The Mother of Parliaments

294

"Quarterly Review," vol. cxlv. p. 247.

295

"Letters of Runnymede," p. 6.

296

Trevelyan's "Life of Macaulay," vol. ii. p. 76.

297

"La France et L'Angleterre," par F. de Tassies. (Quoted in O'Connell's "Recollections," vol. i. p. 261.)

298

Thomas Moore's "Memoirs," vol. ii. p. 296.

299

Miss Martineau's "History of the Peace," vol. ii. p. 381.

300

Cockburn's "Life of Jeffrey," vol. i. p. 317.

301

Duncombe's "Life of his Father," vol. i. p. 115.

302

Brougham's "Life," vol. iii. p. 117.

303

Supra, p. 131.

304

Townshend's "Proceedings of Both Houses," p. 252.

305

Regulations in the Journals, March 23, 1693.

306

"L'lllustre enceinte présente souvent l'aspect d'une assemblée de yankees beaucoup plus que celui d'une réunion de gentlemen." Franqueville's "Le Gouvernement et le Parlement britaniques," vol. iii. p. 74.

307

Timbs' "Anecdotal Biography," vol. i. p. 234.

308

Pryme's "Recollections," p. 114.

309

Harford's "Recollections of Wilberforce," p. 94.

310

Grant's "Recollections," p. 140.

311

Hayward's "Essays," pp. 364-5.

312

Bell's "Life of Canning," p. 251.

313

Pryme's "Recollections," p. 235.

314

Lord Colchester's "Diary," vol. i. p. 45.

315

"Quarterly Review," vol. xxii. p. 496.

316

Moore's "Life of Byron," 185.

317

Barnes' "Reminiscences," p. 203.

318

Prior's "Life of Burke," vol. i. p. 337.

319

Moore's "Life of Sheridan," vol. i. p. 523.

320

He never received the promised £1000. (See Harrington's "Personal Sketches of His Own Times," vol. i. p. 429.)

321

"Cornwallis Papers," vol. i. p. 364 n.

322

"Burke … By whose sweetness Athens herself would have been soothed, with whose amplitude and exuberance she would have been enraptured, and on whose lips that prolific mother of genius and science would have adored, confessed, the Goddess of Persuasion." Prior's "Burke," p. 484.

323

Townsend's "History of the House of Commons," vol. ii. p. 427.

324

Forster's "Biographical Essays," vol. ii. p. 197.

325

Vol. vii. pp. 339-367.

326

Pryme's "Recollections," p. 218 n.

327

O'Flanaghan's "Lives of the Irish Chancellors," vol. ii. p. 128.

328

Townsend's "House of Commons," vol. ii. p. 394.

329

Morley's "Life of Gladstone," vol. i. p. 143.

330

Roper's "Life of More," p. 16.

331

MacCullagh's "Memoirs of Sheil," vol. ii. p. 99.

332

Speaking on Church reform, Sheil once said that when this was effected, "the bloated paunch of the unwieldy rector would no longer heave in holy magnitude beside the shrinking abdomen of the starving and miserably prolific curate." Francis's "Orators," p. 274.

333

Raikes's "Journal," vol. ii. p. 256.

334

Barrington's "Personal Sketches," vol. i. p. 213. (Curran once made a happy retort to Roche. "Do not speak of my honour," said the latter, "I am the guardian of my own honour." "Faith!" answered Curran, "I knew that at some time or other you would accept a sinecure." Philips's "Life of Curran," p. 59.)

335

"Memoirs," p. 89.

336

Whitty's "History of the Session" (1852-3), p. 7.

337

"Journal," vol. i. p. 342.

338

"Accustomed in their courts to consider every matter of equal importance," says Barnes, "they adopt the same earnest and stiff solemnity of manner, whether they are disputing about violated morality or insulted liberty, or about a petty affray where a hat, value one shilling, has been torn in a scuffle." "Parliamentary Sketches," p. 79.

339

D'Ewes' "Journal," p. 666.

340

"Life of Sidmouth," vol. i. p. 119.

341

Harford's "Recollections of Wilberforce," p. 95. (Guilford hastily resumed his seat, shortly afterwards applied for the Chiltern Hundreds, and retired into comfortable obscurity.)

342

His first effort in the Irish House, in 1709, was singularly abortive. "Mr. Speaker, I conceive – " he began. "Mr. Speaker, I conceive – " he stammered out again. Shouts of "Hear! hear!" encouraged him. "I conceive, Mr. Speaker – " he repeated, and then collapsed. A cruel colleague at once rose and remarked that the hon. gentleman had conceived three times and brought forth nothing! O'Flanagan's "Irish Chancellors," vol. ii. p. 8.

343

Moore's "Life of Sheridan," vol. i. p. 348.

344

Forster's "Biographical Essays," vol. ii. p. 195.

345

Dr. King's "Anecdotes of His Own Time," p. 114.

346

"Eloquence," said Bolingbroke, "must flow like a stream that is fed by an abundant spring, and not spout forth a little frothy water on some gaudy day and remain dry the rest of the year."

347

Dalling's "Historical Characters," vol. ii. p. 175.

348

Barrow's "Mirror of Parliament" (1830).

349

Sir J. Mackintosh's "Memoirs," vol. ii p. 192.

350

Grattan used to walk about the park at Windsor haranguing the oaks in a loud voice. A passer-by once found him apostrophising an empty gibbet. "How did you get down?" asked the stranger politely. O'Flanagan, "Irish Chancellors," vol. ii. p. 416.

351

Letters, vol. ii. pp. 328-9.

352

"Lord Colchester's Diary," vol. i. p. 23.

353

"Pitt spoke like ten thousand angels," wrote Richard Grenville to George Grenville in November, 1742 ("Grenville Papers," vol. i. p. 19).

354

"Memoirs," vol. i. p. 490.

355

Prior's "Life of Malone," p. 361.

356

Samuel Roger's "Recollections," p. 80.

357

"Memoirs of Thomas Moore," vol. iv. p. 215. (Francis Howard compared Pitt's eloquence to Handel's music, see "Memoirs of Francis Howard," vol. i. p. 149.)

358

"Letters to his Son," vol. ii. p. 329.

359

"Letters," ii. 121.

360

"The hon. gentleman has applied to his imagination for his facts, and to his memory for his wit," is a remark he made in different forms on more than one occasion. See Harford's "Wilberforce," p. 167; Brougham's "Sketches," vol. iii. p. 294, etc.

361

Stapleton's "Life of Canning," p. 21.

362

"Men and Manners in Parliament," pp. 56-59.

363

Mr. R. Tennant, member for Belfast, in 1834, on O'Connell's motion for a repeal of the Union, made a speech which he had learnt by heart and sent to the papers, which lasted three and a half hours. Grant's "Recollections," p. 66.

364

Wraxall's "Memoirs," vol. iii. p. 402.

365

"Men and Manners in Parliament," p. 109. (Further on the writer describes the peculiarities of another member who used to fold his arms tightly across his chest when he spoke. Thereafter a constant struggle went on, the arms restlessly battling to get free, and the speaker insisting that they should remain and hear the speech out, p. 130.)

366

"Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise; and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding."

367

"Don't quote Latin. Say what you have to say and then sit down!" was the Duke of Wellington's excellent advice to a young member. Walter Bagehot, on the other hand, stated that he had heard an experienced financier say, "If you want to raise a certain cheer in the House of Commons, make a general panegyric on economy; if you want to invite a sure defeat, propose a particular saving!" "The English Constitution," p. 136.

368

Dalling's "Historical Characters," vol. ii. p. 39.

369

"Essays," vol. ii. p. 206.

370

Sir H. Crabb Robinson's "Diary, Reminiscences and Correspondence," vol. i. p. 330.

371

On Sunday, August 8, 1641, both Houses attended divine service at St. Margaret's Church at 6 a.m., after which they sat in the House all the morning, and in the afternoon the King met them in the banqueting room at Whitehall. "Duirnall Occurrences," p. 80.

372

Forster's "Grand Remonstrance," p. 342.

373

Elsynge's "Ancient Method of Holding Parliaments," pp. 114-115.

374

The judicial sittings of the House begin at 10.30 a.m.

375

The proceedings very often resemble those of the old Irish House of Lords, which we find recorded in the Journals as "Prayers. Ordered, that the Judges be covered. Adjourned." See Charlemont's "Memoirs," vol. i. p. 103.

376

Palgrave's "House of Commons," p. 45.

377

The fact of any single member taking objection to a motion is sufficient to include it among "opposed" business, and in an assembly of partisans it would be too much to expect that any private member's Bill should avoid giving grounds of objection to at least one opponent.

378

May, p. 430.

379

In 1641, during the Long Parliament, Hyde was appointed Chairman of Committees, so as to get him out of the way, that he might not obstruct business by too much speaking. Parry's "Parliaments of England," p. 354.

380

Lytton's "Life of Palmerston," vol. i. p. 115.

381

Pellew's "Life of Sidmouth," vol. i. p. 76.

382

The right of "counting out" the House was not exercised until 1729. On May 19, 1876, the Commons failed to "make the House" for the first time since April 4, 1865. See Irving's "Annals of Our Time," vol. ii. p. 197.

383

Pearson's "Political Dictionary," pp. 23-4.

384

"The Manner of Holding Parliaments Prior to the Reign of Queen Elizabeth." "Somers Tract," p. 12.

385

"Diurnall Occurrences," p. 8.

386

In 1909, during the temporary absence of the Chaplain, the Speaker read prayers himself.

387

"Parl. Hist." ii. 1072. Butler refers to them in "Hudibras":

"The oyster women lock'd their fish up,And trudg'd away to cry 'No Bishop!'"

388

Noorthouck's "A New History of London," p. 180. Scenes of a similar character occurred in the reign of George III., when the Gordon rioters stormed the Houses of Parliament, shouting "No Popery!" In 1871, a mob of matchmakers marched to Westminster to protest against a tax on matches, and were dispersed by the police. In still more recent times female deputations in favour of Woman's Suffrage, accompanied by a mob of inquisitive sightseers and a section of the criminal classes, have besieged the Palace of Westminster in a vain attempt to gain admittance to the House of Commons.

389

When during Garibaldi's visit to London, some one suggested that he should marry a wealthy widow with whom he spent much of his time it was objected that he already had a wife living. "Never mind," said a wag, "we will get Gladstone to explain her away!"

390

Palgrave's "House of Commons," p. 41.

391

Bagehot's "English Constitution," p. 181.

392

"Edinburgh Review," January, 1854, p. 254.

393

Hakewell's "Modus Tenendi Parliamentum," p. 142.

394

Bills of the most fantastic kind are from time to time introduced, though they seldom see the light of a Second Reading. In 1597 a member, Walgrave by name, brought in a Bill to prevent the exportation of herrings to Leghorn, "which occasioneth both a very great scarcity of Herrings within the Realm and is a great means of spending much Butter and Cheese, to the great inhancing of the prices thereof by reason of the said scarcity of Herrings." – D'Ewes' "Journal," p. 562.

395

Lord Waldegrave's "Memoirs," p. 133.

396

In June, 1835, however, a Mr. Fox Maule was refused permission to bring in a Bill "for the better protection of tenants' crops in Scotland from the ravages committed on them by several kinds of game." – Grant's "Recollections," p. 38.

397

Our ancestors were not always so well-mannered in their methods. Once when a Bill had been returned to them from the Lords with an amendment to a money clause, they expressed their active disapproval by literally kicking it along the floor of the House, and so out at the door. "Parl. Hist.," vol. xvii. p. 515.

398

It may be observed that among the many traditionary differences of opinion entertained by the two Houses is a divergence as to the proper spelling of the word "seigneurs."

399

A Conference of both Houses has not been held since 1836.

400

The Clerkship of the Parliaments is an ancient office, dating from the commencement of the fourteenth century. It was originally held by an ecclesiastic, to whom were assigned, in times when the two Houses sat together, the clerical work of Parliament. The Clerk of the Parliaments is appointed by the Crown under Letters Patent, and can only be removed by the Crown on an address from the House of Lords. Up to the year 1855, the post was a lucrative sinecure, worth about £7000 a year, the actual duties of the office being performed by the Clerk Assistant. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the Clerk of the Parliaments enjoyed the privilege of nominating and appointing all the clerks on the House of Lords establishment, but in 1824 the appointment of the two other Clerks at the Table was transferred to the Lord Chancellor. He still, however, appoints all the other clerks, regulates and controls the duties and promotion of the staff, appoints the Librarian and his assistant, and exercises superintendence over the Library and the Refreshment Department of the House. It is his duty to attend all the sittings of the House, to call on the Orders of the Day, and to invite peers to bring forward their Bills or Motions. He also performs functions analogous to those of the Speaker in the Commons, when he signs Addresses to the sovereign, other Addresses of thanks or condolence, the minutes of the daily proceedings, and all the returns ordered by the House. As registrar of the Court of Final Appeal, he takes the instructions of the judicial authorities upon all questions relating to appeals, and keeps a record of all judgments, etc. Lastly, and this is perhaps not the least important of his duties, he gives the Royal Assent to Bills.

401

D'Ewes' "Journal," p. 683, and Townshend's "Proceedings of Parliament," p. 322.

402

In 1810, another system was temporarily introduced, the members ranging themselves on either side of the House and being counted by the tellers. Croker, when Ministerial teller, once accidentally missed out a whole bench full of Government supporters, thereby reducing the Ministerial majority by about forty. The Opposition teller watched the error with a smile, but did not feel called upon to correct it. See "The Observer," March 11, 1810.

403

In the Session of 1881 the number of divisions was about 400; in 1908, including the autumn Session, the number was 463, and in 1909 the House of Commons divided 918 times.

404

Only fifteen ties are known in the history of Parliament On April 3, 1905, Speaker Gully gave a casting vote on the Embankment Tramways Bill, as did Speaker Lowther, on July 22, 1910, on the Regency Bill.

405

This right of protest recorded in the Journals of the House is still occasionally exercised.

406

"Life of Lord George Bentinck," p. 314.

407

Ewald's "Biography of Walpole," p. 419.

408

"Chambers' Journal," December 26, 1886, p. 819.

409

Porritt's "Unreformed House of Commons," vol. i. p. 509.

410

Until a few years ago all "whips" were underlined twice and in urgent cases five times.

411

"Ode to the Doctor." (Bragge Bathurst, Lord Sidmouth's brother-in-law, and Riley, his brother, were place-hunters who felt bound to applaud their patron.)

412

House of Commons "Journals," vol. x. 291.

413

D'Ewes' "Journal," p. 334.

414

Pinkerton's "Voyages," vol. ii. p. 506.

415

"Report of the Select Committee on the Establishment of the House of Commons" (1833), pp. 84-5. (To-day the messengers and doorkeepers, of whom there are about a score, earn regular salaries ranging from £120 to £300. Except for a share in the fund for messengers and police to which members may or may not contribute, no gratuities of any description are allowed to them.)

416

The familiar way in which Pearson addressed members seems to have been generally condoned on account of his long service. Once when General Grant, who had boasted that he would march victoriously through America with three thousand men, asked the door-keeper how long a certain member would speak, Pearson replied, "As long, General, if he was allowed, as you would be in marching through and conquering America!" Pearson's "Political Dictionary," p. 10.

417

Ibid., p. 6.

418

"Life of Lord Hardwicke," vol. i. p. 489.

419

Greville, "Memoirs," vol. iii. p. 389.

420

Boyd's "Reminiscences," p. 49.

421

Doyle's "Recollections," p. 174.

422

Grant's "Recollections," p. 16.

423

G. W. E. Russell's "Sir Wilfrid Lawson," p. 227.

424

"Works," vol. ii. 327.

425

Ladies of rank often attended the Saxon Witenagemots, and in the reigns of Henry III., Edward I., and Edward III. certain abbesses were summoned to send proxies to Parliament. (See G. B. Smith's "History," vol. i p. 11.) In the sixteenth century the right to elect a member for the rotten borough of Gatton was in the hands of a woman. See Porritt' s "Unreformed House of Commons," vol. i. p. 97.

426

"Observations, Rules, etc.," p. 162.

427

No. 812, June 2, 1711.

428

Townsend's "Memoirs," vol. ii. p. 461.

429

"Letters and Works of Lady M. W. Montagu," vol. ii. p. 37. (I have described this incident at length in "A Group of Scottish Women," pp. 137-8.)

430

"Memoirs," 4 April, 1829.

431

See A. Young's "Autobiography," p. 17. (Election Petitions were tried before the whole House, and thus resolved themselves into mere party struggles. In 1770, Grenville moved that they be referred to small committees.)

432

Pearson's "Political Dictionary," p. 34.

433

Grantley Berkeley's "Recollections," vol. i. p. 369.

434

"Life and Letters," vol. ii. p. 66.

435

"Posthumous Memoirs."

436

Grant's "Recollections," p. 17.

437

"History of the Peace," vol. iii. p. 375.

438

Berkeley's "Recollections," vol. i. p. 359.

439

"Next to religion," he says in his "Autobiography" (i. 309), "my chief aim is to enrich my posterity with good blood, knowing it to be the greatest honour that can betide a family, to be often linked with the female inheritrices of ancient stock."

440

Forster's "Grand Remonstrance," p. 124 n.

441

Cromwell's "Letters and Speeches," vol. i. p. 79.

442

Cook's "History of Party," vol. i. pp. 357, 582.

443

May's "Constitutional History," vol. i. p. 422.

444

Hawkins' "Life of Johnson," vol. xii.

445

For example: Sholming for Cholmondeley, Ptit for Pitt, and Gumdahm for Wyndham.

446

Raikes's "Journal," vol. ii. p. 321.

447

Coxe's Pelham Administration, vol. I. p. 355.

448

Campbell's "Lives of the Chancellors," vol. vi. p. 93.

449

"Morning Chronicle," June 14, 1788.

450

Samuel Rogers' "Recollections," p. 67.

451

O'Connell's "Recollections and Experiences," vol. i. p. 220.

452

Grant's "Recollections," p. 48.

453

Walpole's "Memoirs of the Reign of George III.," vol. i. p. 261.

454

In the heyday of parliamentary corruption, when a critical division was impending, Sir Hercules Langrishe was asked whether Sir Henry Cavendish had as usual been taking notes. "He has been taking either notes or money," he replied, "I don't know which."

455

On one occasion, in the hurry of dispatching his nightly missive, Lord Randolph Churchill accidentally enclosed a quantity of tobacco in the box which he forwarded to Queen Victoria, much to Her Majesty's amusement.

456

Hansard's "Debates," 1st series, vol. xv.