The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-03-15 00:00:00

"THE CHILTERN HUNDREDS."

Replying to the question," What is meant by the
Stewardship of the Chiltern Hundreds ?" the Daily
Telegraph, in a leader, says: It is a nominal office, in
the gift of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, enabling
a member of the House of Commons, by a constitu-
tional fiction, to resign his seat. Membership of the
Third Estate of the Realm, once obtained, is assumed
to run an uninterrupted course from the date of the
return to the general election next ensuing, and a
member, not in any other manner disqualified, can
only give up his trust in one way, that is by accepting
an employment of profit under the Crown, in which
case he ceases to be a member until the
constituency from whom he derived his re-
presentative position are pleased to re-elect
him. It sometimes happens that members
are anxious to withdraw, though only temporarily, in
order to obtain a fresh mandate from their constitu-
ents; or it may be that some elect of a county or
borough desires to retire altogether from the Parlia-
mentary arena. The modus operandi is always the
same. A formal application is made to the Minister
for the stewardship of the Chiltern Hundreds of Stoke,
Desborough, and Bodenham, in Buckinghamshire, or
of the manors of Poynings, East Hendred, and North-
stead, or the Escheatorship of Munster, all assumed
to be offices of emolument; and, if the Minister see
no reason to the contrary, the application is
forthwith granted. As a matter of filet, these
stewardships are not places of profit, but sine-
cures without salary, and the persons to whom they
are given hold them by what may be called a tenure
of grace. Bohn's " Cyclopmdia of Political, Consti-
tutional, Statistical, and Forensic Knowledge" says
that as soon as the Stewardship—of the Chiltern
Hundreds—" is obtained, it is resigned, that it may
serve the same purpose again." Certain specified
Government appointments, frequently held by Mem-
bers of Parliament—being conferred by heads of
departments, and not directly by the Crown—
are exempt from the category of employments
which demand resignation with a view to re-
election; such are the Under-Secretaries of State
and the Surveyor - General of the Ordnance.
Since the year 1867, a member already in office,
accepting another post, does not thereby vacate
his seat. Some writers doubt the strict legality of
the form, on the ground that the stewardship fails to
embrace the full meaning of "a place of honour and
profit under the Crown," and strictly speaking that is
so; but, like Mercutio's wound, "twill' serve." The
practice dates back about 130 years, at which
period the original object for which the post was
created had long ceased to exist. Chiltern is a ridge
or series of chalky hills extending across the county
of Bucks, not far south of the centre, reaching from
Tring in Hertfordshire to Henley in Oxford, a
district anciently covered wilh dense beechen
wood, the resort of daring and desperate robbers,
bold outlaws of the Robin Hood type, who
led a more or less merry life "under the green-
wood tree," at the expense of the peaceable farmers
and villagers of the upland. Inasmuch as it became
necessary to clear the country of these banditti by
bringing them to the rough-and-ready justice of those
far-off days, the Crown appointed an officer called
the Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds, whose duty it
was to pursue and arrest the brigands, and provide
them with a short shrift and a convenient halter. In
course of time Chiltern became as free from footpads
as the precincts of the Royal Palaces, so that the
active duties of the Stewardship fell into desuetude,
and the salary ceased to be paid. Yet the honorific
office remained, a shell minus a kernel, and some time
about 1750 a Minister of State applied it to ts present
Purpose.