vote by proxy-papers; that is, they can have their votes certified by a magistrate and then communicated to the Returning Officer by letter.

The offence of Bribery, or of offering rewards or of administering threats in order to procure a vote, is punished in various ways. Thus—

(1) To receive bribes or rewards for voting in a particular way, is a crime, punishable by fine and imprisonment, both in the giver and in the receiver.

(2) If bribery is proved to have taken place at an election with the knowledge of a candidate or his agents, the election of the candidate is declared void, and either the candidate with the next largest number of votes is declared elected, or, if the whole election shall be proved to have been affected by the practice of bribery, it will have to take place over again. If it is proved that bribery is a persistent and deeply-rooted practice, the constituency may be "disfranchised," that is, may lose its right to return any Member in the future. This disfranchisement is effected by an Act of Parliament, but has very rarely been put into practice.

The investigation into the alleged wrongful returns on the ground of bribery, or other serious irregularity, was, up to a few years ago, conducted by a Special Committee of the House of Commons. It is now conducted by one of the Judges of the Superior Courts of Law, who, upon a petition presented by persons in the constituency, goes down to the district where the election was held, and holds there a Court of Justice, in which the proceedings are almost exactly the same as on the trial for an ordinary crime. A single bribe or threat, if given with the knowledge of the candidate or his agent, is sufficient to invalidate the election of that candidate. The proceedings still continue dependent upon the jurisdiction of the House of Commons, and the Election Judge makes his Report to the Speaker of the House.

4.-QUALIFICATIONS OF MEMBERS.

All persons (with the exceptions below mentioned) being natural born Englishmen, and twenty-one years of age, may be elected to sit in the House of Commons. It is now of no consequence what property they have, nor to what constituency they themselves belong. The following persons only are excepted and cannot sit :—

1. English and Scotch Peers, and Irish Peers for an Irish constituency.

2. Judges of the Superior Courts of Law.

3. The" Clergy," or Ministers of the Established Church, who have not taken the requisite steps to rid themselves of their disability.

4. The holders of various offices, specially excluded by Statute, as offices of profit under the Crown created since the year 1705.

5. Government Contractors, that is, persons who have engaged with a Government Department to do any work or carry out any undertaking, till the contract is completed.

6. Bankrupts, that is, persons who are unable to pay their debts, and are declared by a proper Court of Justice to be such, all their property being distributed fairly among their creditors.

7. Felons, or persons convicted of the heavier classes of crimes.*

If any Member of the House accepts any office of Profit from the Crown, his election is void and a new writ must issue for a fresh election; but unless the office was created since 1705, the Member is re-eligible. No fresh election is needed in the case of a Member who accepts an office instead of, or in addition to, another.

* It must be treated as still an unsettled question whether a felon who has neither suffered the whole of his punishment, nor received pardon from the Crown, can, after the date fixed for the expiration of his punishment, be eligible as a Member of the House. A recent decision of the House in the case of John Mitchell is adverse to his eligibility.

A Member sometimes retires from his seat (which he cannot generally do otherwise) by accepting the office of Steward or Bailiff of the three "Chiltern Hundreds" of Stoke, Desborough, and Bonenham. The office is in the gift of the Crown, and is ordinarily given to any member who applies for it. It is merely nominal, but as the warrant of appointment grants it, together with all wages, fees, and allowances, it is treated as a place of profit.

II. THE INTERNAL REGULATIONS OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS.

These regulations concern :—

1. The Privileges of Members of the House.

2. The Power of the House over its own Members

and other persons.

3. The General Business of the House.

4. The Passing of a Bill.

I. THE PRIVILEGES OF MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE.

No Member of the House is liable to a "civil action" (that is to be sued in a Court of Justice) with a view to making compensation for any words he may utter in the House, however offensive or injurious to the feelings of anybody outside the House. Nevertheless, a Member is liable to punishment by imprisonment, or even by expulsion, by the House itself, for improper language.

Generally speaking, no Member of the House can be detained by the civil process of any Court of Justice, that is he cannot be arrested, imprisoned, or obliged to serve on a jury. For a long time it was held that a Member could not even be detained in order to be a witness in a trial, but this is not the case now. These privileges extend for some time (some say forty days) before the commencement of a session and after the close of a session, and for a convenient time necessary for returning home" after a dissolution. These

rules do not extend to protect Members against a criminal process.

2.-POWERS OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS OVER ITS

MEMBERS AND OTHER PERSONS.

The House of Commons has long exercised what is called the "power of commitment," that is the power of sending persons to prison for certain offences against its own dignity, whether the persons committing the offence be Members of the House or other persons. Such offences are :—

(1.) Disobedience to orders or rules of the House, whether general or special, such as by publishing evidence produced before a Committee of the House before it has been reported to the House; by neglecting rules for preventing the forging signatures to petitions; by not attending before the House or Committees when properly summoned; by not producing papers or records called for.

(2.) Indignities offered by libellous reflections, that is, by writing and publishing matters tending to bring the House into disrepute.

(3.) Interference with, or libellous reflections upon, individual Members of the House—as by arresting, obstructing, threatening, or making accusations against Members; by interfering with officers of the House while in the execution of their duty; by bribing Members, or receiving bribes as Members; by tampering with witnesses, that is, trying to make them give evidence of a special kind before the House.

For the purpose of sending persons to prison, the House employs an officer called the "Sergeant-at-Arms." He is appointed by the Crown, and receives a salary of 1,200/.

The House of Commons has also the power of expelling its Members for offences calculated to bring discredit upon Parliament. Such offences are forgery, fraud, corruption libels, and other offences against the House itself.

The chief officers (besides the Sergeant-at-Arms) of the House of Commons are

(1.) The Speaker or President of the House. He is chosen out of the Members by the House itself, and the appointment is confirmed by the Crown. He determines all points of order, that is he decides whether a rule of the House, with respect to its own proceedings, exists or not, and whether it is being observed or not, by any particular Member in the course of a debate. When two or more Members wish to speak at the same moment, he decides which of them shall be heard first. If the votes are equal in any case, he gives the casting vote, that is, decides which side shall prevail, but otherwise he does not vote.

The Speaker of the House of Commons is in every sense a most important and dignified officer. The tone and character of the debates of the House depend largely upon his judicial impartiality, knowledge of Parliamentary forms and precedents, and tact combined with courtesy of manner. If, as a private Member, he has been identified with a party, he is required to divest himself of all party sympathies and to concern himself only with the maintenance of the dignity and good order of the House. When he retires from office (which he generally holds from Parliament to Parliament as long as he pleases) he is usually created a Feer. His salary is 5000/.

(2.) The Deputy Speaker and Chairman of Committees. Salary 1,500l.

(3.) The Clerk of the House, who signs all orders of the House, reads whatever has to be read to the House, makes entries or records of all that is done in the House, and has the custody of all records or documents.

(4.) The Clerk Assistant.

(5.) The Second Clerk Assistant.

These Clerks sit at the table of the House and make short entries of the proceedings of the House, which are printed and distributed to the Members every day. From these the "Journal " is afterwards prepared, in which the entries are made at greater length.