THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENTTHE MOTHER OF
PARLIAMENTS
BY
HARRY GRAHAM
AUTHOR OF "A GROUP OF SCOTTISH WOMEN"
WITH TWENTY ILLUSTRATIONS
BOSTON
LITTLE, BROWN, & COMPANY
1911
TO
MY WIFE
PREFACE
The history of England's Parliament is the history of theEnglish people. To the latter it must consequentlyprove a source of never-failing interest. That it doesso is clearly shown by the long list of writers who havesought and found inspiration in the subject. To add to theirnumber may perhaps seem an unnecessary, even a superfluous,task. This volume may indeed be likened to that "OldPiece in a New Dress" to which Petyt compared his LexParliamentaria. "These things, men will say, have beendone before; the same Matter, and much the same Form,are to be found in other Writers, and this is but to obtrudeupon the World a vain Repetition of other men's observations."But although the frank use of secondhand mattercannot in this case be denied, it is to be hoped that even theoldest and most threadbare material may be woven into afresh pattern, suitable to modern taste.
In these democratic days a seat in either House ofParliament is no longer the monopoly of a single privilegedclass: it lies within the reach of all who can afford the luxuryof representing either themselves or their fellows at Westminster.It is therefore only natural that the interest inparliamentary affairs should be more widely disseminatedto-day than ever. It does not confine itself to actual orpotential members of both Houses, but is to be found in thebosom of the humblest constituent, and even of that shadowyindividual vaguely referred to as the Man in the Street.Though, however, the interest in Parliament is widespread, aknowledge of parliamentary forms, of the actual conduct of[vi]business in either House, of the working of the parliamentarymachine, is less universal.
At the present time the sources of information open tothe student of parliamentary history may roughly be regardedas twofold. For the earnest scholar, desirous of examiningthe basis and groundwork of the Constitution, the birth andgrowth of Parliament, the gradual extension and developmentof its power, its privileges and procedure, the writings of allthe great English historians, and of such parliamentaryexperts as Hatsell, May, Palgrave, Sir William Anson, SirCourtenay Ilbert and Professor Redlich, provide a rich mineof information. That more considerable section of thereading public which seeks to be entertained rather thaninstructed, can have its needs supplied by less technical butno less able parliamentary writers—Sir Henry W. Lucy,Mr. T. P. O'Connor, Mr. MacDonagh—none of whom,as a rule, attempts to do more than touch lightly uponfundamental Constitutional questions.
The idea of combining instruction with amusement is onefrom which every normal-minded being naturally shrinks:the attempt generally results in the failure either to informor entertain. There does, however, seem to be room fora volume on the subject of Parliament which shall besufficiently instructive to appeal to the student, and yet notso technical as to alarm or repel the