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It is very remarkable that at the moment chosen for insistin on the incapacity of the House of Lords, and the superior expe rience and competency of the House of Commons, there shoul be actually sitting in the Upper House no less than 175 peer who have themselves, and 119 others whose fathers have bee members of the House of Commons. We should like to know supposing the school to be so good a one as we are told, wha other process would have introduced into the Lords a greate proportion of political education.

We know there are and must be, from the diversity and in firmity of human nature, numerous exceptions to the genera approbation which we bestow on the House of Lords. We know that some men neglect, and that some abuse the great advan tages of birth, wealth, and station-but we are talking not o individuals, but of a system, and we hesitate not to assert, that the result of that system is, that the House of Lords, taken collectively contains, and has always contained, not mere hereditary legislators but legislators the best educated, trained, and fashioned to thei high duties, of any assembly that the world has ever produced.

But this is not all-the duties of that assembly are more grave more deliberative, more judicial, than the House of Commonsthey are in the Constitution a kind of Conservative senatecourt of revision-a balancing and adjusting power.*

Now it happens again, by a happy accident of its constitution that men commonly arrive there at a mature period of life-when after having perhaps expended some of their vanity and vivacity in the House of Commons, (which seems even more than ever favourite mart for those articles,) they are sobered, as it were, to the graver and more consultative dignity of the House of Peers. The Abbé Sieyes and other constitution-mongers felt the importance o such a difference, and provided a council of ancients, or some such

*The great Lord Hardwicke in his time drew a distinction between the legislativ duties, or at least the practice of the two Houses, which modern circumstances have rendered still wider. In his speech on the Militia Bill, in 1756, we find the fol lowing remarkable pasaage :-- The method of law-making most agreeable to the nature of our constitution must appear from the very words of the writs of summons to parliament; for the writs of summons to the members of the House of Lords are "ad consulendum," whereas the writs for the other House are only "ad consentiendum.' But this method seems now to be quite altered; every member of the other House takes upon him to be a legislator, and almost every new law is first drawn up and passed in the other House; so we have little else to do, especially towards the end of the session, but to read over and consent to the new laws they have made; nay, some of them are sent up so late in the session, that we have hardly time to read them over and consider whether we shall consent or no, which is remarkably the case with respect to the bill now under consideration. My Lords, by this new method of law. making, the business of the two Houses seems to be so much altered, that I really think the writs of summons ought to be altered: those of the other House ought now to be ad consulendum, and those to the members of this, ad consentiendum.' Lord John Russell it seems is of this opinion, and thinks that if the House of Lords will not con sent to be summoned ad consentiendum tantùm-they must be reformed!

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assembly, from which inconsiderate youth should be excluded. This, like all such à priori schemes, utterly failed-these ancients were generally found to be of middling understandings and acquirements, as well as of middle age; and being all of this mature time of life, without that infusion of youthful blood which invigorates, by a constant succession, our House of Lords, and having no personal advantage over the antagonist assembly but the disadvantage of age, they inevitably became the objects of ridicule and contempt, and could not, even for a session, maintain the imaginary superiority which their theoretic constitution had assigned to them. And they hastened accordingly to the tomb of all the Capulets.'

There is still another important consideration. The peers are, generally speaking, men of large fortune and corresponding influence; the vulgar may think wealth and influence are nothing but lazy enjoyment: they are mistaken-they are grave matters of business, often sharp stimulants of anxiety, and require from and necessarily impart to their possessors caution, shrewdness, dexterity, knowledge of mankind, and a practical acquaintance with the pecuniary and territorial interests of the country. When to these considerations it is added that all professional superiority and every other kind of personal eminence has a tendency to gravitate towards that house-witness the Wellingtons-the Hillsthe Howes-the Nelsons-the Eldons-the Lyndhursts-the Broughams-the Barings-we boldly assert that no assembly could, by any system we have heard or read of, be collected which should contain so much practical information on the general interests of the kingdom, and so little temptation to misapply that information, as our House of hereditary legislators.

But the duties and peculiar utility of the House of Lords are not confined to general legislation--we shall say nothing about it as the supreme court of justice, though we are confident we could show-in answer to cavils almost as hasty and short-sighted as those which attack its legislative powers-that it affords, by a concurrence of circumstances incident to its station and composition, the best supreme tribunal that has ever yet been suggested for this country. But we have not time to pursue this branch of the subject: we mention it that we may not be supposed to have forgotten it.

But there is another quasi judicial character in which the House of Lords, because they are hereditary legislators, confer the most extensive and important advantages on the country: we mean in guarding private interests from being unjustlyand public interests from being corruptly, dealt with by legisJative acts. The system of estate bills, road bills, inclosure bills, and other private bills, has grown of late years into great import

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ance; and if it were not for the vigilant superintendence of the House of Lords, this system, so advantageous, under good control, to the development of modern prosperity, would have become an enormous and intolerable grievance. It is an additional example of the happy way that our ancient institutions assimilate themselves to new circumstances and connect the wisdom of antiquity with the vigour of improvement, that this modern system of legislation on local and private matters should have found in the most ancient of all our constituted authorities at once the most judicious encouragement, and the most effectual control.

We will say nothing of the mode in which the committees of the elective House are said to do private business. To the scandalous stories which we hear now-a-days in the purlieus of the House of Commons on this subject we give little credit. It is impossible that anything so monstrous as some of these stories are can be true; but there can be no doubt-because it is the subject of frequent complaint in the House itself that there is a great deal of haste and irregularity in the mode of transacting private business, and that individual members are not always so entirely unprejudiced and disinterested in the matters on which they may be called upon to decide as might be desired. Of the integrity of the House of Lords, no such scandalous rumours have ever been circulated. Of culpable haste or corrupt bias on their part no complaint has ever been made; on the contrary, every man who is either the mover or the subject of any private legislation looks up to the House of Lords as his counsel and guardian. A recent writer who complains of the hurry and injustice of modern legislation, shows that, without the vigilance of the House of Lords, it would be intolerable

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The House of Lords has been careful to throw protection around private rights and private property, so far as they may be affected by private bills, or by public bills, when for certain specified objects.' *

Why is the House of Lords thus honoured in a peculiar and superior degree by the confidence of the country? Because they are hereditary legislators. Just as some of the abuses alleged against committees of the House of Commons are chargeable, not so much on the misconduct of individuals, as on their position and duties as representatives. Putting aside all imputation or suspicion of what might be called corrupt motives, it is undeniable, nay, perhaps it may be thought laudable, that in discussing the interests of contending parties a representative can hardly avoid some kind of bias in favour of his own constituents: in some cases he may even think himself entitled to look on his constituents as his clients, and of his constituents it is only natural that his bias should

*West, On the Present Mode of Legislation, p. 12.

be

be somewhat stronger for his friends than for his enemies. More-
over, his election contests bring him into familiarity with men of the
law and of other departments of business whose opinions he is bound
to hear, and by whose suggestions he is liable to be influenced.
These and many other considerations lead us to think that an
elective assembly,-even if we could suppose such an assembly
exclusively composed of upright and independent men,-is not
likely to be so fair a tribunal for dispensing individual justice, as an
hereditary body which by birth, by rank, by society, and by
wealth is separated from, and we may say elevated above, the per-
sonal familiarity, the private obligations, the local interests, which
must in some degree trammel and influence a representative.

Thus, then, not only is the House of Lords venerable by its
primæval origin and rank, its ancient services, its large proprietary
interest in the well-being of the country, in short, by all the
sources of authority, but it is even, in a utilitarian view, from
lucky circumstances, most admirably fitted for all the various
functions which the constitution assigns to it. And after all
this, we think we may ask what becomes of the sneer which com-
pares hereditary legislators with hereditary apothecaries and tailors?
Far be it from us to disparage the other branch of the legis-
lature, but we appeal to public opinion, nay, even to mob orators
and their gaping audiences, whether, on a comparison of the com-
position of the two houses of parliament, and the talent, dignity,
and honesty with which they execute their respective functions,
there is any ground for imputing to the Upper House any incom-
petence or inferiority? Of one thing we are sure, that Mr.
O'Connell's elective plan would never collect one with a quarter of
its talent, or a tithe of its respectability.

We have thus offered in a very hasty and imperfect form a few
considerations on the practical advantages, and, if we may use the
expression, working qualities of the House of Lords as at present
constituted. They are, we feel, feebly stated, but they may serve
to guide others to a deeper consideration of the details of this ad-
mirable combination, which we are satisfied must appear still more
admirable the closer it is examined.

We shall conclude with recalling to our readers' serious reflection
the historical warning, and we hope instruction, afforded by four
most remarkable epochs and stages of the Grand Rebellion.
I. The Bishops were excluded from Parliament.

II. The House of Lords was first reformed, and then abolished.
III. The King's head was cut off.

IV. Cromwell burst into the House of Commons, and ordered
his soldiers to Take away that bauble!

INDEX

TO THE

FIFTY-SIXTH VOLUME OF THE QUARTERLY REVIEW.

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Back, Captain, his Journal of the Arctic
Land Expedition to the Mouth of the
Great Fish River, and along the Shores
of the Arctic Ocean, in the Years
1833, 4, and 5, 278-the author a
straightforward veracious traveller, ib.
-the unflinching companion of Frank-
lin and Richardson, in their perilous
adventures, ib.-object of the present
mission, ib.-an Indian canoe on the
Great Slave Lake described, 279-the
party reach Hoar Lake River, 280
-Beverley's Fall, ib-anecdote of
Sir John Franklin, ib.-reach Lake
Walmesley, 282-and Lake Aylmer,
ib.-discover the Thlew-ee-choh, or
Back's River, ib.-reach the spot
where Mr. M'Cleod had been sent to
establish their winter quarters, 283—
character of the native Indians, ib.-
their sufferings for want of provisions,
ib.-intensity of the cold, 285-the
author receives intelligence of the
safety of Ross and his party, 286-he
proceeds to the shore of the Arctic
Sea, 287-regains Back's River, ib.-
passage of heavy rapids and cascades,
288-falls in with a party of Esqui-
maux, ib.-Cape Victoria, 290-Mount
Barrow, 292-laborious exertions of
the party on their return, 294-reach
Garry's Lake, ib.-a tremendous wa-
terfall near Fort Reliance described,
295-merits of the Journal as a lite-
rary composition, 296-opinion of Sir
John Barrow of the practicability of a
North-West Passage, ib.-plan re-
commended by Dr. Richardson, 298—
and by Sir John Franklin, ib.—and
sanctioned by Captain Beaufort, 299.
Balsac, M. de, general character of his
writings, 81-his Vicaire des Ar-

dennes, 82-Annette et le Criminel,
83-La Peau de Chagrin, ib.-his
Scenes of French private life, 8
story of La Vendetta, ib.-Les Dan-
gers de l'Inconduite, ib.-Le Bal de
Sceaux, ib.-Gloire et Malheur, 85-
La Femme Virtueuse, 86-Le Méde
cin de Campagne, 88-and La Paix
du Ménage, ib.-Scenes of French
Provincial Life, 91-Story of Le Père
Goriot, ib.-and Les Treize, 93-his
Etudes Philosophiques, 94. See French
Novels.

Barrow, John, jun., Esq., his Tour
round Ireland in the Summer of 1835.
See Ireland.

Bridgewater Treatise, the Rev. Dr.
Buckland's. See Geology.
Brighton Downs, verses on, by Mr. Wil-

liam Stewart Rose, 402-Sonnet on,
by the Rev. Charles Townshend, 413.
Brighton Winter-piece, by Mr. William
Stewart Rose, 413.

Brutus, character of, 365.

Buckland, Rev. William, D.D., his Geo-
logy considered with reference to
Natural Theology. See Geology.
Buonaparte, Lucien, at Malta, 302.
Busaco, battle of, 308.

C.

Cæsar and the Duke of Wellington, pa-
rallel between, 218.

Canova, saying of, during his visit to
England, 309.

Chaucer, Geoffrey, his deposition in the

Scrope and Grosvenor cause, 28.
Charles the Fourth of Spain described.

142.

Cheynel, Dr. Francis, some account of
his last days, 407.

China, a General Description of the
Empire of, and its Inhabitants, by J.F.
Davis, Esq., F.R.S., 489-no country
so little understood, and so much mis-
represented, ib.-cause of the want of
accurate information, 490-its extent
and population, ib.-qualifications of

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