Different in 1867. Reform question was then allowed to slumber for several years. At length in 1866, after the death of Lord Palmerston, the attention of the House of Commons was again aroused to the state of the representation, and a Reform Bill was laid upon the table by Mr. Gladstone, as the organ of Earl Russell's ministry. Strange to say, this bill contained no clause concerning the vacation of seats on accepting office; an omission which, considering that Lord Russell had repeatedly advocated some change in the law on this subject, can only be attributed to an unwillingness on the part of Mr. Gladstone to re-open the question.' But this bill also shared the fate of its predecessors. Up then to the year 1867, the principle embodied in the Statute of Anne, requiring a member to submit his acceptance of an office under the crown, upon every occasion and under all circumstances, to the approval of his constituents, was resolutely and persistently maintained by the legislature; notwithstanding that some modification thereof, more or less extensive, had been proposed by successive administrations, and advocated by political writers of ability and repute for upwards of thirty years." m In 1867, however, it once more devolved upon Mr. proposals Disraeli, as the organ of Earl Derby's administration, to submit to parliament a bill to amend the laws relating to the representation of the people, which, after undergoing protracted discussion in the House of Commons, was finally agreed to by both Houses. As originally introduced, the 37th clause of this bill was an exact transcript Prerogatives (a pamphlet), printed by Gilbert and Rivington, London, 1831; Edinburgh Review, vol. Ixi. p. 40; vol. xcvi. p. 500; vol. cvi. p. 282; by Mr. W. R. Greg in North British Review for May, 1852, No. 1. On the other side, see Toulmin Smith, Parl. Remembrancer, 1857-8, p. 24; Quarterly Review, vol. xciv. p. 602; Warren, Election Law, edit. 1857, p. 189. of the 68th clause of Mr. Disraeli's Reform Bill of 1859. But objection being taken in committee that this clause might be so construed that a defeated government could again take office without re-election,' whereas it was the sense of the House that it should be clearly limited to changes in the existing government after the members had been once re-elected,' the Government consented to withdraw the clause and substitute another to that effect." Upon the introduction of the new clause, it was agreed to without a division, Mr. Gladstone expressing his approval of the alteration of the law as being the removal of a very serious inconvenience, which more than outweighed the small constitutional privilege hitherto enforced against a member of the House of Commons. whenever he might accept an office from the Crown." In the House of Lords, in committee on the bill, an attempt was made, by Earl Grey, to substitute for the clause above-mentioned another which, instead of merely permitting members to exchange one office for another without vacating their seats, should render re-election unnecessary whensoever a member of Parliament should accept of any office now tenable by law with a seat in the House of Commons. His lordship argued that this ' useless check' should be removed, because of the increasing difficulty of ensuring the re-election of persons selected by the crown as the most suitable to fill the great offices of state; and because it was highly desirable that such persons should not be dependent for their seats on the caprice of particular electoral bodies. A further reason for the proposed change was predicated upon the introduction into this bill of the novel principle of the representation of minorities, by the clause enacting that at a contested election for any county or borough represented by three members, no person shall vote for more than two candidates. It was urged that a member elected • Representation of the People Bill, 1867, Bill 79. VOL. II. T P Hans. Deb. vol. clxxxviii. p. 302. Ultimate change in the law, by the minority in one of these constituencies, would almost inevitably lose his seat if required to present himself for re-election, on account of his acceptance of office from the crown." Earl Grey's amendment was opposed by the Earl of Derby, on the ground that, however convenient such an arrangement might be to a government, it would be an invasion of the constitutional rights of the electors to declare that a person whom they had chosen whilst in an independent position, and free to devote the whole of his time and attention to his duties on their behalf, but who had afterwards accepted an office which must require a great portion of his time, and also to a certain extent must cripple his independent judgment, should not have to go before his constituents, in order to know whether, in these altered circumstances, they were willing to continue him as their representative. It was further contended that it was not only essential that the government as a body should possess the confidence of the House of Commons, but also that every member of the administration should enjoy, in his own person, and as a component part of the executive, the full and perfect confidence of the constituency which had returned him to Parliament. These arguments prevailed with the House, and Earl Grey's amendment was negatived, without a division." The clause as finally agreed to by Parliament is as follows: Whereas it is expedient to amend the law relating to offices of profit, the acceptance of which from the crown vacates the seats of members accepting the same, but does not render them incapable of being reelected: Be it enacted, that where a person has been returned as a member to serve in Parliament since the acceptance by him from the crown of any office described in Schedule H to this Act annexed, the subsequent ac Ibid. vol. clxxxix. p. 740. • Ibid. pp. 744-747. second re ceptance by him from the crown of any other office or dispensing offices described in such schedule, in lieu of and in immediate succession the one to the other, shall not vacate election, his seat.' t upon a change of This new enactment would seem to be a reasonable office. settlement of this long-contested point. It preserves to every constituency, that has returned a member to Parliament untrammelled by the fetters of office, an opportunity of re-considering their choice, upon their representative agreeing to assume such a responsibility; and it is, to this extent, a check upon members who might be disposed to ignore the conditions upon which they had been elected to serve in Parliament by a particular constituency. On the other hand, it enables a member, whose acceptance of office from the crown' has been ratified by the suffrages of the electors, to change from one such office to another without the personal trouble and inconvenience to public business, which would result from his having again to offer himself for re-election: provided only that the change be immediate, and that the office subsequently accepted, as well as that which has been relinquished, be an office actually designated in the schedule." The offices of profit referred to in the Act are thus enumerated in Schedule H:- Lord High Treasurer. Commissioner for executing the Offices of Treasurer of the Exchequer of Great Britain and Lord High Treasurer of Ireland. President of the Privy Council. Vice-President of the Committee of Council for Edu cation. Comptroller of Her Majesty's Household. Treasurer of Her Majesty's Household. Vice-Chamberlain of Her Majesty's Household. + 30 & 31 Vict. c. 102, sec. 52. " See Hans. Deb. vol. clxxxviii. p. 1475 Equerry or Groom in Waiting on Her Majesty. Any Principal Secretary of State. Chancellor and Under-Treasurer of Her Majesty's Ex chequer. Paymaster-General. Postmaster-General. Lord High Admiral. Commissioner for executing the office of Lord High Admiral. Commissioner of Her Majesty's Works and Public Buildings. President of the Committee of Privy Council for Trade and Plantations. Chief Secretary for Ireland. Commissioner for administering the Laws for the Relief of the Poor in England. Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. Judge-Advocate-General. Attorney-General for England. The foregoing list is nearly identical with that given in the previous chapter, wherein is enumerated the officers of which an administration is usually composed. But it omits certain subordinate functionaries, attached to the royal household,-such as captains of the gentlemen-atarms and of the yeomen-of-the-guard,-who are occasionally appointed from the benches of the House of Commons. These gentlemen necessarily vacate their seats on receiving their appointments, but are not invariably required to seek for re-election. And it makes no mention of the political under-secretaries, who, as we have previously explained, do not vacate their seats on See ante, p. 162. |