to the bill. The bill remains with the Lords if they have made no amendment to it; but if any amendments be made such amendments are sent down with the bill to receive the concurrence of the Commons. If the Commons disagree to the amendments a conference usually follows between members deputed from either House, who, for the most part, settle and adjust the difference; but if both Houses remain inflexible, the bill is then dropped. If the Commons agree to the amendments the bill is sent back to the Lords, by one of the members, with a message to acquaint them therewith. The same forms are observed, mutatis mutandis, when the bill begins in the House of Lords.

The House of Lords meets at five o'clock in the afternoon, the House of Commons at four o'clock, except on Wednesdays, when it sits at noon. In both Houses, however, morning sittings are sometimes specially appointed. Before the commencement of business in either, prayers are read; in the Lords by one of the bishops in turn, and in the Commons by the Speaker's chaplain. Three members must be present in the former, and forty in the latter, or there is what is called no house," and business is adjourned until the next day.

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When the bill has passed through both Houses in this manner, it is ready to receive the royal assent, which is given either by her Majesty in person or by Commission. When her Majesty gives her consent in person, her concurrence is previously communicated to the clerk-assistant, who reads the titles of the bills, on which the royal assent is signified by a gentle inclination. If it be a bill of supply, the clerk pronounces loudly, "La reigne remercie ses bons sujets, accepte leur bénévolence, et ansi le veult." "The Queen thanks her good subjects, accepts their benevolence, and answers, 'Be it so.' To other public bills the form of assent is "La reigne le veult,” -"The Queen wills it so." To private bills, "Soi fait comme il est désiré,"—"Be it as it is prayed." When the royal assent is refused, the clerk says, "La reigne s'avisera,”—“The Queen will consider of it;" but these words are never now pronounced, and have not been heard since Queen Anne refused to sanction the Scotch Militia Bill in the year 1707.

When

A bill may be opposed at any, or all, of its stages. it is intended to do so, after a sufficient discussion has taken place, the "question" is "put" by the Speaker, and the House is divided. Those members who vote for the bill, or amendment in it, go into one lobby of the House, and those who vote

VOTING BY PEERS AND COMMONS.

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against them into another. Tellers, or counters of the voters on either side (generally the mover and seconder of the bill and two of its principal opponents), are appointed to ascertain the numbers in each. The result is written down upon a slip of paper, which is handed by the teller of the side that has a majority to the Speaker, who declares it to the House. The Speaker does not vote except when the House is equally divided; he then may give a casting vote. In "committee” he is entitled to speak and vote like any other member.

In the House of Lords, peers vote by the words "content" and "non-content," and many use proxies, as already explained. In the Commons, members must be present, and signify their wish by saying "aye" or "no." If the "noes" are in a majority, the bill, or amendment, is lost; if the "ayes" prevail, the bill proceeds, or the amendment stands part of it. Bills must pass through all their stages in one session. So a formal method of throwing one out, is to move that it be read a second time that "day six months," when it is almost certain that Parliament will not be sitting. Bills are also sometimes referred to select committees chosen by the House in which they are introduced. These committees deliberate and examine witnesses, to ascertain whether the proposed measure is essential or otherwise, in apartments provided for the purpose, and report the result of their investigations to the House.

Early in the session the Chancellor of the Exchequer lays his Budget (from the French word bougette, a bundle) before Parliament. This contains an estimate of the sum required for the service of the State, for the Army, Navy, Civil Service, &c. &c., and the means proposed for raising it by taxation, or otherwise. The duration of a Ministry very often depends upon the correctness and sound financial policy of its Chancellor of the Exchequer. The sum required is voted, or refused, in Committee of Ways and Means, and if granted, the manner in which it is to be applied is discussed, item by item, in Committee of Supply.

Now, I intend to say a few words about these two important committees of the House of Commons. The duties of a Committee of Ways and Means always refer to the funds which are to sustain the expenditure of the nation. Loans, duties, taxes, tolls, and every kind of means for raising revenue, are submitted to this committee (which is always one of the whole House). The propositions of Government on these subjects are reduced to the form of resolutions, consi

dered, decided on, and, such as are agreed to, reported to the House. Those which may be there adopted are embodied into bills, and in due course become law. The House of Lords may reject, but cannot modify nor insert pecuniary penalties in any bill whatever. With regard to the Committee of Supply, all bills authorizing expenditure of the public money are based upon resolutions moved in a Committee of Supply, which is always a committee of the whole House. The practice with regard to these bills is as follows:-In the course of the session estimates are submitted to a Committee of Supply, and resolutions moved granting to the Crown the sums requisite for defraying the expenses attendant on the various branches of the public service. Those resolutions having been considered and disposed of, such amongst them as may be affirmed are reported to the House, reconsidered, and adopted, or rejected. Under authority of those to which the House agree, the Lords of the Treasury issue the requisite funds for carrying on the service of the country. At the end of the session the supply resolutions are consolidated in the Appropriation Bill, which is sent up to the Lords, and after being there considered and agreed to, receives the Royal Assent and becomes law. The Lords may reject this money-bill, but it would be considered an invasion of the privileges of the Commons if their Lordships were substantially to modify measures of this class. The Commons, however, do not object to consider any verbal emendations which may be made by the other House.

To pass the Mutiny Act is also the annual business of Parliament. In former days the monarch often used the army to control the liberties of the subject. To remedy any abuse of power in this respect, it has for many years been the custom to pass the laws relating to the discipline and regulation of the army for one year only, to be renewed the next. If anything happened to prevent the Mutiny Act being passed in proper time, the whole of our army would be in fact disbanded.

When the business of the session is concluded, Parliament is prorogued, or, if necessary, dissolved, by the Sovereign in person, or by Commission, when a royal speech is delivered commenting upon the proceedings of the session, the state of public affairs, and thanking the Commons for voting the supplies.

LETTER VIII.

THE NATIONAL DEBT.

Its Origin-The Funds-Funding System-Transfer of Stock-Price of Money-Reduction of Debt-Sinking Fund-Amount of Debt at various periods of our History-Revenue-Exports and Imports -Balance of Trade.

But it was

THE National Debt consists of sums borrowed by Government to make up deficiencies of revenue. Charles II. was the first king of Great Britain who borrowed money on the national credit; this began in 1660. At the abdication of James II., in 1688, the amount of the debt was 660,000l. his successor who established the system. The Revolution, and the consequent banishment of the house of Stuart, involved us in a long and costly war with Louis XIV. of France, who espoused the cause of our exiled king. The seat of his son-in-law, William III., upon the vacated throne, was by no means secure. A large and powerful party of Englishmen still remained true to James II. as king de jure (of right), and many others only just tolerated the sway of the de facto sovereign. Money, far beyond what the ordinary revenue of the country would provide, was required to defray the heavy expenses of the struggle which we were compelled to wage in defence of our religion and liberties; and it was felt that it would be dangerous in the extreme to impose new taxes sufficient to meet the demand.

The cause of Louis was the cause of James, and it was not to be expected that the adherents of the latter would quietly submit to heavy imposts designed to furnish means for destroying their fondest hopes. It was therefore determined to borrow money upon interest, and to repay it when the resources of the country were in a more flourishing condition. But the exigencies of the public service went on increasing, and loan after loan was contracted. Other wars were engaged in-again the national expenditure became greater than its

income, and Ministry after Ministry added to the debt, until not only do we find it existing at the present day, but (notwithstanding that large portions of it have been paid off from time to time) existing to the enormous extent of eight hundred millions of pounds! besides sums due upon Exchequer bills (promissory notes issued by Government for temporary purposes) which constitute the unfunded debt.

The term fund applied originally to the taxes or funds set apart, as security, for repayment of the principal sums advanced and the interest upon them; but when money was no longer borrowed to be repaid at any given time, it began to mean the principal sum itself. In the year 1751, Government began to unite the various loans into one fund, called the Consolidated fund (which you must not confuse with that of the same name into which part of the revenue is collected), and sums due in this are now shortly termed consols. These come under the general denomination of stocks.

The interest paid upon loans during the reigns of William III. and Anne was various; but latterly, instead of varying the interest upon the loan, according to the state of the moneymarket at the time, it was fixed at three and a half per cent., the necessary addition being made in the principal funded. Thus, suppose that Government could not borrow money under four and a half per cent., they would give the lender 1507. three per cent. stock for every 1007. he advanced, and the country would be bound to pay him 47. 10s. a year as interest until the debt was extinguished by a payment of 1507. This was eventually found to be a very bad plan, and it was calculated, when it was discontinued, that owing to its adoption, the debt then existing amounted to nearly two-fifths more than the sum actually advanced, and that we were paying from 6,000,000l. to 7,000,000l. a year in interest more than would have been due had the money been borrowed at the market rate of the day, and funded without increase of capital. For the market rate of interest might fall the week after the loan was contracted, whereas the additional capital funded remained undiminished.

A portion of the revenue is set apart every year to pay the interest upon the National Debt to such persons as have themselves lent money, and to those by whom the claims of others have been inherited, or to whom they have been transferred. The person to whom stock is transferred need not receive any ertificate of the transfer, but his name is registered in the