The Sun.
London, England, 1834-05-15 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS

The important subject of the duration of Parlia-
ments, will be debated this evening in the House of
Commons, on a notice by Mr. Tennyson, of a bill for the
purpose of " shortening Parliaments." By the pre:
ceding motions of the right hon. member for Lambed'
we conclude that the principle of his bill will be tri-
ennial, and we perceive, by the votes, that Mr. Chi-
chester has a notice for to-morrow of a motion for
" repeal of the Septennial Act, and in substitution
five-year Parliaments." The triennial limitation of
Parliaments was a cardinal article of the Whig creed,
and we confess that we see no good reason for its re-
pudiation. It was the text of Lord Grey's early pot
litical pledges—the proposition of Lord Althorp and.
Lord John Russell in by-gone years, and the tend
adopted in all the Whig motions on parliamentary'
reform. The newly-devised term quinquennial sound
oddly to British ears. The history of the constitu-
tion of the House of Commons is well known. Par-
liaments were anciently sessional, and the object
of their convention was named in the writ of sum-
mons, and was generally the subject matter of temporary
discussion. As the representative principle expanded
in England, the democratic power acquired new force.
The Stuarts found Parliaments extremely inconveni-
ent, and hence years elapsed without their convention.
After the Revolution, Parliaments were made triennial;
but in the second year of the reign of George I. they
were voted septennial, to guard against the temporary'
danger of a Jacobite House of Commons. The real
reason of this extraordinary and unconstitutional
change was, that they who were in power chose to
continue in power ; that is to say, that the representa-
tives, whose constituents had seated them for three
years, chose to seat themselves for four years in addi-
tion—or, in other words, to disfranchise the electors
for that period. The only plausible argument we have
heard against the repeal of the Septennial Act and
the limitation of Parliaments to three years, is the new
distribution of electoral power recently made by the
reform of the representation. But this pretext for
continuing the present duration of the Parliament can-
not avail long. It would be an insult to the under-
standings of the present age to argue the question of
short Parliaments. Elective assemblies cannot con-
tinue long without corruption. The period of seven
years takes from members all fear of being called to
account ; whereas a shorter period secures responsibi-
lity, and, by a reduction of the length of sinister ser-
vice, leaves a member of Parliament little to sell, and,
consequently, a Government little to buy. We never
doubted also that shortening the duration of Parlia-
ment would be the most effectual means of eradicating
election corruption. Bribes and treats would then be
too frequently demanded to be afforded, and frequent
elections would soon terminate the lavish expenditure of
money, which at present disgraces the electoral system
of this country. We do not know what may be the
result of the motion of Mr. Tennyson, but we are
assured that the opinion of the great majority of the
constituency is decidedly in favour of shorter Parlia-
ments. Indeed, the representative system, as we
shall hereafter curiously illustrate, cannot remain many
years in its present anomalous though improved state.
—Morning Chronicle.
Mr. Tennyson brings on to-night a motion for the
repeal of the Septennial Act. The success of the
right hon. gentleman's motion would at once, and
without further legislation, reduce the life of parlia-
ment to three years instead of seven. The Septennial
Act, though an act of parliament, has been one in the
minds of constitutional reasoners held to be of more
than doubtful legality; unless it be admitted that by
virtue of the same power, viz., an act of parliament,
the present House of Commons, elected for seven
years, could become a lawful representative of the
people of England, for the lives of its existing mem-
bers. We can conceive no two cases more strictly
and precisely parallel. However, it is pretty exten-
sively admitted that the Septennial Act (a Whig
measure, as our readers are aware) prevented the
election of a Jacobite majority in the ensuing parlia-
ment, and by probable consequence a revolution on
behalf of the house of Stuart. A usurpation of their
elective rights, by their representatives, was the price
which our ancestors paid down for the maintenance of
the Protestant succession in the house of Bruns-
wick. However, all such knots for political casuistry
have long since been untied by death and other
instruments. There is at this moment too little
danger of a revolutionary triumph on any new
election, to justify the continuance of the Septen-
nial Act, on grounds like those which were originally
pleaded in its defence. The danger is the other way.
The real danger is, that the Whig government may
have lagged so far behind the feeling of the nation, as
to throw preternatural power into the hands of men,
who affect a revolution at the opposite extreme to
Toryism, and would plunge us into a democracy from
which their was no redemption. To be frank, we
deem seven years too long for the duration of a free
o f the be
House
a se
of
parliament ; and three, curtailed in practice as they
would be to two, not long enough for the settlement
of the country in the interval between successive elec-
tions, now at this early stage in the working of the
Reformo Bill.
Fourbo wyears,
the membersperhaps, would
tem-
perate and prudent medium. It will be at least cu-
ACommor s receive Mr. Tennyson's proposition. By
the way, Mr. Tennyson should take care to se-
cure a sufficient
s to
observe
number of his friends to constitute
a house, especially as it is the day of a Drawing-room ;
he must . not expect any ministerial help towards a
muster of the requisite forty.— Times.

A letter of the 3d instant from-Rodelliehn,
near Frankfort, says :--" We had yesterday and to-
day a most extraordinary phenomenon of nature.
During very heavy showers of rain, which fell yester-
day from half-past eleven till twelve, and to-day be-
tween twelve- and one o'clock, the water contained
so great a mixture of sulphur that as it ran down the,
streets it was covered with a Felkiiiethist,.and quanti-.
ties of sulphur might be scraped off the pavement."