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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Hotue of Commons ; bn * oti its . being * mentioned tbat they were ell there without authority , the gentlemen dispersed , and tbe speech cannot be entered on tbe minutes of the late representative body . This departure from tbe usual custom has excited much animadversion . Such
an occurrence has not taken place since the time of Charles the First , who in a very ungracious manner dismissed once bis parliament , and was afterwards in open war with his Commons . Since that time the custom has been for the King- to address tbe two bouses on one day , and dissolve the parliament by proclamation
on the next . According-to that mode , tbe Speaker , on returning to tbe House of Commons , brought with him \ he speech from the throne , which was read to it , and entered upon the minutes , and then tbe bouse separated . Its proceedings being thus
completed , they all , on the understanding * tbat the parliament would be dissolved on the next day , went to their respective homes to give an account to their constituents of their conduct , and prepare themselves for the new elections .
An improvement took place this lime in the issuing of the writs , on which there used occasionally to be much improper conduct , Ijy tbe writs being' forwarded or delayed for some places , according as it suit the of
ini ^ ght purposes som e favoured candidate . Upon this occasion all the writs were first signed and sealed , and then sent all together to the post office . Thus every place received its writ without -favour or affection in thfc time that tts
distance from tbe metropolis required : and flue elections for cities and boroughs being limited by the time of the receipt of the writs , th £ elections were nearly at the same time throwghout the kingdom . Tbe elections for counties necessarily varied , from their dependence on the county ecturts :
Tbe last act of the last parliament was tbe alien bill , which occasioned a variety of difficulties in its passage through the Houses . Its object evidently is to unite our government with those of the continent , to keep under surveillance those persons
of various kingdoms , who may be considered as obnuxious to their > iespective heads . It is liable to very great abuses , / aa individuals may be exposed to private melice , covering * itieif under « ome public pretext ; and tbe administration may be made party tfv deeds which they would ^) fe the firs t to abhor . It was found iti the
course of the proceedings on this bill , that it militated with a law of Scotland * vnteced « nt to the Uttion , which occasioned a n&w modification of it After it had gone through most of the forms . This required teanew bii | , which « wa « carriedthrongh the Jiotms with wh « t migtft almost * be styteo "
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indecent dispatch : for s « ca a dispatch is to be allowed onJy , wheii injury to the kingdom might be expected to arise in the delay . But as the bill itself is in the naindsof a great number of persons by mo
means necessary , or rather is alien to our constitution , any particular hurry in favouring'its progress can scarcely be allowable . However so it was . It received the royal sanction , and aliens are now completely at tbe mercy of the ministers .
« Sir Francis Buraett introduced his measure for the reform of parliament . The basis of it is the extension of the right of suffrage , and the shortening of the duration of parliaments . The opinion of the house was decisive . upon his plan , for he had no one to support him but his colleague in the representation of Westminster , who seconded bis motion . In the debates the idea of universal
suffrage was treated with great contempt , and strange insinuations were thrown out against the shortening of tbe duration of parliaments . The speakers on ibis occasion seemed to have forgotten , that for about three hundred years no one parliament existed for a year , and there were
frequent instances of moae than one parliament holden within the year . The present system of septennial parliaments took its rise only at tbe accession of the present reigning family to the throne : and if circumstances at its origin might justify the extension of the duration of the
existin / g * parliament , experience has shewn , that its continuance lias been injurious to tbe liberties of the country . In fact , tbe House of Commons has since tbat time been gradually estranging itself more and
more from the people : and it could not be otherwise , for tbe members elected for so long a time form a species of petite noblesse , and not being * accountable till a remote day to their constituents , they are inclined to act more as the masters of than the
attorneys , according to the old language , for their constituents . On the extension'Of the light of » utfrage one would think that tkereoowld be only one opinion . For it was never in the contemplation of any on * e , that the House of Commons should be in its present state .
Time , 'the great innovator , 'has introduced its usual changes in the state of cities , towns and boroughs , reducing in a considerable deg * ree the population of some places , « and foi others annihilating it altogether , in granting to a ^ place the Wight or privilege of sending representatives to
parliament , it was not on * fc © coiM » t of atones , or brdc 4 ts ^ or ^ irees , tlna * 'wright have % een mi that ^ l «< -e , 'but : in ;^ oihi » cqiiei ^ e of 'the people ¥ hat arihtfbited it : Btnd when tbe people disetpp ^ nred , » it was natural thai Hie vepretfetrtation -Bhoi ^ d vme * . Bat this dMntK ^ surt the-v ^ etvs ^ f
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406 State * f Public-Affairs .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1818, page 406, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2477/page/62/
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