will be more conveniently explained hereafter. Archbishops and bishops, we have seen, held a prominent place in the great Saxon councils, and under the Norman kings they still retained it. They have always had a seat in parliament, but by what right is not agreed upon. In the Saxon times there is no doubt that they sat as bishops by virtue of their ecclesiastical office; but it is said that "William the Conqueror thought proper to change the spiritual tenure of frank-almoign, or free alms, under which the bishops held their lands under the Saxon government, into the feudal or Norman tenure by barony; and in right of succession to those baronies, which were unalienable from their respective dignities, the bishops and abbots were allowed their seats in the House of Lords." (Blackstone's Com.,' p. 156.) Mr. Hallam considers this view of the rights of the English hierarchy too contracted, and maintains that the bishops of William the Conqueror were entitled to sit in his councils by the general custom of Europe, which invited the superior ecclesiastics to such offices, and by the common law of England, which the Conquest did not overturn. (Middle Ages,' vol. iii., pp. 6, 7.) Another view of the question is, that the abbots only had a seat in parliament solely by virtue of their tenures as barons; but that the bishops sat in a double capacity, as bishops and as barons. (Hody's Treatise on Convocations,' p. 126.) Their presence in parliament, however, has been uninterrupted, whatever changes may have been effected in the nature of their tenure. In the Church of England there are two archbishops (Canterbury and York), and twenty-four bishops: and under the Act of Union four bishops of the Church of Ireland sit with them as lords spiritual, by rotation of sessions, in the Imperial Parliament. These, together, form the estate of lords spiritual. The lords temporal are divided into dukes, marquesses, earls, viscounts, and barons. These titles are of different degrees of antiquity and honour. That of duke, though first in rank, is by no means the most ancient in this country. Among the Saxons duces (or leaders) are frequently mentioned; but the title was first conferred after the Conquest by Edward III. upon his son Edward the Black Prince, whom he created Duke of Cornwall. Marquesses were originally lords of the marches or borders, and derived their title from the offices held by them. The earliest creation of a marquess as a title of honour was in the 8th year of Richard II. The title of earl is the same as that of alderman amongst the Saxons. They conducted the government of counties both under the Saxon and Norman kings. After the Conquest, the French title of count was applied to them, whence the shires over which they presided have ever since been called counties. Their wives, also, are called countesses. The title of viscount was first created in the reign of Henry VI. Barons appear to have been tenants in capite, or lords of manors. The title was subject to variations in regard to dignity. There were greater and lesser barons, and latterly the former only were summoned to parliament. All these titles are now conferred by the king without reference to their origin, and independently of any office or territorial possession. He may On the Union of Scotland in 1707 the Scottish peers were not admitted to the English parliament; but they elect for each parliament 16 representatives from their own body, who must be descended from peers at the time of the Union. Under the act of Union with Ireland, which came into operation in 1801, the Irish peers elect 28 representatives for life from the peerage of Ireland. The power of the king to add to the number of Irish peers is subject to limitation. make promotions in the peerage at all times; but he can only create a new Irish peer whenever three of the peerages of Ireland which were in existence at the time of the Union have become extinct. But if it should happen that the number of Irish peers-exclusive of those holding any peerage of the United Kingdom, which entitles them to an hereditary seat in the House of Lords-should be reduced to 100, then one new Irish peerage may be created as often as one becomes extinct, or whenever an Irish peer becomes entitled, by descent or creation, to an hereditary seat in the imperial parliament; the true intent and meaning of that article of Union being to keep up the Irish peerage to the number of 100. (4th Art. of Union.) These, then, are the component parts of the House of Lords. The number of British peerages of different ranks has been greatly augmented from time to time, and there is no limitation to the power of the crown to add to it by further creations. The present number of each class may be best exhibited by the following table : LORDS SPIRITUAL. 2 archbishops (Canterbury and York). 24 English bishops. 4 Irish representative bishops. Total, 30 LORDS TEMPORAL. many others had that privilege conferred upon them by charter or by statute in succeeding reigns, while some were discharged from what they considered, at that time, a heavy burthen, viz., the expense of maintaining their members. In the time of Edward III. 4s. a day were allowed to a knight of the shire, and 28. to a citizen or burgess (4 Inst. 16'); and this charge was, in the case of poor and small communities, too great an evil to be compensated by the possible benefit of representation. In the reign of Henry VI. there were not more than 300 members of the House of Commons. The legislature added 27 for Wales and 4, for the county and city of Chester, in the reign of Henry VIII., and 4 for the county and city of Durham in the reign of Charles II., while 180 new members were added by royal charter between the reigns of Henry VIII. and Charles II. ('Christian's Notes to Blackstone'). Forty-five members were assigned to Scotland, as her proportion of members in the British parliament, on the union of that kingdom with England; and 100 to Ireland at the commencement of the present century, on incorporating her parliament with that of the United Kingdom. These successive additions brought the number to 658, which, notwithstanding the alterations effected in the distribution of the elective franchise by the Reform Acts in 1832, remains the same to the present day. To explain fully these alterations would far exceed the limits of this paper; but a brief outline of them may be attempted. The object of the English Act, as stated in the preamble, was to correct divers abuses that had long prevailed in the choice of members, to deprive many inconsiderable places of the right of returning members, to grant such privilege to large, populous, and wealthy towns; to increase the number of knights of the shire; to extend the elective franchise to many of his Majesty's subjects who have not heretofore enjoyed the same, and to diminish the expense of elections. To effect this, 56 boroughs in England and Wales were entirely disfranchised, and 30 others, which had previously returned 2 members, now send only 1; 22 new boroughs were created, each to return 2; and 20 more, to each of which 1 only was given. Several small boroughs in Wales were united for the purpose of contributing to return a member. The result of these and other local arrangements, which it is not necessary to describe, is as follows:-The city of London has the privilege of returning 4 members; 135 cities and boroughs (including the two universities of Oxford and Cambridge), returning each 2 members, contribute 270; and 67, returning each 1 member, send 67 more. There are thus 341 citizens and burgesses altogether in England and Wales. Several of the counties were divided into electoral districts, by which the number of knights of the shire was increased. The county of York has 2 members for each of the There are likewise at the present time eleven peeresses in their own right, by creation or descent. The House of Commons consists of knights of shires, or the representatives of counties; citizens, or the representatives of cities; and burgesses, or the representatives of boroughs. We have seen that all these were distinctly summoned to attend parliament in the 49th year of Henry III. What the number was at that time does not appear, but it has since varied greatly at different periods. In addition to those boroughs which appear from the first to have returned burgesses to parliament, 159 The number of members for Scotland was increased by the Scotch Reform Act from 45 to 53, 30 of whom are knights of shires, and 23 citizens and burgesses, representing towns, boroughs, or districts of small boroughs. By the Irish Reform Act the number of Irish representatives also was increased from 100 to 105, 64 being for counties, and 41 for cities and boroughs. The following is a statement of the entire representation of the three kingdoms, composing the House of Commons: |