Not only is the King Head of the Executive and Chief Magistrate in the realm, but he also forms one of the component parts of the Legislature. He is supposed to preside over the House of Lords, and in former times actually did so in person, but is now represented by the Lord Chancellor-Keeper of the Great Seal-who acts as Speaker of the Upper House.

The House of Lords is the most ancient and dignified Court in the kingdom, and is the highest Court of Appeal, beyond which no cause can be carried. It exercises both legislative and judicial functions; but in its judicial capacity its authority is delegated for the most part to those of its members who, having been elevated from the Bar to the Upper House, are conversant with the law bearing upon those questions that come before them from time to time, and are therefore the most competent to decide. Yet, when any question touching the dignity or privileges of the House itself is raised, the whole of the Peers take part in the deliberations, and give their decision, which is final. The members of the House of Peers are legislators by hereditary right. By the same right they are the Counsellors of the Crown, "and may be called together by the King to impart their advice, either in time of Parliament, or when there is no Parliament in being." In consequence, however, of the great importance acquired by the Commons in modern times this custom has fallen into disuse. Still, to a Peer of the realm belongs the privilege, if he should think fit to exercise it, of demanding an audience of the Sovereign, to lay before him "such matters as he may deem of importance for the public weal."

The House of Lords has likewise the right of initiating in their Chamber any Bills,-save Money Bills, which, as we have elsewhere seen, must originate with the Lower House. The Lords have, moreover, a negative voice on the acts of the Commons, which, though it gives them the power of frustrating really useful measures which may be obnoxious to themselves, yet affords a guarantee to the State against the encroachments

of the Lower House of Parliament. The number of Peers of the Realm is not fixed or limited, and has varied considerably from time to time, owing to divers causes. During the Tudor and Stuart dynasties there were much fewer Peers than there had previously been, or than we have at the present day. Indeed, the great majority of existing peerages are of comparatively modern creation. The Crown possesses the exclusive prerogative of adding to their number whenever it may see fit to do so; but the Peers themselves are very jealous of having their numbers augmented from the ranks of the commoners, and in the reign of George I. they introduced a Bill to limit their body to those then existing, but the Bill was rejected by the Lower House.

The principal council belonging to the King is the Privy Council, which is chosen by the King himself, who regulates the number of his Privy Councillors, which, however, is not limited. From the Privy Council is chosen the Cabinet Council, or Administration, consisting of the great Ministers of State at the head of the several public Departments, who conduct the government of the country while the party to which they belong hold the reins of power.

Privy Councillors are removable at the King's discretion, and no person born out of the dominion of the English Crown, unless the son of English parents, can hold the office of a Privy Councillor. The duties of a Privy Councillor, as defined by Blackstone, are seven in number, "1st. To advise the King according to the best of his knowledge and discretion. 2nd. To advise for the King's honour and the good of the public-without partiality, through affection, love, reward, doubt, or dread. 3rd. To keep the King's counsel secret. 4th. To avoid corruption. 5th. To help and strengthen the execution of what shall be there resolved. 6th. To withstand all persons who would attempt the contrary.

7th. To observe, keep, and do all that a good and true Councillor ought to do to his sovereign Lord.”

C

Let us now briefly glance at the Commons. What we have already stated in the sketch of our Constitutional history will afford some idea of the great influence, power, and importance pertaining to the House of Commons. Unlike the Lords, however, the Commons do not hold their seats by any hereditary right, but are merely elected for a limited period. Before the Revolution there was no time determined for the summoning or duration of Parliaments. It would seem to have been optional with the King to call a Parliament whenever he pleased, as he was entirely governed by his own discretion, combined with his personal exigencies and the "form and pressure" of the times. At all events, great irregularity prevailed upon this point, for we sometimes find that the same members continued to sit for several Sessions consecutively-as, for instance, in the Long Parliament, while at other times new members were elected for each Session. However, in the reign of William and Mary it was enacted that a new Parliament should be called every three years; but it was found by experience that frequent elections were productive of great inconvenience and expense, as well to the electors as to their representatives, and that the excitement created by the tumultuous meeting of popular assemblies at such brief intervals was calculated to provoke fruitless clamour and discontent rather than to give weight and stability to the Legislature; and we find, accordingly, that the law of triennial Parliaments was repealed under George I., and the term extended to seven years. We may add, however, that in practice it is seldom found that Parliaments hold out so long without a dissolution.

The Commons cannot assemble without the authority of the Crown. They are accordingly summoned by the Queen's writ, issued forty days before their meeting by the Privy Council. The Sovereign meets her Parliament either in person or by proxy, and lays before it a brief statement of the circum

stances of the nation, the position in which she stands in her relationships with foreign States, and the business which her Government proposes to transact during the current Session. This statement, or "Speech," of the Sovereign is delivered in the Upper House, to which the members of the Lower House are summoned to hear, after which they return to their own chamber, and are straightway at liberty to proceed with the business of the Session, having first, however, taken the oath of allegiance and supremacy.

The House of Commons is presided over by the Speaker, who is chosen from amongst the members themselves, and who holds his office till the dissolution of the Parliament in which he was elected. He is supposed to be selected for those qualities which chiefly command the deference and respect of the members of the House: namely, his personal dignity, his acquaintance with the rules, forms, and modes of procedure of the House, his urbanity, and the grave suavity of his manners. He is precluded from taking part in the deliberations of the House unless when sitting in Committee. We have elsewhere observed that perfect freedom of debate belongs to both Houses of Parliament; but it must not be understood by this that members are at liberty to propose measures derogatory to the dignity of the Crown, or in any way disloyal-only that no court of justice, nor even the Sovereign himself, can take cognisance of any matters debated within the walls of Parliament. Each Chamber enjoys a species of absolute control and authority in respect of the conduct of its own members, without being responsible to any higher power.

Having thus referred to the Three Estates of the realm, let us now say a few words respecting what now claims to be a species of "Fourth Estate," or power of the realm, namely, the Press. That this is a power, and a very vast one too, cannot for a moment be denied. In former times and in the early

ages of Constitutional history, it had no existence whatever, and in point of fact it was not until after the Revolution of 1688 that the newspaper press of the kingdom began to make its influence felt in the guidance and formation of public opinion. Even during the eighteenth century it had not reached that point of development and preeminence when it could fairly be called a "power" in the State. It is the present century almost entirely that has witnessed the establishment of the Press in the rank of an "Estate." True, it has no recognised constitutional existence, as an integral portion of the Legislature. It does not muster rank and file in a division. But surely it has a voice, and a very potent one too, in all the debates and deliberations in both Houses of Parliament. It does not go into the lobby in propriâ persona, but who can deny that it influences and frequently determines the vote of many a man upon questions of the gravest importance? It holds its debates daily in public, and sits the whole year round. It has no "vacation"-r 66 recess." Its eye never slumbers, and its voice is never mute. It speaks to millions. thunder-tongued. Amongst its vast auditory are kings, princes, priests, and senators, yet it does not address them with hushed accents or bated breath. It does not tickle their ears with the honeyed poison of flattery; but it tells them truths which in bygone times would never have reached them,-wholesome truths in high places which preserve the body politic from corruption and decay. But not this only. The Fourth Estate has it eyes cast abroad in all the corners of the earth in search of knowledge; its emissaries explore the utmost recesses of civilised and savage life, and accumulate, for the benefit of the present and of the future, the vast treasures of experience and information which are amassed and redistributed day by day in the interests of human progress and enlightenment. In a word, there are none so low that the teaching of the Press does not in some way reach and affect them, and none so high