New-York tribune., 1867-08-08
THE ENGLISH REFORM BILL.

had been removed mitigated by former leglsiauoD
and what yet remains 10 be done
Parliament now exclusively applied TO inoic"'e
the supreme legislature of the United hng"oni ~
Great Britain and Ireland, derives its name iioi ''0
French (paylemeat from pdrler to speak ana was
first applied to general assemblies OF the ot"'e %
Louis VII in France aaOut the midde OF 1he '"0i."
centurv and France had her Parliament up W Vn9
Revolution of 17S9 -
The Parliament of England is the growth OF many
centuries and can be traced back 10 tno S'1J TGa
"Wittena-gemote" or cOaneil OF wise in'l .,at |
Norman conquest changed the character ol tn"S I
assembly. which then had judicial anu tLa
"a well "a n legislative character "iuu"--S "1-SS,s-
;1i;1 fr,ctions were transferred to courts Vi ia"
Ju''.ial TO the sovereigns prvy council
anu Wv of Tho udicial powers of Parliament being
still preserved IN INC "pP'A"''
House of Lords
Tho Rritish Parliament consists of the Sovereign
onn the three estates of the Realm, namely, tne
lords Spiritual the Lords Temporal and the Com
,,ons Two English archbishOps and "A Enghsh
bishops with four Irish prelates, OF whom one Is
always am archbishop constitute the LORDS opli'uA
in the Upper House, and 23 dukes (lncluulhs 'niee
of royal blood, 81 marquses rs ears 20 Nscouhs'
and 9 barons with 16 representative peers OF Scot
land and 2s of Ireland make up the 454 Lords Tenn
moral who constitute the House of Lords There are
G5s members. who ought to be elected by the
people. in the House of Commons. 1t is
scarcely necessary to add patent IS the TACT that
Queen. Lords and Commons collectively make laws
that are binding upon subjects of the British empire
As distinct members of the Supreme Legislature
they enjoy privileges and exercise functions peculiar
TO each. To a large extent, the British Parliament
resembles the United States Congress WIN the
Commons rests the exclusive right OF originating
money bills (which involves the power of imposing
/ c,a1e hoo
and. like our Senate act as judges in cases OF I'M
peacbment, and the Queen has right TO refuse her
assent to any bill passed by the two houses 1he
last time the Sovereign exercised the veto was IN
1907 when Queen Anne Tefusedher assent TO Dill Ior
settling the militia of Scotland In English legsla
ture the veto positive ard na that Is there Is no
passing the rejected bill over it.
The House of Commons consists OF knights OF the
shire. citizens and burgesses. To this day, when
comfy member is elected the sheriff buckles sword
mon him. to show bis knightly character 1t is not
,pite clear when the Parliament separated into two
Houses OF chambers; but the Lower House, from
an early period was allowed to deal exclusively with
questions of Supply and in the reign OF Richard IL
latter end of the fourteenth century, had established
the right to assign the supplies TO then proper uses
Growing powerful, the Commons more than once had
their grievances redressed by the Sovereign by reIus
ing 70 vote the supplies until this done AS late
among whom were the late Lord Campbell and the
next brother of Lord Brougham, publicly suggested
that the supplies be stopped until the Reform Bill
was passed. During the Tudor period the influence
Of Parliament especially of the Commons largely IN
creased In the Stuart reigns Parliament bad pro-
longed struggle with the Crown each striving to
acquire the control of the military force OF the eoun-
try At the Revolution of l6SS, the power OF the dI
ferent estates of Parliament to be more sharply
defined
The number of members in the House of Commons
has varied greatly at different places In addition to
the boroughs which returned burgesses TO Parliament
from the first others had the privilege bestowed on
them by charter OF statute in succeeding relgns' by
the negligence or corruption of the shenhs some
were omitted, and others were discharged from What
they considered heavy burden-the expense OF
maintaining their members In the reign of Edward
III "a D. 1928 to 1870 four shillings day was al
lowed to a Knight of the Shire, and two shlllngs 10
,o oor and small Communities this expense too
great AN evil to be compensated by the possible
benefit of representation, and some boI0ugbs aetu-
olly petitioned to be relieved from the burden
OF sending members to Parliament For centuries
past no member of either House has received sal
aTy allowance fee or mileage bis capacity of leg
isator. This is one reason why men OF moderate
means cannot afford TO be members OF Parliament;
Scotland up TO the Legislative Union III I'U', ana
Ireland up 10 the year 1901 had PaThamentS OF theI
own. In Scotland there never was amy division OF
the members, Lords and Commons sitting IN one
hall and votingtOgether The Irish Parliament orig
naly modelled the English plan about the close Of
the thirteenth century, for long time represented
only the small part of the island, inhabited
by the English settlers as late as the time OF
Henry VII These were chiefly the Counties OF Dub
lin, LOuth Kildare, and Meath, commonly known as
the English Pale Down 10 the year 11e3 the English
Parliament had the power to legisate for Ireland,
and by POynings Act passed in l4g9, bull could not
even be brought into the Irish Parliament until the
King and Council in England had approved of it,
After strong agitation ably led by Henry (irattan
and Henry Flood, the exclusive right OF Ireland to
self,legslation was ack1owiedged by the British
Parliament. The abuse of this power so clOgged the
machinery of the Government, that after the fruit
less Rebellion of 179S which afforded the preteXt,
Mr.. Pitts idea of legislative union between Great
Britain and Ireland carried into effect, ma
iOTity of the Irish Parliament voting for its eXtlnc
tOn in consideration OF peerages places, slnecurcs,
them by the Government. 10 repeal this measure
O'Connel devoted himself from 1929 10 1S47.
In the reign of Henry vi. there We're not more
than 500 members of the House of Commons; there
had been only 25 in the reign of Edward L. and go
in that of Edward Ill. In the time of Henry Will
q were added for Wales, and four were given by
Parliament to the County and City of Chester. OH
yer CrOmwelrs Little Parliament" which met in
1863 consisted of only l3S members, but the full num-
Der was restored on the Restoration. There were
added $50 new members, by royal charter, between
the reign of Henry VIII. and Charles H. On the
union OF Scotland with England 45 Scotch members
were assigned to sit in the British House OF Com
MEMS and 100 more admitted for Ireland in 1901
by the act of union. SO when Parliamentary Reform
was taken up by Earl Grey a Government meas
ure, the House of Commons was composed of G5S
members, namely: 5l3 for England and Wales, 45
for Scotland, and 100 for Ireland. The Reform bill
of 1892 took Is members from England, gave 3 of
these to Ireland and TO Scotland, and left the
House of Commons thus constituted
ENGLAND AND WALLS
knights Of shires. res.....-....-......-...... 159
Citizens and burgesses ...-.-.-.-.e-... 3n-5oO
SCOTLAND
Commissioners of shires.. es................. 80
Commissioners Of bnrghs 2S- 50
IRELAND.
knights OF snlres .i....--...-.'..-..'.... Ga