The Constitution of England

Chapter VIII

182 u c h a p t e r v i i i u The Subject concluded.—Effects that have resulted, in the English Government, from the People’s Power being completely delegated to their Representatives. But when the People have entirely trusted their power to a moderate number of persons, affairs immediately take a widely different turn. Those who govern are fromthatmomentobligedtoleaveoff allthosestratagemswhich had hitherto ensured their success. Instead of those Assemblies which they affected to despise, and were perpetually comparing to storms, or to the current of the Euripus (a), and in regard to which they accordingly thought themselves at liberty to pass over the rules of Justice, they nowfind that they have to deal with Men who are their equals in point of education and knowledge, and their inferiors only in point of rank and form. They, in consequence, soon find it necessary to adopt quite different methods; and, above all, become very careful not to talk to them any more about the (a) Tully makes no end of his similes on this subject. Quod enim fretum, quem Euripum , tot motus, tantas & tam varias habere putatis agitationes fluctuum, quantas perturbationes & quantos aestus habet ratio Comitiorum? See Orat. pro Muraenâ. [[“Euripus” referred to the channel of water that separated Boeotia, on the Attic shore, from the island of Euboea. De Lolme quotes Marcus Tullius Cicero, Pro Muraenâ (On behalf of Muraenâ). The passage reads: “Can you think of any strait, any channel, that has the currents and variety of rough patches and changes of tide strong enough to match the upsets of the ebb and flow that accompany the working of elections?”]]—Concio, says he in another place, quae ex imperitissimisconstat,&c. DeAmicitiâ,§ 25.[[MarcusTullius Cicero, De amicitiâ (On friendship), 25. The full passage reads: “A public assembly, though composed of very ignorant men, can, nevertheless, usually see the difference between a demagogue—that is, a smooth-tongued, shallow citizen—and one who has stability, sincerity, and weight.”]] chapter viii 183 sacred chickens, the white or black days, and the Sibyllinebooks.1 —Asthey see their new adversaries expect to have a proper regard paid to them, that single circumstance inspires them with it:—as they see them act in a regular manner, observe constant rules, in a word proceed with form, they come to look upon them with respect, from the very same reason which makes them themselves to be reverenced by the People. The Representatives of the People, on the other hand, do not fail soon to procure for themselves every advantage that may enable them effectually to use the powers with which they have been intrusted, and to adopt every rule of proceeding that may make their resolutions to be truly the result of reflection and deliberation. Thus it was that the Representatives of the English Nation, soon after their first establishment, became formed intoaseparate Assembly:theyafterwardsobtainedthelibertyof appointing a President:—soon after, they insisted upon their being consulted on the last form of the Acts to which they had given rise:—lastly, they insisted on thenceforth framing them themselves. In order to prevent any possibility of surprize in the course of their proceedings , it is a settled rule with them, that every proposition, or bill, must be read three times, at different prefixed days, before it can receive a final sanction: and before each reading of the bill, as well as at its first introduction , an express resolution must be taken to continue it under consideration . If the bill be rejected, in any one of those several operations, it must be dropped, and cannot be proposed again during the same Session (a). (a) It is moreover a settled rule in the House of Commons, that no Member is to speak more than once in the same day. When the number and nature of the clauses of a Bill require that it should be discussed in a freer manner, a Committee is appointed for that purpose, who are to make their report afterwards to the House.Whenthesubject is of importance, this Committee is formed of the whole House, which still continues to sit in the same place, but in a less solemn manner, and under another President, who is called the Chairman of the Committee. In order to form the House again, the mace is replaced on the Table, and the Speaker goes again into his chair. 1. De Lolme refers to several techniques used by Rome’s governors to decide public matters in a manner that avoided reasoned...