GREAT BRITAIN. 187 GREAT BRITAIN. coronation in l;t02 did not apiiear to result in any advance ground being taken. The colonies arc loath to burden themselves with the addi- tional taxation, or to surrender any measure of their independence wliicl would result from their entrance to the British Kriefisvcirin {Wnr Union) ; and Great liritain, on her part, is not ready to establish preferential import duties in favor of the colonies. The question of luiiversal Imperial free trade as a basis of union seems to be altogether beyond the range of practicability. Canada is willing to make concessions, and in- deed, in 1S07, inuncdiately upon the termination of the above-mentioned British treaties with Ger- many and Belgium, a preferential tariff of 25 per cent, went into effect in Canada. It was in- creased in 1900 to .33 per cent. Avistralia, on the contrary, seems to be further removed than ever from any probable trade concessions. However, steps are being taken, such as the establishment and improvement of steamship lines, the con- struction of cables, and the introduction of the penny postal system, which are calculated to foster in a practical way the relations between the members of the Empire. For a statement of the varying methods of the Government pre- vailing in the colonies, see the article British Empire, and the articles on the different colonies. See Defense in this article; also the general article on X.wies. GovEBNSiEXT. The present government of the British Empire is the result of a long process of historical growth. Its Constitution is more large- ly unwritten than that of any other country of Western Europe, and what is written is not con- tained in a single instrument, but is scattered through various acts of Parliament and solemn agreements extending from the Middle Ages to the present time. That part which is unwritten consists of customs, maxims, and institutions which, by virtue of the acquiescence of the na- tion through a long period of time, have come to have the force of written law. The British Constitution is not, therefore, the product of revolution to the same extent that most of the Continental constitutions of Government are revo- lutionary products, that is. it is not the artificial creation of a single constituent body organized for the purpose of embodying in legal institu- tions the results of a violent and bloody revolu- tion. And yet the steps by which the Constitution has reached its present development have been from the legal point' of view, at least, revolu- tionary. As an example of this may be cited the extraordinary, if not revolutionary, methods by which the Reform Bill of 1832 was carried, as a result of which the position of the House of Commons as the final repository of the nation's sovereignty was definitely settled, and the House of Lords retired into the background, stripped of its right to share with the Commons the custodianship of the national sovereignty. Henceforth the House of Lords has been an organ of Government merely, its chief function being equal participation in the legislative power. In addition to this position, the House of Commons is a perpetual constituent assembly for revising the Constitution. Theoretically, the House of Lords shares this power equally with the Commons, since constitutional amendments are passed like ordinary statutes; but the events of 1832 settled the question of the supremacy of the Commons in the domain of constitution- VOL. IX.— 13. making, and whenever they insist upon a change in tlio organic law, especially if the electorate lias pronounced upon it favorably, the Lords nuist consent to it. If, however, tlu'y refuse, the ciTective resource of the Conunons is to have the Crown pack the House of Lords with new nicmljcrs who are in favor of it. Tlu? aversion of the Lords to having their ranks recruited by appointees of the Government created to carry out its will is assurance that resort to such a method will scarcely be necessary. Such in brief is the general character of the English Constitu- tion. It vests the legislative ]iower in a bicam- eral ParUament with substantial e(|uali(y of powers in legislation excejjt that revenue .And appropriation liills originate in tlu' Lower House. The House of Commons at present consists of 670 members, of which England chooses 405, Scot- land 72, and Ireland 103, and they are elected by secret ballot for a term of seven years. The House of Conunons proceeds from an electorate defined by a series of statutes passed during the course of the nineteenth century, the last and most compreliensive of which bears the date of 1884. According to these acts, the voter in an English county or borough must be a male citi- zen twenty-one years of age, a freeholder of the annual value of 40s., or a copyholder or lease- holder of the annual value of £5. But if he has no such interest in real estate, he must be a householder of the annual value of £10, or a lodger of the same value. In Scotch and Irish counties the qualifications are substan- tially the same. There is, therefore, a uniform household and lodger franchise throughout the Kingdom. Besides the qualifications required, there are a number of disqualifications, the more important of which relate to the holding of certain incompatible offices at the same time, conviction of certain crimes, and receipt of poor relief. Voters who possess the requisite amount of property in different districts are entitled to a vote in each district. The members are distributed according to population, and are chosen by districts and on single ticket. The rjedistribution Act of 188.5 provides for the crea- tion of election districts containing approxi- mately 54,000 inhabitants, and enacts that each district shall send one representative. An ex- ception to this principle is the provision which allows towns with a population of more than 15.000, but less than 50.000, to send one mem- ber, and towns with a population of more than 50,000, but less than 165,000, to choose two members, and which allows scxeral of the uni- versities to send two members, although they have small constituencies. To be eligible to a seat in the House of Commons the candidate must be a male citizen not under twenty-one years of age. Disqualified are English and Scotch peers, representative Irish peers, Roman Catholic priests, clergymen- of the Established Church, judges, sheriffs, and other returning officers. Government contractors, bankrupts, and persons convicted of certain crimes. The House of Lords consists ( 1 ) of 496 English hereditary peers whose ancestors received a royal summons to sit in the Parliament since 1295, or who have themselves received a patent of nobility in the United Kingdom ; ( 2 ) sixteen Scotch rep- resentative peers chosen for the term of Parlia- ment by a majority of all the Scotch peers, i.e. those whose ancestors sat in the Scotch House
