The Government of the Country, 
 
 UC-NRLF 
 
 LI- 
 
 GOVEMED; 
 
 O'S, 
 
 THE GEOWN, THE SENATE, & THE BENCH:, 
 
 BY 
 
 ..LBAKY FONBLANQUE, Jo'H. 
 
 3U,YlSEi> TO ^M'Ef^.-n T: \'7F 1LT 
 
 W, A. HOLDSWORTH. 
 
 OWE SHILLING 
 
 ^!?. EDITIO3ST, 
 
 .LONDON j 
 
 DSRiCK WARN 13 AND: CO., 
 
 iDFORD STIiEET, COVENT GARDEN. 
 
Gil 
 
 GIFT OF 
 
HOW WE ARE GOVERNED : 
 
 Crofott, % Swale, anfo flje 
 A HANDBOOK 
 
 OF 
 
 THE CONSTITUTION, GOVERNMENT, LAWS, AND 
 POWER OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 BY 
 
 ALBANY FONBLANQUE, JUN., ESQ. 
 ^ 
 
 OF THE MIDDLE TKMPLS, BA.BEISTEK-i.T-LAW. 
 
 LONDON: 
 FREDERICK WARNE AND CO. 
 
 BEDFORD STREET, CO VENT GARDEN. ^*** 
 
 1865. 
 
 [The Author reaeroes the right of translation.'} . \ 
 
 A- v 
 
 rt V V V 
 
T7 
 
 GIFT 
 
 LOITDOIT: 
 
 SAVILL AND BDWAKDS, JBINTEKS, 
 CHANDOS STBEET. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 Introduction Purpose of this Work < '. " t . . p. 1 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 THE CONSTITUTION. 
 
 The Origin of the British Constitution Of Parliamentary Government 
 The Feudal System Taxation of the Country Origin of the 
 Houses of Lords and Commons Parliament Rights of Englishmen 
 Habeas Corpus Act Bill of Rights Freedom of the Press 
 
 pp. S 15 
 LETTER III. 
 
 THE QUEEN. 
 
 The Three Estates of the Realm Duties of Government The Royal 
 Office Succession to the Throne The Royal Prerogative The 
 Ministry The Revenue The Civil List The Royal Family 
 Royal Marriage Act pp. 1C 25 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 THE HOUSE OF LORDS. 
 
 The United Parliament Composition of the House of Lords Spiritual 
 Peers Temporal Peers Rank of Spiritual Peers Titles and Rank 
 of Temporal Peers Creation of Peerages Voting by the Peers 
 Privileges of the Peerage The Supreme Court of Appeal 
 
 pp. 2G 30 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. 
 
 The Representation of the Country hefore the Reform Bill Rotten 
 Boroughs Party Spirit An Election under the old System The 
 present Composition of the House Qualifications of the Electors 
 Of the Elected; in Counties; in Boroughs Proceedings at a 
 Modern Election The Issuing of the Writ The Nomination 
 Show of Hands- The Returning Officer -The Polling The Return 
 Rights and Duties of Members pp. 31 ^2 
 
IV CONTENTS. 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 THE ADVISERS OF THE CROWN. 
 
 The Privy Council The Judicial Committee The Cabinet Couu-il 
 The Attorney and Solicitor General The Ministry, its Composition 
 and Policy The Opposition pp 43 18 
 
 LETTER VII. 
 
 PROCEEDINGS IN PARLIAMENT. 
 
 Opening of Parliament Election nnd Duties of Speaker '/he Speech 
 from the Throne The Business of Governuion: Pa-s:r.g Hills, 
 Public and Private Divisions of the House Voting by IVers by 
 the Commons The Royal Assent The Budget Comiuittee of 
 " Ways and Cleans" Of Supply Mutiny Act Prorogation 
 
 pp. 42 58 
 
 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 pp.59 09 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 LOCAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 Its Principle, Origin, and Objects High Sheriff and Lord Lieutenant 
 of the County Local Rates The Parish and its O.'Ikcrs The 
 Constable Churchwardens Surveyor of Highways The Vet try, 
 General and Select The Poor Law The Law of Settlemen;. 
 Operation of the Old Poor Law The Ne\v Poor Law Municipal 
 Corporations Town Councils Mayor and Aldermen Boards of 
 Health Improvement Commissioners pp. 70 79 
 
 LETTER X. 
 THE CHURCH. 
 
 History of the Church of England Authority of the Pope The 
 Reformation Puritans Roman Catholics Jews, Disabilities of 
 Constitution and Discipline of the Church Bishop Dean and 
 Chapter Priest Deacon Tithes Ordinations Church Accom- 
 modation Convocation pp. 80 93 
 
CONTENTS. V 
 
 LETTER XI. 
 
 THE ARMY. 
 
 Origin and History of Standing Armies The Feudal System 
 Mercenary Soldiers Ancient Warfare The Mutiny Act The 
 Secretary for War The Staff Cavalry Infantry Quartering of 
 Troops Camps Purchase System Price of Commissions: Fay cf 
 Officers Brevet Rank Recruiting Pay of Privates Dragoon 
 Regiments Names of Regiments The Royal Artillery The 
 I loyal Engineers Precedence of Corps Local Regiments Courts 
 Martial Order of the Bath Victoria Cross Decorations Pen- 
 sions and Rewards The Militia The Yeomanry . . pp. 91 121 
 
 LETTER XII. 
 
 THE NAVY. 
 
 Popularity of the Navy Early History Naval Ascendancy Prizes 
 of \var Size of Men-of-War The Board of Admiralty Rating of 
 Ships Officers of a Man-of-War Stations of Ships Pay of Officers 
 Relative Army and Navy Rank Commissions in the Navy Pay of 
 Warrant Officers of Sailors Pensioners The Coast Guard 
 Royal Marines Pay in the Marines pp. 122 141 
 
 LETTER XIII. 
 
 THE LAW. 
 
 The Common Law Statute Law Civil Law Roman Civil Law 
 Equity Conflicts of Law and Equity New Procedure Interpre- 
 tation of the Law The Sheriff, his Office and Responsibility in 
 executing and enforcing the Law pp.142 147 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 
 THE COURTS OF LAW AND EQUITY, AND THEIR PROCEDURE. 
 
 The Superior Courts Circuits of the Judges Their several Comrr.ic- 
 sions District Courts of Record Counsel and Attorney The Inns 
 of Court An Action at Law The Pleadings The Jury The 
 Trial The Verdict Judgment by Default The Costs Execution 
 Judges in Equity pp. 148 1C4 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 OF CRIMES AND OFFENCES. 
 
 Definition of Crimes Treasons Felonies Misdemeanours Punish- 
 ments Costs of Prosecutions Accessaries and Accomplices 
 Nuisances Common Law Offences pp. 165 175 
 
VI CONTENTS. 
 
 LETTER XVI. 
 
 OF THE COURTS OF CRIMINAL LAW. 
 
 The High Court of Parliament The Court of the Lord High Steward 
 The Queen's Bench Office of Coroner Of Justices of the Peace 
 The As.sizs Courts The Central Criminal Court Quarter and 
 Petty Sessions Jurisdiction of Justices of the Peace and Police 
 Magistrates pp. 17G 182 
 
 LETTER XVII. 
 
 Or THE PRACTICE OF THE CRIMINAL LAW. 
 
 Conduct of Public Prosecutions Arrest of Prisoners by the Police 
 Examination before Magistrates Committal or Discharge of 
 Prisoners Indictments Office of the Grand Jury Trial Chal- 
 lenges of Jurors Proceedings at Trial Court of Criminal Appeal 
 Pardons pp. 183 199 
 
 LETTER XVIII. 
 
 LAW OF EVIDENCE. 
 
 Conditions of Evidence Parol Verbal Direct Circumstantial 
 Primary and Secondary Evidence pp. 200 204 
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 CONCLUSION pp. 205 208 
 
HOW WE ARE GOVERNED. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 Introduction Purpose of this Work. 
 
 MY DEAR SON, 
 
 You have now reached an age at which it is 
 desirable that you should acquire some knowledge 
 of the institutions under which you have the hap- 
 piness to live ; of the machinery "by which the 
 government of the country is conducted ; and of 
 the judicial tribunals by which obedience to the 
 law is enforced. 
 
 That information I propose to impart to you in 
 a series of letters. I cannot of course enter very 
 minutely into the details of so large a subject. For 
 these I must refer you to other works ; but I hope 
 to be able to give you such an outline of our con- 
 stitutional system as will not only be useful in 
 itself, but will serve as an introduction to the more 
 complete and careful study of this extensive and 
 interesting field of inquiry. 
 
 I propose to trace the rise and growth of our 
 mixed constitution ; to point out the powers now 
 
' INTRODUCTION. 
 *** * 1 * * 
 
 "possessed by tfre' 'different estates of the realm; 
 and to indicate the manner in which they fulfil 
 their functions. I shall devote a letter to the 
 National Deht ; and another to the not less im- 
 portant subject of that Local Self-Government, 
 through which so much is done in England that is 
 elsewhere the work of a highly centralized admi- 
 nistration. The church, the army and the navy, 
 will each receive due attention ; and I shall describe, 
 with as much fulness as my space will permit, the 
 different courts of law and equity, and the methods 
 of procedure in both civil and criminal cases. 
 
 You will thus, I trust, be placed in a position to 
 understand the various political questions which 
 you may hear discussed around you, and to appre- 
 ciate both the substantial merits and the slight 
 defects of a system, which has been formed by the 
 persevering and patriotic efforts of many genera- 
 tions of Englishmen and under which the British 
 empire has come to be what we see it to-day the 
 envy and admiration of less fortunate nations. 
 
 Your affectionate father, 
 
 A. B. 
 
LETTER II. 
 
 THE CONSTITUTION. 
 
 The Origin of the British Constitution Of Parliamentary Go- 
 vernment The Feudal System Taxation of the Country- 
 Origin of the Houses of Lords and Commons Parliament 
 Eights of Englishmen Habeas Corpus Act Bill of Rights 
 Freedom of the Press. 
 
 THIS Letter must be considered as a sort of intro- 
 duction to those which follow ; and in it I am 
 obliged to depart from the rule of confining my- 
 self to treating of our institutions as they now exist 
 for reasons which you will very soon perceive. 
 
 The "constitution" of a country is the established 
 system under which its government is conducted. 
 It is defined by Paley to be " so much of its law as 
 relates to the designation and power of the legisla- 
 ture ; the rights and functions of the several parts 
 of the legislative body ; the construction, office, and 
 jurisdiction of courts of justice." 
 
 The origin of the British Constitution is hidden 
 amidst the general obscurity which surrounds the 
 early history of our ancestors. Harassed as they 
 were by repeated invasions, and unsettled by con- 
 sequent changes amongst their rulers, they have 
 
 B -- 
 
4 THE CONSTITUTION OF ENGLAND. 
 
 left us a very indistinct idea of the manner in 
 which the business of their government was car- 
 ried on. The principle, however, which guided it 
 is clear ; for from a period long before the union 
 of the states of the Heptarchy under one crown, 
 the sway of their princes was assisted, and in some 
 measure controlled, by assemblages of their people, 
 which may be taken to be the origin of the parlia- 
 ments of the present day. 
 
 These assemblages were known under various 
 names. In Saxon, as the Michel Gemote, or Great 
 Meeting ; the Michel Synod, or Great Council; 
 and the Wittena Gemote, or Meeting of Wise Men. 
 After the consolidation of the seven kingdoms the 
 united council was called in Latin Commune Conci- 
 lium Regni,ihe Common Council of the Kingdom ; 
 Magnum Concilium Regis, " the Great Council of 
 the King;" Curia Magna> "the Great Court;" 
 and in other languages by other similar designa- 
 tions, which I need not enumerate. This council 
 not only made and altered the laws of the land : 
 but also enforced them, being a court of justice for 
 settling disputes relating to the ownership of land, 
 and for trying and punishing great criminals. It 
 also imposed the taxes, and sometimes appointed 
 the king's ministers. By an ordinance of Alfred 
 the Great, it was commanded to assemble twice in 
 
THE FEUDAL SYSTEM. 3 
 
 the year at least, or oftener, according to the state 
 of the country ; and the laws which it passed were 
 prefaced with a declaration that they were such as 
 the king, with the advice of his clergy and wise 
 men, had instituted. You will perceive hereafter 
 how close a resemblance this ancient council bears 
 to the modern Parliament. 
 
 Shortly after the Norman Conquest the feudal 
 system, at that time in force throughout a great 
 portion of Europe, was introduced into England 
 by William the Norman ; not, as is sometimes 
 said, to enable him to reward his followers out of 
 the spoils of a conquered country, but at the re- 
 quest of the Great Assembly of the Realm, in order 
 that the kingdom might be put into a state of de- 
 fence against a threatened invasion from Denmark. 
 Once established, however, by the people for their 
 protection against a foreign enemy, it was soon 
 turned against them by those to whom they looked 
 for protection into an engine of the grossest oppres- 
 sion. Under this feudal system (which, in its purity, 
 was admirably adapted to an age in which war arid 
 conquest were the chief pursuits of mankind) the 
 entire soil of a country was held to be the absolute 
 property of its sovereign ; and was divided into 
 estates called feuds or feo/Sj and held of him by 
 his chief men, called the barons, vassals, and ten- 
 
(j THE FEUDAL SYSTEM. 
 
 ants in capite of the Crown, upon the condition of 
 their doing homage and swearing fealty (loyalty) 
 to him, and attending him in his wars at the head 
 of a certain number of armed men. To obtain 
 these they in turn had to distribute land, and also 
 to let out their own estates for cultivation in their 
 absence, whilst performing their services, receiving 
 rent (called in those days redditus, or a return) in 
 the shape of corn and provisions to support them 
 and their followers upon their campaigns. The 
 relationship this created was known as that of lord 
 and vassal. Every vassal was bound to defend 
 and obey his immediate lord, according to the 
 terms under which he held his land, but no further. 
 On his part the lord was bound to protect his vas- 
 sals, and to do justice between them. 
 
 At first these feuds were held only during the 
 will of the lord ; they could not be transferred or 
 disposed of by those who held them during their 
 lives, nor did they descend to their heirs at their 
 deaths. Those persons only who were capable of 
 bearing arms, and were chosen by the lord, could 
 succeed to them. Infants, women, and monks, 
 \vere, therefore, excluded as a matter of course. 
 Subsequently, the heirs of a deceased tenant were 
 permitted to share his lands amongst them upon 
 payment of what was called a fine, or present of 
 
THE FEUDAL SYSTEM. 7 
 
 armour, horses, or money to the lord. But the 
 division of authority this occasioned was found to 
 weaken the defences of the country ; and it became 
 the general rule to admit one heir only, in some 
 parts the eldest, in others the youngest son of the 
 deceased, or some other male relative capable of 
 taking upon himself the conditions of the feud. 
 Gradually, as intelligence and wealth began to in- 
 crease, and other arts than those of war to be fol- 
 lowed, these feuds became the absolute property 
 of their tenants no longer vassals liable to be 
 dispossessed at any moment at the mere caprice of 
 the lord, but free holders of the soil, possessing 
 power to sell or bequeath it as they pleased, sub- 
 ject only to known rules of law, which in every 
 succeeding reign were relaxed in their favour. 
 
 The changes which in a few lines I have thus 
 narrated to you took many eventful years to ac- 
 complish. Our sturdy forefathers grappled man- 
 fully with the iron yoke to which they had un- 
 wittingly subjected themselves, and slowly, 'but 
 surely, regained the freedom which had been en- 
 joyed under their old Saxon rulers. Their kings 
 frequently required, for furthering their ambition 
 or ministering to their pleasure, larger sums and 
 greater services than the feudal system could pro- 
 vide ; and, as it was a fixed principle in this coui> 
 
3 ORIGIN OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS. 
 
 try, in its earliest days and under its most despotic 
 rulers, that no man should be taxed without his 
 own consent or that of his representative, the Great 
 Council of the nation the successor of the Wittena 
 Gemote had to be summoned to grant what was 
 required. Seldom did it do so without obtaining 
 in return the abolition of some abuse, or the re- 
 storation of some privilege as the price of its con- 
 cessions. 
 
 For a considerable time this council consisted 
 of all the king's barons, or those who held estates 
 immediately of the Crown ; but its constitution 
 was regulated by Jlagna Charta, which ordained 
 (amongst other things) that all archbishops, bishops, 
 abbots, earls, and greater barons should be sum- 
 moned to Parliament severally by the king's letters. 
 Thus what we now call the House of Lords war-; 
 established. 
 
 In time of peace the great barons resided in 
 castles scattered throughout the country, in which 
 they held almost regal state and exercised almost 
 royal powers. The lower orders flocked beneath 
 their battlements for protection against robbers 
 and the followers of other lords hostile to their 
 own ; for these barons were a lawless, turbulent 
 race, and often at open war with each other. Thus, 
 in many places, as population increased, towns 
 
OBISIN OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. 9 
 
 were formed. There are few old cities and towns 
 in England in the midst of which you will not see 
 the ruins of some castle or fortress frowning from 
 an eminence, or guarding the banks of a river ; 
 and round its crumbling walls are sure to be found 
 the oldest houses in the place. As arts, commerce, 
 and trade began to take root and flourish, the 
 inhabitants of some of these settlements became 
 so enriched as to be able to purchase great privi- 
 leges of their immediate lords, and of the king, 
 which rendered them independent communities. 
 Soon, therefore, owing to the old principle which 
 I have mentioned, it became necessary to sum- 
 mon some of their members to the Great Council, 
 not as barons, but as citizens and burgesses. For 
 similar reasons the freeholders, whose progress 
 from a state of servitude I have already sketched, 
 had to be represented by knigkts of the shire, 
 elected from amongst themselves, to enable the 
 king to collect revenue from their rich brethren. 
 The exact date at which our Constitution took this 
 shape is the subject of much doubt; but it is cer- 
 tain that in the reign of Henry III., Simon de 
 Monlford, Earl of Leicester, and the king's minis- 
 ter, issued writs directing the election of two 
 knights for every county, two citizens for every 
 city, and two burgesses for every borough, to servo 
 
10 PARLIAMENT. 
 
 in the grand council of the kingdom. In the reign 
 of Edward III. the laws were declared to be made 
 with the consent of the " commonalty," which by 
 a royal charter is then acknowledged as an " estate 
 of the realm " and subsequently by a statute passed 
 in the twenty-fifth year of the reign of the same 
 monarch it was declared " that no taleage or aid 
 shall be taken without the goodwill and consent 
 of the archbishops, earls, barons, knights, bur- 
 gesses, and other freemen of the land" I have 
 quoted this to show from what classes the consent 
 was to be obtained ; the principle which it con- 
 firms is, as I have said, of much older date. Thus 
 was the power of the Commons acknowledged as 
 a governing body in the State. 
 
 It was some time before the Lords and the 
 Commons were placed apart in separate cham- 
 bers, and made distinct councils, each guided by 
 rules, and performing duties, of its own, as we now 
 find them. At first they sat together in one as- 
 sembly ; and although the laws that they made 
 applied to the kingdom at large, each body taxed 
 itself, and had no voice in fixing what should be 
 paid by the other. The taxation of the country 
 is now entirely managed by the House of Com- 
 mons. 
 
 For many years Parliament was made use of by 
 
RIGHTS OF ENGLISHMEN. 11 
 
 our kings as a mere instrument for taxing the 
 people. It was called together when mcne}' was 
 wanted, and dissolved as soon as the requisite 
 supplies were granted. Sometimes it refused to 
 fill the king's purse until some harsh usage was 
 repealed, some old custom restored, or the royal 
 assent given to some new law ; hut many genera- 
 tions passed away before it began to make and 
 alter the laws as part of its regular duties. 
 
 I have followed the progress of parliamentary 
 government so far, to account to you for the shape 
 in which we now find it, not to supply a history 
 of its rise. I will now give you a brief summary 
 of the rights and privileges which, during the 
 periods that I have passed over, our forefathers 
 won for us, and which we now enjoy. 
 
 Every subject of the United Kingdom is born 
 free. He cannot be sold as a slave ; neither can he 
 be put to death, banished, removed, or imprisoned, 
 except by the judgment of a court of justice. He 
 has a right to live in his country wherever he pleases, 
 and to leave it when he chooses. His property can- 
 not be interfered with except by operation of law. 
 He may petition the sovereign, or Parliament. He 
 may appeal to the law, and its remedies cannot be 
 denied to him. By the famous statute, called the 
 " Habeas Corpus Act/' any person who is im- 
 
12 THE BILL OF EIGHTS. 
 
 prisoned or kept under improper control may ob- 
 tain a writ which entitles him to be taken into open 
 court, there to learn the reason of his imprison- 
 ment or detention ; and if he can show that he is 
 improperly deprived of his liberty, he is entitled to 
 be discharged from custody. Under the equally 
 famous Bill of Rights (passed shortly after the 
 accession of William and Mary to the throne 
 vacated by James IL), the authority of Parliament 
 and the freedom of the subject is confirmed in the 
 following terms. It is declared 
 
 1. That the pretended power of suspending 
 laws, or the execution of laws, by regal authority, 
 without consent of Parliament, is illegal. 
 
 2. That the pretended power of dispensing with 
 laws, or the execution of laws, by regal authority, 
 as it hath been assumed and exercised of late, is 
 illegal. 
 
 3. That the commission for erecting the late 
 Court of Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Causes 
 (the Court of High Commission, founded by 
 James IL), and all other commissions or courts of 
 like nature, are illegal and pernicious. 
 
 4. That levying money for, or to the use of the 
 Crown, by pretence of prerogative without grant 
 of Parliament, for longer time or other manner 
 than the same is or shall be granted, is illegal. 
 
THE BILL OF 1UGHTS. 13 
 
 5. That it is the right of the subject to petition 
 the king ; and all commitments and prosecutions 
 for such petitioning are illegal. 
 
 6. That the raising or keeping a standing arm} 7 
 within the kingdom, in the time of peace, un- 
 less it be with consent of Parliament, is against 
 law. 
 
 7. That subjects which are Protestants may 
 have arms for their defence suitable to their con- 
 ditions, and as allowed by law. (This section now 
 extends to all denominations of her Majesty's sub- 
 jects, the oppressive laws relating to the Roman 
 Catholics having been repealed.) 
 
 8. That election of members of Parliament 
 ought to be free. 
 
 9. That the freedom of speech and debates 
 or proceedings in Parliament ought not to be im- 
 peached or questioned in any court or place out of 
 Parliament. 
 
 10. That excessive bail ought not to be required, 
 nor excessive fines, nor cruel and unusual punish- 
 ments inflicted. 
 
 11. That jurors ought to be duly impanelled 
 and returned ; and jurors who pass judgment upon 
 men in trials for high treason, ought to be free- 
 holders. 
 
 12. That all grants and promises of fines and 
 
H FREEDOM OF THE PRESS. 
 
 forfeitures of particular persons, before conviction, 
 are illegal and void. 
 
 13. That, for redress of all grievances, and for 
 the amending, strengthening, and preserving of 
 the laws, parliaments ought to be held frequently. 
 
 No mention of the freedom of the press is made 
 in this celebrated declaration. Our press is now 
 absolutely free ; no permission is required for the 
 publication of any news, or any comments upon it. 
 The conduct of the highest in the land may be 
 praised or censured as their merits deserve care 
 only must be taken that no untrue or malicious 
 statements are made, by means of which public 
 peace and morality, or private character may suffer; 
 but even when such are put forward, they cannot 
 be suppressed by any arbitrary exercise of authority. 
 Like every other wrong, they must be submitted 
 to a court of law, and by the judgment of a court 
 of law alone can their authors be punished. 
 
 "To submit the press/' says BLACKSTONE, in his 
 Commentary upon the Law of England, " to the 
 restrictive power of a licenser, as was formerly 
 done both before and since the Revolution (and 
 is now -clone in almost every continental State), is 
 to subject all freedom of sentiment to the preju- 
 dices of one man, and to make him the arbitrary, 
 infallible judge of all controverted points in learn- 
 
FREEDOM OF THE PRESS. 15 
 
 ing, religion, and government. But to punish (as 
 the law does at present) any dangerous or offensive 
 writings which, when published, should, on fair and 
 impartial trial, be adjudged of a pernicious ten- 
 dency, is necessary for the preservation of peace 
 and good order of government and religion, the 
 only solid foundations of civil liberty." 
 
 My reason for introducing this important sub- 
 ject in this Letter may be gathered from the 
 celebrated words of Mr. Canning, who said that, 
 " He who, speculating on the British Constitution, 
 should omit from his enumeration the mighty 
 powers of public opinion embodied in a free press, 
 which pervades and checks, and perhaps in the 
 last resort nearly governs the whole, would give but 
 an imperfect view of the government of England/' 
 
16 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 THE QUEEN, 
 
 The Three Estates of the .Realm Duties of Government The 
 Royal Office Succession to the Throne The Royal Preroga- 
 tiveThe Ministry -The Revenue The Civil List The 
 Royal Family Royal Marriage Act. 
 
 HAVING now laid the foundation of my subject, I 
 shall proceed to show you how this country is 
 governed at the present day. 
 
 The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ire- 
 land is governed by its King or Queen and two 
 Houses of Parliament. These are known as the 
 Three Estates of the Realm, 
 
 The duties of government are to make, and put in 
 force, the laws of the country for its own people as 
 subjects, and to represent them as a nation in their 
 dealings with foreign powers. The first of these 
 duties the making of the law is performed by 
 the three Estates conjointly ; the remainder belong 
 to the sovereign alone. I shall devote a Letter 
 to each of the three Estates, and in this will tell 
 
 you of 
 
 THE SOVEREIGN. 
 
 There is no difference between the power ex- 
 
THE SUCCESSION TO THE THRONE. 17 
 
 ercised by a king and a queen in this country. 
 Their office is hereditary, passing upon the death of 
 the sovereign to the next heir males, in the same 
 degree of relationship, being preferred to females : 
 thus the youngest son of the present sovereign 
 would inherit the throne to the exclusion of her 
 eldest daughter, but any daughter would stand in 
 the order of succession before an uncle, a nephew, 
 or a male cousin. 
 
 The succession to the throne'of the United King- 
 dom of Great Britain and Ireland was regulated in 
 the commencement of the reign of William III. by 
 an act of Parliament called the " Act of Settle- 
 ment/' by which the Eoman Catholic branch of the 
 family of the Stuarts was formally excluded from 
 the succession. By this act, the sovereign power 
 was limited to the heirs of the Princess Sophia of 
 Brunswick (the granddaughter of James L), being 
 Protestants. Upon the death of Queen Anne, the 
 son of this princess, King George I., became king. 
 He was succeeded by his son, George II. From 
 him the crown descended to his grandson, 
 George III., and from him to his son, George IV. ; 
 who, dying without issue surviving, was succeeded 
 by his brother, William IV. ; upon whose death, 
 having left no children, the daughter of his next 
 younger brother, the Duke of Kent, her present 
 
18 THE ROYAL PREROGATIVE. 
 
 most gracious Majesty Queen Alexandrina Victoria, 
 ascended the throne. 
 
 The crown of these kingdoms can only be worn 
 by a Protestant. Should the king or queen marry 
 a Roman Catholic, it is forfeited from that moment. 
 Nor can any member of the Royal family, who is 
 married to a Roman Catholic, ascend the throne. 
 
 The person of the sovereign is sacred ; she is 
 above the law ; no act of Parliament can bind her, 
 unless it contain express words to that effect. It 
 is also a maxim of the law that she can do no 
 wrong ; she is not responsible for the commission of 
 any act, and no omission upon her part can be taken 
 advantage of; she possesses the power of pardon and 
 of mercy towards criminals ; she is the fountain of 
 justice and of honour; from her all titles of nobility 
 and honourable distinctions spring; all military and 
 civil rewards and decorations, such as orders of 
 knighthood, crosses, stars, and medals for meritorious 
 services, are in her gift, and no subject may wear or 
 assume one granted by a foreign prince without her 
 license. All commissions to officers in the army and 
 navy are granted, although they are not now signed, 
 by her; she has the power of proroguing Parliament 
 that is, putting an end to' its sittings for a time, and 
 of dissolving it and convoking a new one in its place; 
 she is the supreme head of the State, the Church, 
 the Army, and the Navy ; she has the power of 
 
THE MINISTRY. ]9 
 
 sending and receiving ambassadors, of declaring 
 war and making peace, of arranging treaties, and 
 coining money for the use of her subjects; she may 
 refuse her assent to laws passed by the two Houses 
 of Parliament, but has no direct voice in discussing 
 them, speaking only through her ministers. 
 
 These, and other rights, are called the preroga- 
 tive of the Croivn. 
 
 Under the British Constitution the sovereign 
 must govern through her ministers, who are re- 
 sponsible to Parliament and the country for her 
 political acts, which are always presumed to be 
 done by their advice. No ministry is able to 
 carry on the business of the country for more 
 than a very short time, unless it can obtain the 
 assent of Parliament to its proceedings. Of late 
 years the great political questions, upon which 
 the formation and existence of ministries have 
 depended , have been discussed and settled in the 
 House of Commons. This Estate of the realm 
 being elected by the people, you will perceive 
 that the ministry, although nominally appointed 
 by the Crown, is virtually chosen by the country. 
 Should the ministry or Parliament attempt to in- 
 terfere improperly with the royal prerogative, the 
 sovereign can dismiss the one, and dissolve the 
 other. Should a faction in Parliament oppose 
 
 tfie ministry in doing what they and the queen 
 r? 
 
20 THE REVENUE. 
 
 consider to be for the welfare and honour of the 
 country, the opinion of all classes can be taken by 
 summoning a new Parliament. Should the Crown 
 and the ministry set themselves against Parliament 
 and the people, the former, by refusing to grant 
 supplies for the public service, could secure the dis- 
 missal of the obnoxious advisers. Thus a balance 
 of power is preserved between the Estates of the 
 realm, which prevents any one of them from in- 
 fringing the rights of the others, and makes the 
 people of this country the happiest, the freest, and at 
 the same time the most loyal, nation under the sun. 
 In former times, the taxes which were granted 
 by Parliament were handed over to the king, to 
 be expended by him in maintaining his state, and 
 for keeping up the military and naval services. 
 He had also estates in various parts of the coun- 
 try called the crown lands, the rents and profits 
 of which were paid into his treasury. The revenue, 
 or annual income of the country derived from the 
 taxes imposed by Parliament and the income from 
 these estates (with the exception of the duchy of 
 Lancaster, which belongs to her Majesty not as 
 Queen of England, but as Duchess of Lancaster), 
 is now collected into one fund called the Consoli- 
 dated Fund. The first charge upon this fund is 
 the payment of interest upon the national debt 
 
THE CIVIL LIST. 21 
 
 called the fiinds, and upon the unfunded debt 
 The origin and progress of the national debt is so 
 important and interesting a subject, that I shall 
 devote to it a future Letter. 
 
 The next charge upon the Consolidated Fund 
 brings me back to the subject which I have quitted 
 for a moment. It is an allowance called the civil 
 list, apportioned to the queen for the support of 
 her household and the dignity of her crown. 
 This was fixed by the statute 1st Victoria, cap. 1], 
 at 385,000?., to be paid annually, and appropriated 
 as follows: Her Majesty's privy purse, 60,000/. ; 
 salaries of her Majesty's household and retired 
 allowances, 131,000?. ; expenses of the household, 
 172,500?.; royal bounty and special services, 
 13,200?.; pensions, 1,200?.; and miscellaneous, 
 8,040?. On the Consolidated Fund are likewise 
 charged the following sums, allowed to members of 
 the Eoyal family, namely 8,000?. to the Princess 
 Frederick William of Prussia ; 6,000?. to the Prin- 
 cess Louis of Hesse Darmstadt; 6,000?. to the 
 Duchess of Cambridge ; 6,000?. to her daughter, 
 the Grand-Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz ; 
 3,000?. to the Princess Mary of Cambridge, and 
 1 2,000?, to the Duke of Cambridge. The Prince 
 of Wales has an annuity of 40,000?., payable out 
 of the Consolidated Fund, settled upon him. He 
 
22 THE ROYAL FAMILY. 
 
 has, also, the revenues of the Duchy of Cornwall, 
 which now amount to ahout 50,OOOZ. a year, with 
 every prospect of their increasing. The Princess 
 of Wales has settled upon her by Parliament the 
 annual sum of 10,OOOZ., to be increased to 30,000. 
 in case of widowhood. The sum for carrying on 
 the civil government, including the salaries of the 
 ministers of state , judges, and others, is also charged 
 upon the Consolidated Fund, the remainder of 
 which is paid into the exchequer, for the public 
 service, to defray the expenses of our army, navy, 
 civil service, &c. &c. 
 
 All the great officers of state, the bishops, and 
 judges, the officers in the army and navy, are 
 appointed by the queen, or in her name ; but as 
 the ministry is responsible for the fitness of the 
 persons appointed, and for their conduct whilst in 
 the public service, the selection is placed in their 
 hands, and the sovereign approves, almost as a 
 matter of course, of the person recommended. 
 
 Before I conclude, it would be as well were I to 
 tell you something about the royal family. 
 
 The royal consort that is, the wife or husband 
 of a king or queen has, as such, no share in the 
 government of the country. They are subjects of 
 the Crown only, and may be- appointed to fill any 
 post in the state that a subject can hold. A queen 
 
THE KOYAL FAMILY. 23 
 
 consort has some special privileges and protections. 
 She can sue and be sued in all courts of justice as 
 though she were an unmarried woman ; and for this 
 purpose she has her own attorney and solicitor- 
 general to conduct her law business. She has 
 power to purchase lands and to convey that is, 
 dispose of them. She can take a legal grant 
 from her husband, and make a will ; no other mar- 
 ried women can do these things. She has a sepa- 
 rate household and officers of state. Her person, 
 like the king's, is sacred. 
 
 A queen dowager is the widow of a king. 
 
 The Prince of Wales is the eldest son of the 
 sovereign, and heir-apparent to the Crown. He is 
 created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester and 
 Dublin, and is born Duke of Cornwall. He is also 
 High Steward of Scotland, Duke of Roth say, Earl 
 of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, and Lord of the Isles. 
 His person and that of his wife are specially pro- 
 tected by the law. Should the eldest son die, his 
 next brother becomes Prince of Wales and Earl 
 of Chester, but not Duke of Cornwall. 
 
 The Princess Royal is the eldest daughter of the 
 sovereign. Her person is also specially protected, 
 as, should no son be born or live to succeed to the 
 crown, she would become queen. 
 
 The other members of the royal family have no 
 
24 THE ROYAL FAMILY. 
 
 special rights conferred by law. They rank before 
 all dukes, and are forbidden by the statute 12 
 Geo. III. c. 11, called the Royal Marriage Act, 
 to marry without the consent of the sovereign sig- 
 nified under the great seal ; but it is provided that 
 such of the descendants of George II. "as are 
 above the age of twenty-five may, after a twelve- 
 month's notice given to the King's Privy Council, 
 contract and solemnize marriage without the con- 
 sent of the Crown, unless both Houses of Parlia- 
 ment shall, before the expiration of the said year, 
 expressly declare their disapprobation of such in- 
 tended marriage." Persons assisting, or being pre- 
 sent, at a prohibited marriage incur very heavy 
 penalties. The act I have quoted does not affect 
 the children of princesses 'married into foreign 
 families. 
 
 From this general sketch of the prerogatives of 
 the Crown, and the position of the Royal family, 
 you will understand what is meant by saying that 
 England is under a "limited monarchy." The 
 sovereigns of other countries often assert a " divine 
 right " to govern ; a sovereign of the house of 
 Hanover can put forth no such pretensions, be- 
 cause he holds his crown under, and by virtue of, 
 the act of settlement, and strictly subject to the 
 conditions which it imposes. But although the 
 
THE ROYAL FAMILY. 25 
 
 direct power of the monarch be small, his indirect 
 influence is considerable. His personal predilec- 
 tions are not without weight in determining which 
 
 o o 
 
 of the leading statesmen of the predominant 
 political party shall fill the post of first minister ; 
 and, as the head of English society, he can mate- 
 rially influence the tone of manners and morals, 
 and either promote or retard the progress of social 
 improvement 
 
2G 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 THE HOUSE OF LORDS. 
 
 The United Parliament Composition of the House of Lords 
 Spiritual Peers Temporal Peers Rank of Spiritual Peers' 
 Titles and I\ank of Temporal Peers Creation of Peerages 
 Voting by the Peers Privileges of the Peerage The Supreme 
 Court of Appeal. 
 
 THE House of Lords or Peers, or, as it is also called, 
 the Upper House of Parliament, ranks next in 
 dignity to the Crown, as the second Estate of the 
 realm. Its origin I have already traced in my In- 
 troductory Letter. 
 
 Before their respective union with England, Ire- 
 land and Scotland had each a parliament, and con- 
 sequently a House of Lords of its own. Now, how- 
 ever, there is but one House for the United King- 
 dom, and only a certain number of peers selected 
 from the nobility of the sister countries have seats 
 in it. The members of the peerage of Scotland 
 and Ireland who have not seats in Parliament enjoy 
 every other privilege of their order. Peers of Scot- 
 land . are. no longer created ; but for every three 
 Irish peerages that become 'extinct that is, have 
 no one capable of inheriting them the Queen has 
 the power of creating one new one. There is no 
 
COMPOSITION OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS. 27 
 
 limit to the number of British peers that she may 
 make. 
 
 The following is a summary of the members of 
 the House of Lords in the session of 1864? : 
 
 SPIRITUAL PEERS. 
 
 2 Archbishops of England and Wales. 
 24 Bishops do. do. 
 
 1 Archbishop of Ireland, elected each 
 
 session. 
 8 Bishops of Ireland do. do. 
 
 Total, 30 
 
 1 will tell you how Bishops are appointed in my 
 Letter upon THE CHURCH. 
 
 TEMPORAL PEERS. 
 
 H.R.H. the Prince of Wales. 
 
 2 Royal dukes. 
 20 Dukes. 
 
 19 Marquises. 
 110 Earls. 
 
 22 "Viscounts. 
 209 Barons. 
 
 28 Peers of Ireland, elected for life. 
 16 Peers of Scotland, elected for each par- 
 liament. 
 Total, 427 
 
 SO Spiritual peers. 
 427 Temporal peers. 
 
 Grand total, 457 
 
28 RANK OF SPIKITUAL PEEKS. 
 
 The Archbishop of Canterbury takes rank next 
 after the youngest royal duke ; the Archbishops of 
 York and Armagh, in the order of their consecra- 
 tion, next but one, the Lord Chancellor inter- 
 vening. The bishops rank as barons at the head 
 of that order, those of London, Durham, and "Win- 
 chester taking precedence of all other English and 
 the Bishop of Meath of all other Irish bishops. 
 The Queen may appoint as many bishops as she 
 may be advised, but thirty only have seats in Par- 
 liament. They are said to sit, not by virtue of 
 their sacred office, but as barons in respect of the 
 temporal estates attached to their sees ; but some 
 difference of opinion is felt by learned persons upon 
 this point. I will tell you how bishops are ap- 
 pointed, in my letter upon THE CHURCH. 
 
 The temporal peers rank in the order in which 
 I have placed theni in the above table, those in 
 the same degree of nobility taking precedence ac- 
 cording to the date of their creation. 
 
 The title of DUKE is derived from the Latin 
 word dux, a leader. 
 
 The title of MARQUIS was conferred upon those 
 who held the command of the Marches, as the 
 boundaries between England and Wales, and Eng- 
 land and Scotland, were called when those countries 
 were hostile to this nation. 
 
TITLES AND CREATION OF PEERS. 29 
 
 The title of EARL is derived from the Saxon 
 word eorl, noble. The earl formerly had the 
 government of a shire. After the Conquest, earls 
 were called counts, and from them their shires 
 have taken the name of counties. 
 
 The VISCOUNT, Vice-comes, was the deputy of 
 the earl. 
 
 The title of BARON is the oldest in point of 
 antiquity, although the lowest in point of rank, of 
 any order of nobility. He was, as I have already 
 stated, one who held estates immediately of the 
 king. 
 
 Peers are now created by letters-patent from 
 the Crown. Formerly a writ of summons, call- 
 ing upon the persons intended to be ennobled, 
 to take their place in the House of Lords, was 
 issued ; and thus they became peers of Parlia- 
 ment. Writs of summons are now issued when 
 it is intended to call the eldest son of a peer 
 to the House of Lords in the lifetime of his 
 father. 
 
 The House of Lords is usually presided over by 
 the Lord Chancellor ; but he does not decide, as 
 does the Speaker of the House of Commons, upon 
 the regularity of its proceedings. The House at 
 large does this ; and members whilst delivering 
 their speeches address the assembly and not the 
 Lord Chancellor, or other lord upon the woolsack. 
 
30 FHIVILEGES OF PEERS. 
 
 Peers vote either in person using the words 
 content or non content, to signify their approval 
 or rejection of the question before them or by 
 proxy a signed paper to the same effect used upon 
 their behalf, in their absence, by some other peer. 
 They have also trie privilege of entering a protest 
 in the Journals of the House against any proceed- 
 ing resolved upon by it against their will. They 
 have the right of audience with the sovereign at 
 all times. All laws relating to the rights of their 
 order must be originated in the House of Lords ; 
 and all disputed claims to titles of nobility are re- 
 ferred by the Crown to it for decision. They 
 cannot be arrested for debt. The House of Lords 
 is the proper tribunal for trying persons impeached 
 by the House of Commons ; it also has the right 
 of trying its own members when accused of treason 
 or felony. To assist it in these duties, the judges 
 and law officers of the Crown have writs ad con~ 
 sultandum (to consult), and are its legal advisers. 
 Finally, as the supreme court of justice in the 
 kingdom, it is the last tribunal of appeal from the 
 judgments of the other courts; but, practically 
 speaking, this jurisdiction is not exercised by the 
 House as a body, but by such of its members, as 
 hold, or have held, high judicial offices. 
 
31 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. 
 
 The Representation of the Country before the Reform Bill 
 Rotten Boroughs Party Spirit An Election under the old 
 System The present Composition of the House Qualifica- 
 tions of the Electors Of the Elected : in Counties ; in 
 Boroughs Proceedings at a modern Election The issuing 
 of the Writ The Nomination Show of Hands The Re- 
 turning Officer The Polling The Return Rights and 
 Duties of Members. 
 
 THE House of Commons, or Lower House, consists 
 of persons chosen by the peoj?.e to represent them 
 in Parliament. 
 
 I have already told you its origin, and why its 
 members were assembled. The number of places 
 to be represented and of the members that they 
 were entitled to return was originally fixed by the 
 kings ; and as they looked with great jealousy 
 upon the increasing power of Parliament, no ad- 
 ditions of any great importance were made as the 
 wealth and population of the country began to 
 expand. A history of the progress of the House 
 of Commons would be, in fact, a history of Eng- 
 land, and with that I have no intention to supply 
 you. I need only tell you that the acts of union 
 with Scotland and Ireland fixed the numbers of 
 
32 THE REFOBM BILL. 
 
 members to be sent by each part of the United 
 Kingdom, and that our representative system, as 
 it now exists, was settled by the Reform Bill passed 
 in the year 1832. 
 
 Before the passing of this measure which we owe 
 to the perseverance, ability, and statesmanship of 
 Earl (then Lord John) Russell and the late Lord 
 Grey an election was a very different affair to 
 what it is now. In the first place, party spirit ran 
 to a height which the better sense of the present 
 day would not tolerate, and can scarcely realize. In 
 many towns, a Whig would not sit down to the 
 same table with a Tory, and their respective wives 
 and families would not show common civility to 
 each other when they were thrown in contact, 
 merely because they happened to differ in 
 politics ! Many large counties, such as Cheshire, 
 Lancashire, Surrey, and Cornwall, which now re- 
 turn four members to Parliament sent but two ; 
 whilst towns of considerable commercial impor- 
 tance, such as Manchester, Halifax, and Birming- 
 ham, were not represented at all. On the other 
 hand, numbers of petty places belonging to 
 some nobleman or rich country gentleman of 
 no political or commercial importance what- 
 ever, and containing not more than a score or 
 so of voters, and often less, returned their one 
 or two members to Parliament. These were 
 
ROTTEN BOROUGHS. 33 
 
 called rotten boroughs, and those who owned 
 and supported them boroughmongers. The 
 party in opposition to these were reformers. The 
 proprietor of a rotten borough returned whom he 
 pleased ; himself, or his son, or nephew, or, if these 
 were not of sufficient age, some obliging friend 
 who would continue its member until they attained 
 years of discretion, when he would retire in their 
 favour. 
 
 In counties where some great landowner was 
 supreme, or a combination of landowners holding 
 the same politics prevailed, the same thing was 
 done. But in others, where the interests were di- 
 vided, the fiercest contests took place. The voting 
 began at nine o'clock in the morning, and continued 
 till four o'clock in the afternoon, and went on day 
 after day, provided that a vote were recorded every 
 hour, until the whole of the electors had polled. 
 Thus you may easily perceive that in a constituency 
 of several thousands the contests might be kept up 
 for months. And so they were ; the question in 
 dispute being not who was the best men to send 
 to Parliament, but which side would spend the 
 most money. The most wholesale bribery went 
 on openly, or was administered under the flimsy 
 pretext of giving employment to electors as agents, 
 messengers, banner bearers, and the like, at wages 
 
34 THE OLD ELECTIONS. 
 
 out of all proportion to their labours. The electors 
 \vho had voted were entertained, with a view to 
 securing their suffrages on some future occasion : 
 those who had not, were lodged and feasted, in 
 order that the other side might not obtain their 
 votes. The more protracted the struggle the more 
 money would be spent by both parties, and the 
 better would it be for the electors. Bands of prize- 
 fighters and other ruffians were hired by rival can- 
 didates to uphold their cause and intimidate the 
 weak and unprotected. Drunkenness and every 
 species of debauchery reigned paramount. Electors 
 were kidnapped by the opposing party for fear they 
 should vote, or locked up by their friends for fear 
 they should be kidnapped. Hundreds and thou- 
 sands of pounds were spent in carrying out these dis- 
 graceful tactics ; and the resources of many a noble 
 family were sadly crippled by the enormous outlay 
 required. It is reported that the costs of a celebrated 
 contested election in Leicestershire resulted in a 
 permanent charge of 15,000. a year upon the 
 estate of the successful candidate ! 
 
 Wide and decisive as were the remedies supplied 
 by the Reform Bill to this state of affairs, I cannot 
 say that they w r ere administered with a thoroughly 
 impartial hand. The rotten, boroughs in the hands 
 of the Tories were swept away, but many that 
 
NUMBER OF MEMBERS. 35 
 
 were at the disposal of the Whigs (the party then 
 in power) were suffered to exist. Still it was a 
 great reform, and the Act, when passed, was looked 
 upon as a conclusive measure. It is now, however, 
 generally conceded that in order to keep pace with 
 the growing population, wealth, and intelligence of 
 the day, a further extension and purification of 
 our representative system must very soon tako 
 place. 
 
 The House of Commons consists at present (1865) 
 of 658 members. Of these England and Wales is 
 represented by 500 ; Ireland, by 105; and Scot 
 land, by 53. Members are elected for counties, 
 cities, and boroughs, and for the Universities of 
 Oxford, Cambridge, and Dublin. Some large 
 counties, such as Yorkshire, are divided, each divi- 
 sion returning its own members. The right of 
 choosing Members of Parliament is termed tho 
 elective franchise, and those who exercise it are 
 called electors. 
 
 An acquaintance with the law relating to the 
 tenure of land is requisite to enable you exactly to 
 understand the sort of qualification required of 
 electors in counties ; I may, however, briefly state 
 that in England all persons who possess an estate 
 of the value of 40s. belonging to themselves and 
 their heirs for ever, or who hold one of the lord of 
 
 D 
 
36 QUALIFICATIONS OF ELECTORS. 
 
 a manor of the value of 10?. a year during their 
 own lives or for the life of another person, or who 
 rent other land of that value for sixty years, or who 
 occupy an estate for which they pay 50?. a year, 
 are entitled to vote. 
 
 In cities and boroughs in England the tenants 
 of houses or holdings of the clear annual value of 
 10?., and persons claiming privileges, which I need 
 not describe, as freemen and burgesses, are elec- 
 tors. 
 
 Ireland and Scotland have each a separate law 
 regulating the qualifications of electors. 
 
 The degree of Master of Arts, without any pro- 
 perty qualification, confers a vote in the univer- 
 sities. 
 
 Such are the qualifications of electors. The fol- 
 lowing are (^qualifications. No person can vote 
 who 
 
 1. Is an alien or foreigner. 
 
 2. Has not arrived at the age of 21 years. 
 
 3. Has been convicted of perjury in a court of 
 law. 
 
 4. Has been in receipt of parochial relief during 
 the year. 
 
 5. Is concerned or employed in the charging, 
 collecting, levying, or managing the duties of cus- 
 toms or excise, or in collecting the house duty. 
 
DISQUALIFICATIONS OF CANDIDATES. o? 
 
 6. Who is employed under the Commissioners of 
 Stamps, or is such commissioner. 
 
 7. Who is employed in any way connected with 
 the General Post Office, or is a police constable. 
 
 8. Who is a peer of the realm ; and 
 
 9. Who has been convicted of bribery, treating, 
 or using undue influence at an election. 
 
 In every county, city, and borough a register of 
 qualified voters is kept. This list is revised once 
 every year by barristers appointed for that purpose, 
 when the names of persons who have become en- 
 titled to vote are entered, and the names of those 
 who have died or become disqualified are struck 
 out. 
 
 Until the year 1858 members of the House of 
 Commons were required to possess a property of a 
 certain value; but in that year this qualification 
 was abolished. The following, however, are dis- 
 qualified by law : 
 
 1. Aliens. 
 
 2. The fifteen judges of the superior courts, of 
 common law, the lords justices, the three vice- 
 chancellors, the judges of the county courts, police 
 magistrates, and revising barristers. 
 
 3. Persons under the age of twenty-one years. 
 
 4. Clergymen Protestant and Roman Catholic. 
 
38 DURATION OF PARLIAMENTS. 
 
 5. Outlaws in criminal cases, and persons con- 
 victed of treason and felony. 
 
 G. Candidates reported guilty of bribery or 
 treating at an election (disqualified only for the 
 existing parliament). 
 
 7. The returning officer of the county, citv, cr 
 borough of which he is such officer. 
 
 8. Persons concerned in the management of 
 taxes created since 1692, or holding places of profit 
 under the Crown created since 1718. 
 
 9. Pensioners of the Crown. 
 
 and lastly 
 
 10. Army agents, government contractors, and 
 sheriffs' officers. 
 
 Seven years is the limit fixed by law for the 
 duration of any parliament, at the end of that 
 period it becomes dissolved as a matter of course. 
 [t is also dissolved six months after the death of 
 the Sovereign, and may, as has already been said, 
 be put an end to at any moment by the exercise 
 of the royal authority. 
 
 When a new Parliament has to be called toge- 
 ther, a royal warrant is directed to the Lord 
 Chancellor, ordering him to cause the writs autho- 
 rizing the elections to be made out and issued. 
 In every place entitled to 'be represented in Par- 
 
PROCEEDINGS AT ELECTIONS. 39 
 
 liament is a person called " the Returning- Officer," 
 whose duty is to manage the election. In counties 
 the sheriff, and in cities and boroughs the mayor, 
 bailiff, or some other person duly appointed, is the 
 returning-officer. The writs are despatched to 
 these returning-officers, commanding them to elect 
 their members, which they must do in boroughs 
 within six days after the receipt of the writ; while in 
 counties twelve days are allowed, but the election 
 must not be held sooner than the sixth day. Upon 
 the day fixed, called the nomination day, a covered 
 platform called the hustings, is erected in the 
 principal town in counties, and in some convenient 
 locality in other places, upon which the candidates 
 for election and their friends assemble. The re- 
 turning-officer takes the oath against bribery, and 
 for the proper discharge of his duties. The candi- 
 dates are proposed by one supporter, and seconded 
 by another. They then address the electors, stating 
 their political opinions and their claims to repre- 
 sent them. If the number of persons proposed 
 does not exceed that which the electors are entitled 
 to send to Parliament, they are elected then and 
 there ; if more be put in nomination, and a contest 
 arises, the returning-officer calls for "a show of 
 hands," and declares which candidate has the greatest 
 
40 THE BALLOT. 
 
 numLer held up for him, l>ut as there is no way of 
 discovering whether all who thus give their vote 
 are entitled to one, any candidate unwilling to 
 abide by this decision, may demand a poll. When 
 this is taken, each elector appears before persons 
 appointed by the returning-officer as his deputies, 
 and decides for which candidate he intends to vote. 
 This vote is entered by the clerks in the poll-books, 
 which, at the expiration of the time allowed by 
 law for polling, are taken to the returning-officer. 
 The votes are added up, and the candidates who 
 are found to have gained the highest number are 
 declared by him to be duly elected. In counties 
 the poll remains open for two days, in cities and 
 boroughs for one only. No " treating" whatever 
 is permitted, nor are any bands of music and flag- 
 bearers tolerated. In defiance of all these pre- 
 cautions, however, bribery and intimidation are by 
 no means extinct. It is said that the Ballot (that 
 is, secret voting, by placing a written paper in a 
 box) would be a great protection to the electors. 
 But I doubt whether it would remedy the evils 
 complained of. I do not think it would prevent 
 the corrupt from buying and selling votes. In large 
 constituencies it matters little to a man how his 
 vote is given as far as his business or trade is 
 
UNSEATING A MEMBER. 41 
 
 affected by it ; there are plenty of his own way of 
 thinking to support him. In small constituencies, 
 where an adverse vote would deprive him of cus- 
 tom, it can be pretty easily gleaned from his habits 
 and associations how he has decided, notwithstand- 
 ing that the ballot does not betray him. 
 
 The Member of Parliament thus elected may be 
 deprived of his seat, if it can be proved before a 
 committee of the House of Commons that he, or 
 his agents, with his knowledge, have been guilty of 
 bribery, corruption, or undue influence in obtaining 
 votes ; or if it be found that persons had voted for 
 him who had no right to do so, and that when 
 their votes were deducted, his opponent had a 
 majority of duly- qualified electors. ' 
 
 Should a vacancy occur during the sitting of 
 Parliament, the Speaker, by order of the House, 
 issues his warrant to the clerk of the Crown, and 
 the writ is sent down, as I have narrated. If it 
 happens during the recess, if the Speaker is in- 
 formed of it in writing, signed by two members of 
 Parliament, the writ is issued without an order of 
 the House. 
 
 A member properly returned may be expelled 
 the House for misconduct, and his seat will become 
 vacated if he be made bankrupt, and does not 
 
42 THE CHILTERN HUNDREDS. 
 
 satisfy his creditors within a year, or if he accepts 
 an office tinder the Crown ; he may, however, be 
 re-elected, and afterwards fill it. A member may 
 not resign the trust confided to him ; but by his 
 acceptance of the stewardship of the Chiltern 
 Hundreds, or of the Manor of Northstead (sinecure 
 offices under the Crown preserved for the purpose), 
 his seat will be vacated and he can thus retire 
 from Parliament. He cannot be made liable for 
 anything that he may say in debate. The Lower 
 House has the right to originate all bills relating 
 to, or affecting the revenue and the taxation of the 
 kingdom, and to vote the supplies ; nor can any 
 bills dealing with the taxation of the country be 
 altered or amended by the House of Lords. That 
 House can only reject them, or pass them in the 
 form in which they come up from the Commons. 
 
LETTER VI. 
 
 THE ADVISERS OF THE CROWN. 
 
 The Privy Council The Judicial Committee The Cabinet 
 Council The Attorney- and Solicitor- General The Ministry, 
 its Composition and Policy The Opposition Pensions of 
 Ministers. 
 
 I HAVE told you that the advisers of the sove- 
 reign are responsible for his political acts ; I must 
 now tell you who these are. 
 
 The principal council of the crown is the Privy 
 Council. Its members (whose number is now un- 
 limited,) are appointed by the sovereign, and can 
 be removed at her pleasure. The oath taken by a 
 privy councillor upon entering office is as follows : 
 
 1. To advise the queen according to the best of 
 his cunning and discretion. 
 
 2. To advise for the queen's honour and good of 
 the public without partiality through affection, love, 
 meed, doubt, or dread. 
 
 8. To keep the queen's counsel secret. 
 4. To avoid corruption. 
 
44 THE PPvlVY COUNCIL. 
 
 5. To help and strengthen the execution of what 
 shall be there resolved. 
 
 6. To withstand all persons who would attempt 
 the contrary. And, lastly, 
 
 7. To observe, keep, and do all that a good and 
 true counsellor ought to do to his sovereign lord. 
 
 The power of this Council as a body has of late 
 years been very much diminished. Its judicial 
 business (which mainly consists of hearing appeals 
 from the courts in our plantations or colonies, and 
 from the Admiralty and Ecclesiastical Courts) is 
 transacted by a committee of judges and other emi- 
 nent lawyers made members for the purpose ; and 
 its duties of advising the Crown and conducting 
 the government of the country are almost exclu- 
 sively performed by the principal ministers of State, 
 who are members of the Cabinet Council. This 
 is so termed on account of its being originally 
 composed of such members of tjie Privy Council as 
 the king placed most trust in, and conferred with 
 apart from the others in his cabinet or private 
 room. Curiously enough, although it is a body of 
 the highest importance being in fact the govern- 
 ment of the country it is not recognised in anyway 
 by the constitution. It is not, even in any strict or 
 formal sense, a Committee of the Privy Council, to 
 winch however its members always belong. 
 
THE CABINET COUNCIL. 45 
 
 The criminal jurisdiction of the Privy Council, 
 that in the days of the Star Chamber (which was 
 composed of its members), was stretched to so 
 dangerous a length, is now no greater than that 
 exercised by justices of the peace. 
 
 Her Majesty is frequently empowered by act of 
 parliament to make proclamations and orders upon 
 given subjects, " by and with the advice of her 
 Privy Council/' but only such members as are 
 specially summoned attend upon each occasion. 
 
 Privy councillors are distinguished by having 
 the words "right honourable" prefixed to their 
 Christian names or initials. 
 
 The sovereign may appoint her own ministry, 
 or may order any person to form one ; but as a 
 majority in parliament is indispensable for the 
 carrying on of government, it follows that, in prac- 
 tice, the ministry is composed of the leader of the 
 political party in power, assisted by his friends and 
 supporters. The Cabinet Council, shortly termed 
 the Cabinet, forms only part of the ministry or 
 administration. It usually consists of the fol- 
 lowing great officers of state : 
 
 The First Lord of the Treasury. This office is 
 now generally filled by the Premier, or first mini- 
 ster, but he may hold any other. 
 
 The Lord High Chancellor the law adviser of 
 the ministry ; and keeper of the great seal. 
 
46 THE MINISTRY. 
 
 The Lord President of the Council. 
 
 The Postmaster-General. 
 
 The Lord Privy Seal. 
 
 The Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs 
 who conducts our intercourse with foreign nations. 
 
 The Secretary of State for the Colonies. 
 
 The Secretary of State for the Home Depart- 
 mcnt who manages the internal affairs of the 
 kingdom. 
 
 The Secretary of State for theWav Department. 
 
 The Secretary of State for India. 
 
 The Chancellor of the Exchequer who arranges 
 and accounts to Parliament for the public revenue 
 and expenditure. 
 
 The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. 
 
 The First Lord of the Admiralty who pre- 
 sides over the affairs of the Royal Navy. 
 
 The President of the Board of Trade who 
 attends to matters relating to trade and commerce. 
 
 Distinguished statesmen who hold no office under 
 government are sometimes made members of the 
 Cabinet. 
 
 Members of the Ministry must have seats either 
 in the House of Lords or Commons. 
 
 Many other political offices subordinate to 
 those I have mentioned, . and a number of 
 places in her Majesty's Household are filled by 
 
ATTORNEY- AND SOLICITOR- GENERAL. 47 
 
 members of the party in power, who resign them 
 when their friends go out of office. 
 
 The chief legal adviser of the Crown is the Lord 
 Chancellor ; its law officers are the Attorney- and 
 Solicitor-General and Queen's Advocate. The two 
 former are selected from amongst the most dis- 
 tinguished Queen's Counsel (a grade in the legal 
 profession which I will explain in due course). 
 They have to investigate the claims of inventors 
 to letters-patent, by which the sole right to use or 
 permit the use of the invention is secured to its 
 owner for fourteen years. They represent the 
 Crown in the courts of law and equity, the Attor- 
 ney-General being in strictness entitled to a brief 
 in every criminal prosecution, but only such as are 
 of great difficulty and importance are undertaken 
 by him. In cases of high treason botli these offi- 
 cers invariably appear. The Queen's Advocate 
 acts for the Crown in the Admiralty, and other 
 courts where the civil law is administered. 
 
 A Ministry usually belongs to a distinct political 
 party, and accepts office pledged to carry out some 
 particular plan or policy of government. The 
 party in Parliament that is opposed to this is called 
 the Opposition. The Ministerial members those 
 who generally support the Ministry sit on the right 
 
48 THE OPPOSITION. 
 
 hand side of the Speaker's chair in the House of 
 Commons, and those of the Opposition on the left. 
 In the House of Lords substituting the throne 
 for the Speaker's chair the same rule is generally 
 observed, except upon high state occasions, when 
 the Lords take their seats upon separate benches, 
 according to the rank that they hold in the peerage, 
 irrespective of their political opinions. When the 
 Ministry is defeated that is, placed in a minority 
 upon some question intimately connected with the 
 policy under which they took office ; or if a vote 
 of want of confidence is passed against them, they 
 should resign, and, constitutionally speaking, the 
 Opposition ought to be able to take their place. 
 
 When ministers have served for a period ot 
 three years, they are each entitled to a pension of 
 ^2000 for life on retirement ; in computing which 
 period it is usual to reckon the aggregate tenure 
 of office, if it should happen that any of them 
 have served more than once. 
 
LETTER VII. 
 
 PROCEEDINGS IN PARLIAMENT. 
 
 Opening of Parliament Election and Duties of Speaker The 
 Speech from the Throne The Business of Government Pass- 
 ing Bills, public and private Divisions of the House Voting 
 by Peers, by the Commons The Royal Assent The Budget 
 Committee of " Ways and Means" Of Supply Mutiny 
 Act Prorogation, 
 
 WHEN the day fixed for the meeting of a new 
 parliament arrives, the members of both houses 
 assemble and take the oaths prescribed by law. 
 The Commons then, under an order from the 
 crown, proceed to elect their speaker. The 
 duty of this great officer is to regulate the 
 debates in parliament, and to see that its pro- 
 ceedings are formally conducted. His decision 
 upon any question of order is generally final, 
 owing to the great respect which is paid to 
 his high position, but an appeal against his 
 judgment may be, and sometimes has been, 
 made to the House. He does not vote except 
 when there is an equal division. His salary is 
 
50 THE SPEECH FftOiM THE THRONE. 
 
 6,000?. a } r ear, with a house and allowances, and 
 upon retirement he is usually created a peer. 
 
 When her Majesty opens parliament, she goes 
 in state to the House of Lords, and takes her seat 
 upon the throne. The Commons are then sum- 
 moned, and such members as please attend, with 
 their Speaker, at the bar. The royal speech, pre- 
 pared beforehand by the Ministry, and in which 
 the present condition of public affairs is briefly set 
 forth, and the new measures to be submitted to 
 the Legislature adverted to, is handed to the Queen 
 by the Lord Chancellor and read by her ; after 
 which, her Majesty retiring, the business of the 
 session commences. The Commons return to their 
 own chamber, and, by way of form, read some bill 
 to keep up their privilege of not giving priority to 
 the royal speech. Two members appointed by 
 government then move and second " the address " 
 in either House, thanking her Majesty for her 
 gracious speech, and each appoints a deputation 
 to present it. In former days, the debate upon 
 the address was often very vehemently con- 
 tested, and " amendments'' or alterations, im- 
 plying a refusal to accept the intended policy 
 of the Ministry, were frequently proposed ; but 
 of late/ although the leaders of the Opposition 
 in each House usually criticise closely the topics 
 
REPORTING. 51 
 
 contained in, or omitted from, the speech, the ad- 
 dress is generally passed without further oppo- 
 sition. 
 
 When Parliament is opened by Commission, the 
 royal speech is read by one of the commissioners, 
 and the address passed as I have stated. 
 
 The business of making and altering the laws 
 is carried on by each House of Parliament, indo 
 penclently of the other. No proceeding which has 
 taken place in the one may properly be alluded to 
 in the other, nor may any past debate of the same 
 session be mentioned. Their deliberations are sup- 
 posed to be secret, and although the public is ad 
 mitted to hear the debates, and reporters from the 
 newspapers attend regularly to publish them, 
 this is only practically permitted by a foolish 
 fiction under which their presence is ignored. 
 For should any member draw the attention of the 
 Speaker to the fact, that there are strangers in 
 the House, he has no alternative but to order 
 them to withdraw. There are parts of the House 
 to which strangers may be admitted when no ob- 
 jection is made, but any attempt to trespass upon 
 the portion set apart for members of Parliament 
 would be treated as a serious contempt. By a 
 curious fiction, the space immediately around the 
 Throne and the Woolsack, in the House of Lords, 
 K 
 
52 BUSINESS OF GOVERNMENT. 
 
 i.s deemed not to be a part of that House. So that 
 when the Lord Chancellor wishes to speak, he moves 
 from the Woolsack to the front of the head of the 
 ducal bench, and from thence addresses the peers. 
 
 The only official report of proceedings in Par- 
 liament is printed by the Queen's printer. 
 
 I have already stated the measures which it is 
 the privilege of the Lords or Commons to ori- 
 ginate. There is one bill only which the Crown 
 has the right of initiating an Act of General 
 Pardon. This is originated by the sovereign, and 
 read once in each House of Parliament. All others 
 may be introduced in either House, and by any 
 member ; only such as are of great public im- 
 portance are generally taken charge of by the 
 Government, who having certain days of the week 
 exclusively devoted to the discussion of the bills 
 they bring in, have better opportunities of passing 
 them. Government bills are entrusted to the 
 head of the department which conducts that 
 branch of the administration which the proposed 
 new law wi]l affect. Thus, bills relating to the 
 Colonies are brought in by the Colonial Secretary ; 
 to police, prisons, &c., by the Home Secretary ; to 
 laxes, by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, &c. &c. 
 
 Bills are either public relating to the general 
 government of the kingdom ; or private such as 
 
PROCEDURE IN PARLIAMENT 53 
 
 Estate, Railway, Dock, and Enclosure bills, which 
 have only a local or personal operation. 
 
 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 some- 
 times specially appointed. Before the commence- 
 ment 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. 
 
 In the House of Lords a peer merely gives no- 
 tice of his intention to bring in a bill, but a member 
 of the Lower House must obtain its leave to do so 
 before he can introduce it. If permission be given, 
 the bill, in manuscript, with blank spaces for dates, 
 numbers, and other particulars likely to be altered, 
 is brought in, and the introducer moves that it be 
 read a first time. Every motion made in the Lower 
 House must be seconded. In the House of Lords no 
 seconder is required. When leave is given the bill is 
 read a first time, and ordered to be printed; copies 
 of it are distributed amongst the members, and upon 
 the day fixed it is read a second time, and its 
 principle then fully discussed, matters of detail 
 being reserved for arrangement in the next stage. 
 
54 PASSING A BILL. 
 
 when the House goes into "committee" upon it. 
 When this takes place, the Speaker quits the chair, 
 and another parliamentary officer, the chairman 
 of committees, presides. Each clause is read over 
 in order, and altered, added to, improved, or struck 
 out, as the majority decide, and sometimes the bill 
 is entirely remodelled. In this stage a member 
 may speak several times upon the same subject ; 
 at other times he may only speak once. When 
 the bill has been gone through to the end in this 
 manner, the Speaker resumes his place, and the 
 chairman brings up the report of the committee, 
 which is, in effect, the bill itself with its amend- 
 ments. The House may then add improvements 
 of its own, and accept or reject those made in 
 committee. The bill is then engrossed upon 
 parchment, and read a third time, and if agreed 
 to, the question is put, " that the bill do pass," 
 when it may be further altered. If this motion 
 be carried, the bill is sent to the other House of 
 Parliament, where it has to go through the same 
 process over again. If it be amended there, it is 
 sent back with the alterations made, to which, if 
 the House which originated it agree, a message is 
 sent to say so ; if not, a conference between the 
 two Houses takes place, and the difference be- 
 tween them is generally settled ; but if this cannot 
 be done, the bill is abandoned. On a bill passed 
 
THE ROYAL ASSENT. 55 
 
 by the Commons being sent up to the Lords, the 
 clerk of the former endorses on it " Soi balleaucc 
 Seiyners ;" and the same form is observed by the 
 clerk of the Lords on a bill being sent to the 
 Commons, the endorsement being "Soi balleaux 
 Communes" 
 
 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 relgne remercie ses bons sujets, accepte leur 
 benevolence, et ansi le veidt." " The Queen thank? 
 her good subjects, accepts their benevolence, and 
 answers, ' Be it so/" To other public bills the 
 form of assent is " La reiyne le veidt," " The 
 Queen wills it so." To private bills, " Sol fait 
 comme il est desire," " Be it as it is prayed." 
 When the royal assent is refused, the clerk says, 
 " La reiyne 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. 
 
56 DIVISIONS OF THE HOUSE. 
 
 A bill may be opposed at any, or all, of its stages. 
 When 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 amend- 
 ment in it, go into one lobby of the House, and 
 those who vote 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 ascer- 
 tain 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 tho words 
 et 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 amend- 
 ment 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 
 
PRIVATE BILLS. 57 
 
 time " that day six months," when it is 
 almost certain that Parliament will not be sitting. 
 Bills are also sometimes referred to select com- 
 mittees chosen by the House in which they are 
 introduced. These committees deliberate and ex- 
 amine 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. 
 
 Private and personal bills may be introduced in 
 either House of Parliament. They are based upon 
 petitions , and if they propose to interfere with the 
 land or property of any one, their purport must be 
 advertised in the public papers. They are referred 
 to a committee charged to investigate their provi- 
 sions, before which persons interested in or affected 
 by them may appear by counsel. The committee 
 makes its report to the House, and they are passed 
 or rejected in the same manner as public bills. 
 
 Early in the session the Chancellor of the Ex- 
 chequer lays his Budget (from the French word 
 bougette, a bundle) before Parliament. This con- 
 tains 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 
 
58 THE BUDGET. 
 
 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 dis- 
 cussed, item by item, in Committee of Supply, in 
 which members are at liberty to ask questions as 
 to its application, which must be answered by the 
 Minister to whose department they refer. The 
 resolutions in Committee of Supply are embodied 
 into what is called the Appropriation Bill, which 
 is sent up for approval to the House of Lords. 
 This House may reject, but cannot alter it. 
 
 To pass the Mutiny Act is also the annual busi- 
 ness 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 regu- 
 lation of the army for one year only, to be re- 
 newed the next. If anything happened to pre- 
 vent 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. 
 
 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,OOOZ. 
 But it was 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 rigid), and many 
 others only just tolerated the sway of the de facto 
 
 
60 ORIGIN OF NATIONAL DEBT. 
 
 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 im- 
 posts 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 exist- 
 ing 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 con- 
 stitute the unfunded debt. 
 
THE FUNDS. Gl 
 
 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 I7ol, Go- 
 vernment began to unite the various loans into 
 one fund, called the Consolidated fund (which 
 you must riot 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 
 docks. 
 
 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, ac- 
 cording to the state of the money-market 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 150. three per cent, 
 stock for every 100?. he advanced, and the country 
 would be bound to pay him 4. 10s. a year as in- 
 terest until the debt was extinguished by a pay- 
 ment of 150/. This was eventually found to be a 
 very bad plan, and it was calculated, when it was 
 
62 TRANSFER OF STOCK. 
 
 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 6,000,000?. to 7,000,0002. 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 certificate of the transfer, but his name 
 is registered in the national debt books. If he 
 disposes of the whole or any part of it, this is 
 again transferred from his name to that of its new 
 proprietor. The registry books are arranged al- 
 phabetically in the Bank of England, and distri- 
 buted iii several apartments, marked with the 
 initial letter and syllables of the book they contain. 
 Thus everybody is able to find the exact place 
 where his account is kept. The business of buying 
 and selling stock, however, is almost entirely in 
 
PRICE OF MONEY G3 
 
 the bands of the stock-brokers, who become agents 
 for the parties who wish to procure or part with it, 
 and transact all the necessary operations upon their 
 behalf. The Bank of England manages the pay- 
 ment of interest upon the funds for Government. 
 
 The sum required in the year 1865 to pay the 
 interest upon the funded and unfunded debt is 
 26,350,000?, 
 
 The value of a nominal 100?. of stock fluctuates 
 according to the abundance or scarcity of money 
 in circulation. During the last hundred years the 
 market price of 100?. in the 3 per cent, consols has 
 been as low as 47^, and as high as 101 J. Anything 
 that tends to endanger or lessen the national pros- 
 perity causes the Funds to sink, and vice versa. 
 Foreign nations have attempted to keep up the 
 price of their stocks by force of law, but have failed 
 signally. Money, like water, will find its own 
 level, and no legislative enactments will cause any 
 permanent increase, or the contrary, in its value. 
 
 I saw that you were much puzzled once when, 
 your uncle and I were talking of the price of 
 money. You thought, no doubt, that sovereigns 
 and shillings were of a fixed and unalterable value ; 
 and as far as regards their shape and weight they 
 are so. But really and practically they are no 
 more than pieces of gold and silver, worth just as 
 
64 SINKING FUNDS. 
 
 much as you can get in exchange for them, and 
 no more. A sovereign represents so much land 
 or so many legs of mutton, or pieces of ribbon, or 
 cricket-bats, or anything else that we may require. 
 If there are only a very few legs of mutton in the 
 market, and plenty of sovereigns to buy them with, 
 the holders of money must (practically) compete 
 with all other persons requiring meat, and give as 
 much for it as any of them will pay. If, on the 
 other hand, legs of mutton are numerous, and 
 there are very few sovereigns in circulation, the 
 tables are turned the butcher must compete (in 
 the same way as before) for the money, and give 
 as much meat as others will in return for the gold. 
 Therefore, when you say that certain things are 
 cheap or dear, you mean, in other words, that they 
 are plentiful or the reverse. 
 
 For the gradual reduction of the principal of the 
 national debt, sinking funds were established ; the 
 first by Sir Eobert Walpole in the year 1716, the 
 second by Mr. Pitt in 1786. By the latter an 
 estimated surplus of 900 ; 000. in the revenue was 
 augmented by taxes, so as to make up a sum of 
 one million ; and this was to be applied every year 
 towards paying off the public creditors. As long 
 as this, or any surplus remained over expenditure, it 
 might be properly and successfully applied to this 
 
THE SINKING FUND. G5 
 
 purpose ; the time came, however, when there was 
 no such thing, but the sinking fund did not disap- 
 pear with it. We were soon at war again, and 
 obliged to make new loans to supply a deficiency, 
 but the 9GO,000. was still applied as before, and the 
 fund still deserved (in one sense) the term by which 
 it was known, for it was sinking the nation deeper 
 and deeper in debt. We were discharging liabili- 
 ties upon which a small amount of interest was 
 due with one hand, and contracting fresh ones 
 upon which we had to pay a large interest with 
 the other. We were, in fact, following the example 
 of the Irishman in the story, who, finding that his 
 blanket was not long enough to cover the upper 
 part of his bed, cut a piece off its other end to 
 supply the deficiency ! The financiers of the day 
 were deluded by a fascinating theory that the 
 sinking fund accumulating upon compound in- 
 terest (that is, interest upon interest) would in time 
 equal the debt. Dr. Price, at whose instigation 
 the second sinking fund was established, attempted 
 to prove this by calculating how many globes 
 of gold a penny invested at compound interest at 
 the birth of Jesus Christ, would amount to at the 
 date of his investigation. But to secure the mar- 
 vellous increase effected in time by compound in- 
 terest, all the proceeds must be re-invested and 
 
66 REDUCTION OF THE DEBT. 
 
 added to the capital, not expended as income ; and 
 this was never actually done. Experience proved 
 that the system was a fallacious one, and it was 
 discontinued. Now nothing but actual excess of 
 revenue over expenditure is applied for the reduc- 
 tion of the National Debt. 
 
 One of the methods successfully adopted for 
 decreasing the amount of interest paid upon the 
 funds, was for Government to offer when it had 
 a surplus in hand to redeem sums of stock unless 
 the holders agreed to accept a lower rate upon 
 them ; and as this was proposed at the market 
 price of the day, they were frequently willing to 
 do so. 
 
 Most other nations have contracted public debts, 
 but the National Debt of England exceeds the 
 heaviest known ; and this fact is often thrown in 
 our teeth, when the greatness of our country is the 
 subject of discussion. But, such is the vastness of 
 our trade and the elasticity of our resources, that 
 the impost is by no means insupportable. Indeed 
 some maintain that we are better off with it, than we 
 should be without it. I do not go so far as this. The 
 debt, however, is the price we pay for the position 
 (out of all proportion to their geographical limits) 
 which these little islands have won. Some of 
 the wars, for carrying on which it was incurred, 
 
DEBT AND &EVENUE. 67 
 
 might have been averted probably, or brought to 
 speedier termination ; but others were most neces- 
 sary, and, taking the rough with the smooth, it is 
 very fair that posterity should bear a portion of the 
 burden, as they participate in the experiences and 
 benefits it secured. 
 
 The following table will show you the amount 
 of the National Debt (both funded and unfunded) 
 at various periods of our history down to the year 
 1864: 
 
 YEAR. OCCASION. AMOUNT. 
 
 1688. On the accession of William III. . . . 660,000 
 
 1702. On the accession of Queen Anne . . . 16,500,000 
 
 1714. On the accession of George I. .... 54,000,000 
 
 1749. At the end of the Spanish war .... 78,000,000 
 
 1763. At the end of the Seven Years' war . . 139,000,000 
 
 178G. Three years after the American war . . 268,000,000 
 
 1798. After the Irish rebellion and foreign war . 462,000,000 
 
 1802. Close of the French revolutionary war . 571,000,000 
 
 1814. Close of the war against Buonaparte . . 865,000,000 
 
 1817 i When the English and Irish Exchequers? ^AQ Q~Q 491 
 
 ( were consolidated ^ 3 
 
 1850 790,927,016 
 
 1856. Conclusion of the war with Russia . . . 803,913,694 
 
 1860 802,190,300 
 
 1864 790,565,224 
 
 Our average revenue during the reign of 
 William III. was about 4,000,0002. ; in that of 
 George I. it was 6,000,0002. ; in that of George II., 
 8,000,000?.; in the year 1788, it had risen to 
 15,572,9712. la 1820 the sum raised by taxes in 
 
 F 
 
68 EXPORTS AND IMPORTS. 
 
 the United Kingdom was 65,599,570?. ; in 1825 it 
 fell to 62,871,300?. ; in 18:30 it was 55,431,317?. ; 
 in 1835 it was 50,49 4 ; 732?, ; in 1845 it was 
 51,067,856?.; in J850 it was 52,951,748?.; in 
 1855, during the Russian war, it was 84,505,788?.; 
 and in the year 1864, 70,313,000?. 
 
 To show you the wealth of our country, the de- 
 clared value of our exports was 
 In 1853 ... ,99,000,000 
 
 1 855 ... 95,000,000 (year of war.) 
 
 ,,1856 ... 116,000,000 
 
 1857 ... 122,000,000 
 
 18G4 ... 213,000,000 
 Our imports were 
 
 In 1853 ... 123,099,313 
 
 ,,1854 ... 124,338,478 
 
 1855 ... 143,000,000 
 
 1856 ... 172,000,000 
 
 1857 ... 187,000,000 
 
 ,,1864 ... 274,000,000 
 Vuth regard to the disparity in value which ex- 
 ists between our exports and our imports, I may 
 observe that it used to be urged that this showed 
 an unsound state of commerce. The balance of 
 trade, it was said, was against us, as we took more 
 from foreign nations than we gave. I can show 
 you the fallacy of this argument by a very simple 
 
BALANCE OF TRADE). 69 
 
 illustration. Suppose a merchant were to send to 
 America (for example) 1,000. worth of goods, and 
 selling them at a profit,- ship homeward a cargo 
 of the value of 1,500L If this arrives safely his 
 imports exceed his exports, and (according to 
 the above theory) he is rapidly becoming bank- 
 rupt ; but if they all sink to the bottom of the sea 
 and are lost, then he is a most flourishing trader 
 Exports are the price of imports, and (as gold is 
 now reckoned in the category of both as an article 
 of commerce), it is quite clear that if we buy more 
 than we sell it must be because we are selling at 
 a profit 
 
70 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 LOCAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 Its Principle, Origin, and Objects High Sheriff and Lord Lieu- 
 tenant of the County Local RatesThe Parish and its 
 Officers The Constable Churchwardens Surveyor of High- 
 waysThe Vestry, General and Select The Poor Law The 
 Law of Settlement Operation of the old Poor Law The new 
 Poor Law Municipal Corporations Town Councils Mayor 
 and Aldermen Boards of Health Improvement Commis- 
 sioners. 
 
 YOTJ now know how the general government of the 
 kingdom is carried on. I purpose, in this Letter, 
 to show you how the affairs of the counties, cities, 
 boroughs, and parishes of which it is composed are 
 regulated. 
 
 It is a fundamental principle of the British Con- 
 stitution, that all persons and communities shall be 
 allowed to manage their own affairs as long as they 
 do so regularly and according to law. For it is 
 only natural to conclude, that those whose comfort 
 and welfare are to be considered, who will be the 
 first and principal sufferers by neglectful or bad 
 government, are much more likely to know what 
 ought to be done than strangers, however well 
 intentioned they may be, who have not the same 
 knowledge and experience. The powers of local 
 
OBJECTS OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT. 71 
 
 governments are fixed by the common law, by 
 charter from the Crown, and by act of Parliament. 
 
 The most ancient division of the country for 
 the purpose of self-government was into shires, 
 hundreds, and tithings. At present the usual 
 divisions are counties, hundreds, boroughs, and 
 parishes. The ministerial and judicial business of 
 the county is transacted by the High Sheriff, the 
 Coroner, and the Justices of the Peace, and is 
 enforced in it by the former and his officers. Its 
 military government is confided to the Lord Lieu- 
 tenant, who, when occasion requires, with the aid 
 of his Deputy Lieutenants, calls out the Militia, of 
 which force he has the command ; and the com- 
 missions of all its officers, with the exceptions 
 which I shall state hereafter, are signed by him. 
 He is frequently the custos rotulorum, or keeper 
 of the records of the county, and attends the 
 Sovereign when he passes through it. The post 
 of Lord Lieutenant in counties was instituted in 
 England by Edward III., in the year 1549, and 
 extended to Ireland in 1831. The appointment, 
 which is a purely honorary one, is made by the 
 Crown, and is for life. 
 
 The office of Sheriff is of much greater an- 
 tiquity. His office is of Saxon origin, and its name 
 
72 OBJECTS OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 is derived from the words shire gerefa, or shire 
 reeve. He was inferior to the Earl only when 
 that was the title of the county's military go- 
 vernor, and is now the chief man in it as his 
 successor. 
 
 Sheriffs hold office for one year only. The 
 Lord Lieutenant prepares a list of persons quali- 
 fied to serve, and returns three names, which are 
 read out in the Court of Exchequer upon the 
 morrow of the Feast of St. Martin, when the 
 excuses of such as do not wish to serve are heard, 
 and if deemed sufficient, the objector is discharged. 
 The list is then sent to the Sovereign, who, with- 
 out looking at it, strikes a bodkin amongst the 
 names, and he whose name is pierced is elected. 
 This is called "pricking for sheriffs." The 
 duty of the High Sheriff being chiefly to execute 
 the law, will be treated of by-and-bye. The 
 affairs of the boroughs are administered by the 
 municipal corporations, and of the parishes by the 
 constable, churchwardens, and surveyor of high- 
 ways, and, where there is one, the vestry. 
 
 The principal objects of local government are the 
 preservation of peace and order ; the maintenance 
 of the poor and police; the making, paving, and 
 lighting of roads and streets ; the repairing of 
 
OBJECTS OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT. 71* 
 
 bridges; the regulation of markets, hackney coaches, 
 and public carriages; the laying down of rules 
 for preserving the public health and convenience, 
 &c. The money required for these purposes is 
 raised by levying rates. Every person who is not 
 exempted by extreme poverty, or some privileges 
 which I need not particularize, is rated according 
 to the value of the premises which he occupies. 
 The sum required for the rate is estimated, and 
 each liable person is called upon to pay his por- 
 tion ; when you hear, therefore, of a poor, or any 
 other rate of one shilling in the pound, it means 
 that for every pound at which a person is rated, 
 according to the value of his house or property, lie 
 has to pay that sum. 
 
 I shall tell you hereafter how justices of the 
 peace are appointed. They lay the county rates 
 for maintaining the police, &c. &c. The Lord 
 Lieutenant and his deputies regulate the county 
 militia. 
 
 The constitution of parishes and municipal 
 corporations must now be considered. 
 
 The constable* was formerly the chief man in 
 
 * " The next officer mentioned, after the sheriff', in Magua 
 Charta, (c. 24) is cont>tabnlarius 9 or constable, which is sometimes 
 derived from the Saxon, but other authorities have considered it 
 more truly to come from the Latin comes stalali, a superinten- 
 
THE PARISH. 
 
 the parish, for it was responsible for all robberies 
 .; its limits if the thieves were not 
 apprehended. 1 1 was, therefore, the intoix^t of the 
 community to elect to this office the person who 
 was most competent to prevent the commission of 
 crime* But this state of things his ks*g passed 
 away ; the parish may no longer be catted upon to 
 restore the value of stolen goods; and altho 
 constables aie stitt appointed, their duties are almost 
 entirely performed by the county polios 
 
 u the religion of this country xras Boman 
 
 Oathoiv. oo>tly DOMIMnt^ aiui fJ QfftMl 'nr^v 
 
 sums of money, were kept in the parish churches* 
 
 take charge of them, and to *uvjd between the 
 i*nt country people and their clergy, who 
 
 ,icr.t of thp tatWfal *toK:^. or r.w^.r ^ t: I h^^. T';;> tit^, 
 lu^rvrv. h; N pr. -//. ;V:r o. ..-.^i? ot t.v.-^r to ^'.c-'.'v A 
 
 | HIM mm M w MniMii Mi B*h4 b 
 
 .: ^>: .. , ,-;.,-.: , -.. :\ -,:-./. ;, ;.:. : -,-.: .> - : . ; : . : ;:-; r.-,s:.,;.o. 
 
 7,.:v r:,-> -' : ' 
 
 v. p:\v. '."/;>. MM ^;v\ .ov.siv t*"* t.rc Art o! Hl^Mi ^ iiitvtjv. 
 HM^P MM 5- i-v*s v^t v*.'.:. os.. v>:\ - .\ viv .hr o\C"".~. rA.-.ic*r v>t l.!n~ <. row:;, 
 
THE VKSTKY. 73 
 
 often sought to encroach upon the rights of their 
 fellow-subjects. OJvwrch/WO/rden* were therefore 
 appointed by the Synod of London in the year 
 11 27, and continue to this day to IK- elected, to see 
 that the par. on does his duty, and to eX6f( 
 authority over the building of the church, and the 
 performance of its services. Two churchwardens 
 are generally appointed annually, the one by the 
 rector, vicar, or incumbent, the other by the 
 parishioners. 
 
 The parish i:; bound to maintain the high- 
 ways which pass through it in good order, and 
 for this purpose surveyors of highways, or, as 
 they were anciently called, way wardens, are 
 elected by the parishioners and hold office for 
 one year. Under a recent Act a number of pari 
 may be united into a highway district, the roads in 
 which are managed by a board. 
 
 A vestry is a hody of the ratepayers of a pari..h 
 elected to conduct and regulate its business, in- 
 cluding the appointment of its officers. When it 
 i elected by the ratepayers at large it is called a 
 (jeneral vestry ; if (as is more frequently the c;< 
 its members select their own companions and suc- 
 cessors, it is called a select vestry. 
 
 The maintenance of its poor is the most impor- 
 tant duty of the parish, and as this is a subject 
 
74 THE POOR LAW. 
 
 upon which you ought to be informed, I will give 
 you a brief sketch of the origin and progress of the 
 laws relating to it. 
 
 Previously to the dissolution of the monasteries, 
 the maintenance and relief of the poor were secured 
 by the great religious houses : their endowments 
 being required, in most cases, by the charters of 
 foundation, and in all, by the statute of Carlisle 
 (Ed. I. A.D. 1306), to be expended to the honour of 
 God and in support of His poor. When these in- 
 stitutions were suppressed, and their property dis- 
 tributed among the monarch's courtiers, the help- 
 less and indigent, the aged and the young, were at 
 once deprived of all provision. The greedy rapa- 
 city of the king's attendants, and the absorbing 
 controversies of religion, were not favourable to the 
 discovery or the adoption of any substitute for the 
 funds so disposed of. All that the authorities of 
 that time devised were severe and stringent mea- 
 sures directed against the numerous mendicants 
 by whom the country began to be infested. Va- 
 grancy and begging were made punishable by 
 whipping, the stocks, the pillory, imprisonment, 
 and death ; and the executions of "sturdy beggars," 
 as they were termed, increased year by year until, 
 in the last years of Henry VIII/s reign, no fewer 
 than 38,000 persons were put to death for this 
 
THE LAW OF SETTLEMENT. 75 
 
 species of offence! The same repressive system 
 followed under the subsequent sovereigns, until the 
 power of Queen Elisabeth having been firmly 
 established towards the latter part of her reign, the 
 foundations of a new system were laid. This was 
 done by an act passed in the 43rd year of that 
 queen. Its principal provisions were, that a fund 
 or stock should be raised in each parish, out of 
 which such poor persons as were able to labour 
 should be set to work, and the feeble should be 
 'helped and maintained. The churchwardens were 
 appointed, together with three or four more per- 
 sons of substance, overseers of the poor. The 
 operation of the statute was found beneficial ; and 
 the lawlessness and violence, which had not been 
 suppressed by barbarous enactments, disappeared 
 by degrees. Gradually an entirely new code of 
 legislation arose, as experience developed the bene- 
 fits and the disadvantages of the system ; and its 
 ramifications embraced, as well the support of the 
 indigent, as the adjustment of the liabilities of the 
 contributors. Thus, in the time of Charles II. the 
 parish, which had enjoyed the benefit of a man's 
 residence as a contributor to the parish rates, or 
 as a labourer when he was able to support himself, 
 was bound to maintain him when in distress, in 
 preference to that where he might become in want. 
 
76 THE OLD POOR LAW. 
 
 Hence arose what is called the law of settle- 
 ment The contribution itself was called the 
 poor-rate, and the contributors ratepayers. The 
 ratepayers had not the power of electing the over- 
 seers of the poor directly, these officers being 
 nominated by justices of the peace. In many 
 parishes the overseers of the poor were assisted, 
 and sometimes controlled, by a select vestry. 
 
 In the course of nearly three centuries some 
 abuses of greater or less magnitude could not but 
 be expected to grow around the system. The chief 
 source of these was alleged to arise from the ad- 
 ministrators of the rate being appointed by others 
 than the ratepayers, and the great evil appre- 
 hended was that a class of persons receiving relief, 
 habitually and as the ordinary rule, were growing 
 up under this system, and that to be a pauper 
 (as the receivers of relief are called), was becoming 
 a recognised and actual condition, or state, in the 
 ranks of social life. 
 
 This general feeling, assisted by many matters 
 of minor character, led to the enactment in the 
 5th and 6th years of William IV., of what is 
 called a test for pauperism (a somewhat different 
 thing from poverty, but which may be described 
 as that state of destitution requiring to be relieved 
 out of the poor-rate), by requiring that no relief 
 
THE NEW POOR LAW. 77 
 
 should be given to any person whatever, except in 
 the workhouse ; but as many of the parishes in 
 this country are so small as not to need or possess 
 a workhouse, in order to apply this test several 
 parishes were by the act joined together for the 
 purpose of supporting such an establishment in 
 common. These parishes thus joined together 
 were called. Unions, and for their government, 
 and for the performance of a great number, but 
 not all, of the powers of the overseers of the poor, 
 -a number of persons, called Guardians of the 
 Poor, were constituted a Board. These are elected 
 by the ratepayers annually in each parish of the 
 Union. In order to obviate the recurrence of the 
 old abuses, to ensure uniformity of administration, 
 and to carry out the new test in its integrity, it 
 was considered desirable to have a permanent 
 establishment, called the Poor-Law Board, of which 
 the President is usually a member of the Privy 
 Council, and must possess a seat in the House of 
 Commons. 
 
 The experience of a quarter of a century has 
 modified the rigorous theory of the Amendment 
 Act, and now a plan of administering relief in 
 two modes inside the workhouse and at the resi- 
 dence of the pauper (called out-door relief), is per- 
 mitted, 
 
78 MUNICIPAL CORPOKATIONS. 
 
 It may be added, that the legislature has provided 
 remedies for a parish or union which may consider 
 itself aggrieved, and for a ratepayer in the same 
 position. This is by the legal process called " an 
 appeal," whereby if an union be called upon to 
 maintain a pauper not belonging to it, or a pa- 
 rishioner is required to pay out of proportion to 
 his neighbours, or for improper charges, the inter- 
 ference of the Court of Quarter Sessions is invoked. 
 Against improper charges an additional remedy is 
 provided by the appointment of an officer called a 
 " Poor-Law Auditor/* whose duty it is to check 
 every account in connexion with the poor-rate and 
 its expenditure, and who has power to disallow 
 any item not justified by law. 
 
 I now come to the Municipal Corporations. 
 In the year 1833, a royal commission was ap- 
 pointed to inquire into their state, and it being 
 reported that they had degenerated into great in- 
 efficiency and corruption, an Act of Parliament 
 was passed, by which most of the then existing 
 Corporations were dissolved, and replaced by a 
 municipal body consisting of mayor, aldermen, 
 and burgesses. This law is known as the " Muni- 
 cipal Corporations Act/' 
 
 All persons of full age,, who have occupied for 
 three years a house or shop within the limits of 
 
TOWN COUNCILS. 79 
 
 the borough to be incorporated, and those who have 
 regularly resided within seven miles of its limits, 
 and have during that time been rated to the relief 
 of the poor of some parish in the borough, are en- 
 titled to be placed on the list of burgesses. The 
 borough is divided into wards, or districts, and 
 by the burgesses in every ward the Common 
 Councillors are elected. The number of coun- 
 cillors is fixed by the Act for each borough, and 
 one-third of them go out of office every year. The 
 councillors elect Aldermen, whose number is 
 one-third of their own. Thus is formed the Town 
 Council, which elects the Mayor, whose business 
 it is to preside over it. He holds office for only 
 one year, but may be re-elected. Half the alder- 
 men go out of office every third year, but may be 
 re-elected. The town-council lay the borough 
 rates. 
 
 In many populous towns not incorporated, com- 
 missioners and boards, such as Boards of Health, 
 Improvement Commissioners, &c., &c., are elected 
 by the ratepayers, under the authority of Parlia- 
 ment, to conduct useful works, and to manage the 
 local business. 
 
80 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 THE CHURCH. 
 
 History of the Church of England Authority oi the Pope 
 The Reformation Puritans Roman Catholics Jews, disabi- 
 lities of Constitution and Discipline of the Church Bishop 
 Dean and Chapter Priest Deacon Tithes Ordinations 
 Church Accommodation Convocation. 
 
 IN order to give you a right understanding of the 
 relations of the ecclesiastical system and the Con- 
 stitution of this country, it will be necessary briefly 
 to sketch the history of the Church in England. 
 
 It is an undoubted fact that Christianity was 
 very early introduced into this country whilst it 
 was in the hands of the Romans, and tradition 
 points to the numerous old churches dedicated to 
 St. Paul, as a confirmation of the assertion that 
 he was the apostle of Britain. However this may 
 be, certain it is that in the third century numerous 
 Christian congregations existed here, and the 
 older chroniclers declare with a fond pride that 
 Britain produced the first Christian emperor (Con- 
 stantine the Great), the first Christian king (Lucius), 
 and the first Christian monastery, that of Bangor 
 
AUTHORITY OF THE POPE. SI 
 
 m Wales. The Saxons, being idolatrous and ex- 
 terminators, persecuted the native believers and 
 drove them into the Welsh mountains. There they 
 were found when Pope Gregory the Great sent 
 hither the monk Augustine and his companions, 
 on the occasion of the conversion of Ethelbert, 
 King of Kent. Before this time the British Church 
 was governed by its own bishops, but Augustine 
 (by coercion as well as persuasion) induced the 
 scattered bodies of the faithful to acknowledge his 
 authority as primate, whilst he himself admitted 
 the superiority of the Roman pontiff. Augustine, 
 upon being consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury, 
 received a present of a pall from the pope, and 
 each of his successors applied for and obtained a 
 like mark of distinction for many years after from 
 succeeding occupants of the Papal chair, until it 
 was asserted that an Archbishop of Canterbury 
 could not enter upon his functions unless and until 
 it was granted. This "pall" is an ecclesiastical 
 vestment somewhat resembling in shape the hood 
 now worn by clergymen to indicate the university 
 degree of the wearer, and a symbol of it is still 
 retained in the emblasonment of the arms of the 
 province of Canterbury. Under the Norman kings, 
 and the early Plantagenets, the claim to present this 
 pall, and the rights which it was supposed to con- 
 G 
 
82 THE REFORMATION. 
 
 fer, were stoutly resisted. But what Henry II. 
 refused to Thomas a'Beckett was conceded by his 
 son John, who, as you know, humiliated himself 
 so far as to hold his very crown as ajfte/ under the 
 pope. Notwithstanding the famous statute of 
 prcemunire, passed in the reign of Richard II., 
 which is still unrepealed, and which I shall have 
 occasion to mention again, the general results of 
 various compromises made between different 
 monarchs and popes amounted to this : That, 
 whilst in matters of faith and (to some extent) 
 of discipline also, the Church of England gave 
 obedience to Rome, in matters connected with the 
 choice of bishops and the enjoyment of temporali- 
 ties the royal supremacy was admitted. 
 
 The first stage of the Reformation in the reign 
 of Henry VIII. was not made in reference to doc- 
 trine. The right of appeal from the English courts 
 to the pope was that against which the king's 
 policy was directed in the beginning, and the 
 operation of the statute 25th Henry VIII. chapter 
 20, was to establish the jurisdiction of the Crown, 
 and the king's tribunals, in entire independence of 
 any foreign potentate. The words of what is called 
 the bidding prayer (still used in cathedrals and 
 other churches before sermon) indicate clearly the 
 intention of the Constitution upon this point. It 
 
THE PURITANS. 83 
 
 runs as follows : " Ye shall pray for all Christian 
 kings, &c., and specially for our Sovereign Lady 
 Queen Victoria, defender of the Faith, over all 
 persons, and in all causes ecclesiastical and civil, 
 ivithin these her dominions supreme" It is in 
 this sense that the sovereign is called " the supreme 
 head of the Church." 
 
 The policy of Elisabeth and of the Stuarts was 
 to establish the Church of which they were mem- 
 bers as the sole and exclusive form of religion. 
 Hence non-attendance at a man's parish church, 
 and non-conformity to its ordinances, were made by 
 Convocation of which I shall treat hereafter 
 the subject of spiritual censure, and by Parlia- 
 ment, of civil penalties, even of death. The theory 
 of the Church down to so late a period as the reign 
 of George IV., according to the Constitution, was 
 that of an ecclesiastical corporation co-extensive 
 with the State, every English subject being also 
 an English churchman, and the Church a body 
 absolutely national. Two great religious sections 
 maintained a constant and, eventually, successful 
 struggle against this theory, I mean the Puritans 
 and the Roman Catholics. The former party re- 
 sorted to arms, and their victory in the contest 
 against Archbishop Laud and his sovereign dis- 
 placed for twelve years both the Church and her 
 02 
 
84 THE ROMAN CATHOLICS. 
 
 royal head. On the restoration of Charles II. the 
 former doctrine was revived ; and it was not until 
 the accession of William III. that the act of tolera- 
 tion, permitting Protestants to meet to celebrate 
 divine service after other forms than the liturgy 
 and in other places than the temples of the Church 
 of England was passed. More than a century and 
 a half elapsed before persons who did not con- 
 form to the religion established by law were allowed 
 to enter Parliament, and to take office in municipal 
 corporations. Every man elected to either was 
 obliged to partake of the holy sacrament, according 
 to the rites and doctrine of the Church of England, 
 as a test. It was not until the year 1828 that the 
 statutes imposing this test were repealed. Thus 
 terminated the contest with the first religious sec- 
 tion I named. The result was that there was no 
 longer a Constitution exclusively Church of Eng- 
 land, but only necessarily Protestant. The fol- 
 lowing year saw the final success of the Eoman 
 Catholic body. Like the Protestant Dissenters, 
 they had obtained various instalments of toleration. 
 The objection to admit them to full rights of citi- 
 zenship was based rather upon political than theo- 
 logical grounds, and they endured for many years 
 the most vexatious disabilities intended to prevent 
 their gaining wealth and influence, before it was 
 
THE JEWS. 85 
 
 discovered that being a papist did not prevent 
 a man from also being an honest and a loyal 
 subject. The Roman Catholic Relief Act, passed 
 in the year 1829, placed Roman Catholics upon 
 the same footing with their Protestant fellow- 
 countrymen. Until 1858 British subjects pro- 
 fessing the Jewish religion were excluded from 
 senatorial rights and honours, not by any direct 
 enactment of the legislature, but because the 
 wording of the oath of supremacy, which had 
 to be taken by all members of Parliament, pre- 
 vented them from subscribing it ; concluding, as it 
 did, in the words, "upon the true faith of a 
 Christian." This form of words was adopted 
 when this oath was framed, to prevent the Jesuit 
 adherents of the Pretender from swearing fealty to 
 the king de facto with a mental reservation, but 
 indirectly it had the effect I have stated. Our 
 Jewish fellow-subjects could be judges, sheriffs, and 
 magistrates. They could be called upon to carry 
 the laws into execution, but had no part in framing 
 them ; they had to pay taxes, but had no voice in 
 imposing them. They might vote at elections for 
 others ; nay, more ! they could be elected them- 
 selves, but could not take their seats. They might 
 write M.P. after their names, but the doors of the 
 Parliament house were firmly closed against them. 
 
86 THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 At last, however, after considerable opposition from 
 the House of Lords, the excluding oath has been 
 modified so as to admit the Jews to Legislative 
 honours ; and now the necessity for any religious 
 profession whatever, as a condition for becoming a 
 member of Parliament, is no longer in existence. 
 
 Thus the Church of England gradually ceased 
 to be what at one time she was, and what many 
 statesmen consider she ought to have remained 
 an integral and indivisible part of the Constitution. 
 But although she has no longer the ancient pre- 
 rogatives and high privileges that once were hers, 
 she still occupies a position, and exercises an influ- 
 ence it is impossible to overlook, in a recapitulation 
 such as I wish to make. Her antiquity and asso- 
 ciations, her wealth and dignity, her venerable and 
 majestic ritual, the learning and courageous exer- 
 tions of her clergy, preserve for her respect and 
 reverence, and are the legitimate foundations upon 
 which the authority and power she exercises (in- 
 dependently of secular enactments) are substan- 
 tially based. A short account, therefore, of the 
 ecclesiastical system of the Church of England, as 
 it now exists, cannot properly be omitted. 
 
 The whole of England and Wales is divided for 
 church purposes into two provinces, Canterbury and 
 York. The former is sroverned by its Archbishop 
 
BISHOPS AND THEIR SEES. 87 
 
 and his suffragans, or inferior prelates, who are 
 the Bishops of London, Winchester, Bangor, Bath 
 and Wells, Bristol and Gloucester, Chichester, Ely, 
 Exeter, Hereford, Llandaff, Lichfield and Coventry, 
 Lincoln, Norwich, Oxford, Peterborough, Rochester, 
 Salisbury, St. Asaph, St. David's, and Worcester. 
 The province of York is governed by its Archbishop, 
 and the Bishops of Durham, Carlisle, Chester, 
 Manchester, Ripon, and Sodor and Man are his 
 suffragans. In addition to his province and the 
 appellate jurisdiction connected therewith, each 
 Archbishop has a particular district within which 
 he exercises original authority. The district over 
 which a suffragan bishop presides is called his 
 diocese, or see (from the Latin word for a seat or 
 chair} ; and the principal church of his diocese is 
 called the cathedral (from the Greek word of the 
 same import), because it contains the episcopal 
 seat or throne. The title bishop is derived from 
 the Greek episkopos, through the Saxon biscop, 
 both signifying an overseer, or superintendent, " so 
 called from that watchfulness and faithfulness which 
 by his place and dignity he hath and oweth to the 
 church/' Formerly bishops were elected by theclergy 
 and people, but now the right to appoint them is 
 in the crown. The form of an election by the 
 chapter of the diocese is still preserved. When a 
 
88 DEAN AND CHAPTER. 
 
 vacancy occurs the Sovereign sends a permission 
 to them to elect (called a conge d'elire), together 
 with a letter missive, recommending the person 
 therein named. Obedience to this recommenda- 
 tion is secured by the famous statute of prcemunire, 
 and some acts of Henry VIII., which direct, upon 
 any delay or refusal, a forfeiture of all the real and 
 personal property of the recusant parties with im- 
 prisonment at the king's pleasure, and other penal- 
 ties. We have seen that a bishop is a peer of 
 Parliament and sits in the House of Lords. 
 
 To assist the bishop in the government of his 
 diocese generally, there are the dean and an indefi- 
 nite number of canons or prebendaries, who form 
 the chapter. It was once the duty of this body to 
 educate candidates for holy orders, but they have 
 ceased to do this. Indeed, the labours they per- 
 form are not of a very onerous character, although 
 the fact of their being made a corporation, and the 
 dean, their chief, sometimes a corporation sole, 
 shows that at one time they must have discharged 
 very high and important functions. The title 
 dean is from the Latin word for ten, that being 
 the usual number of canons or prebendaries in the 
 early chapters. Sometimes there are on the ca- 
 thedral foundation minor canons, and always pre- 
 centors, lay vicars, and choristers. Occasionally 
 grammar and singing schools are attached. 
 
THE CLERGY. 89 
 
 The country parts of the diocese not otherwise 
 governed as above, are subdivided into archdea- 
 conries and rural deaneries. By the Canon Law 
 the archdeacon is called " the bishop's eye/' and 
 has power to hold visitations within his jurisdiction 
 when the bishop is not present, to make institu- 
 tions and inductions of benefices, to assist at the 
 examination of candidates for orders, and also to 
 enquire into, correct, and reform irregularities and 
 abuses amongst the parochial clergy. The rural 
 dean governs part of an archdeaconry, usually con- 
 sisting of about ten parishes, and exercises a similar 
 but more restricted authority over them. Finally, 
 we have the parochial clergy, consisting of rectors, 
 vicars, incumbents, and curates. The two for- 
 mer are usually distinguished as beneficed clergy, 
 in contradistinction to the curates, who are assis- 
 tants to them, acting under a licence from the 
 bishop, which is revocable at his pleasure. The 
 word " curate " signifies a person having the cure 
 (or care) of souls. " Rector" is one who has the 
 chief rule of the parish in ecclesiastical matters. 
 The rector is entitled to the whole of the tithes 
 of his parish (now commuted into a fixed annual 
 sum called a rent charge). The vicar has only the 
 small tithes. " Vicar" means a substitute. When, 
 in days long passed away, the great landholders 
 granted a rectory to a monastery, the living never 
 
90 TITHES. 
 
 became vacant, as the abbey or convent was a cor- 
 poration, and corporations never die, although those 
 who constitute them do. The monastery, as rector, 
 took all the tithes, and sent a clergyman to per- 
 form divine service, to whom were given the small 
 tithes as his recompence. By degrees the substi- 
 tute thus sent acquired a permanent right to the 
 benefice. When Henry VIII. confiscated to the 
 crown the possessions of the religious houses, it was 
 thought that their great tithes would revert to the 
 vicar. This, however, was not agreeable to the 
 grasping courtiers to whom the monarch had 
 granted the property and estates, and an act of 
 Parliament was, therefore, passed, which annexed 
 the great tithes to the confiscated lands. Thus the 
 position of the vicars remained unaltered. 
 
 An incumbent differs from a curate in being free 
 from the liability to summary dismissal mentioned 
 just now, as his ordinary title of perpetual curate 
 shows ; but he has no independent rule, and is in 
 the eye of the law (notwithstanding his having sole 
 authority in his own church), only an assistant to the 
 rector or vicar of the parish in which it is situated. 
 
 It only remains for me now to tell you how a 
 person is made a clergyman. It is the peculiar 
 prerogative of the bishop -alone to confer holy 
 orders, which in our church are of three kinds - 
 
ORDINATIONS OF THE CLERGY. 91 
 
 those, namely, of bishop, priest, and deacon. When 
 a layman is made a deacon he must be at least 
 twenty-three years old, and (if not possessed of a 
 university degree), a " literate person" that is, 
 one of competent learning and good education. 
 The ceremony of making deacons is called ordina- 
 tion. After twelve months the deacon may be 
 ordained a priest. A bishop must be a priest 
 of at least thirty years of age, and is set apart for 
 his office by three other bishops. This is called 
 his consecration. The archdeacons (who are 
 priests appointed to that office by the bishop) assist 
 the bishop in ordinations. He has also his exa- 
 mining chaplains to aid him in testing the abili- 
 ties of the candidates, who must each have a title 
 for orders that is, a sphere of labour under some 
 clergyman, with a proper stipend for his support, 
 before he can be ordained. 
 
 There are many matters which it is difficult to 
 avoid touching upon in connexion with the subject 
 of this letter, but which, if fully entered into, would 
 swell it into the bulk of an entire volume. I will, 
 in conclusion, refer to one which (especially in late 
 times), has attained a degree of prominence that 
 may have an important bearing upon the constitu- 
 tionI mean the ecclesiastical parliament, called 
 Convocation. This is an assembly of the spiritual 
 
92 CONVOCATION. 
 
 estates of the realm in both provinces. In each 
 it consists of an Upper and Lower House. In 
 the former sit the bishops, presided over by the 
 Archbishop as Primate and Metropolitan. The 
 latter is composed of Proctors or delegates chosen 
 by the chapters of cathedrals and the beneficed 
 clergy. The members elect their own Prolocutor 
 or Speaker. Formerly convocation granted to 
 the Crown the right to tax the clergy. That 
 usage has now ceased, and with it the state 
 necessity for convoking the assembly yearly. 
 Recently, however, ecclesiastical and spiritual 
 necessities have caused its sittings to be in some 
 degree available in a practical sense. 
 
 I shall conclude by giving you a table of the 
 church accommodation provided by several of the 
 religious denominations in England, published in 
 the year 1855. 
 
 No. of Places 
 Religious Denomination. of Worship. Sittings for 
 
 Church of England 14,077 ... 5,317,915 
 
 Scottish Presbyterians : 
 
 Church of Scotland 18 ... 13,989 
 
 United Presbyterian Church . . 66 ... 31,351 
 
 Presbyterian Church in England . . 76 41,552 
 
 Independents 3,224 ... 1,067,760 
 
 Baptists (all denominations of ). . . 3,789 ... 752,253 
 
 Society of Friends ., . 331 ... 91,599 
 
 Unitarians 229 ... 68,55-1 
 
 Moravians 32 ... 9,305 
 
CHUECH ACCOMMODATION. 93 
 
 No. of Places 
 
 Religious Denomination. 
 Wesleyan Methodists : 
 
 of Worship. 
 . . 6,596 . 
 
 Sittings for 
 .. 1,447,580 
 
 
 . . 297 . 
 
 96,964 
 
 
 . . 2,871 . 
 
 414,030 
 
 
 . . 20 . 
 
 2,263 
 
 
 . . 482 . 
 
 66,834 
 
 
 6 . 
 
 2,606 
 
 
 570 . 
 
 186,111 
 
 Greek Church 
 
 . . 3 . 
 
 291 
 
 
 . . 53 . 
 
 8,438 
 
 
 222 
 
 80.783 
 
 Although the information contained in this table 
 is now ten years old, it is the latest we possess in 
 reference to the numbers of the different denomi- 
 nations ; for in consequence of the opposition of 
 the Dissenters the Government were compelled to 
 abandon their intention of including in the census 
 of 1861 returns relating to the religion of the 
 people. 
 
LETTER XL 
 
 THE ARMY. 
 
 Origin and History of Standing Armies The Feudal System 
 Mercenary Soldiers Ancient Warfare The Mutiny Act 
 The Secretary for War The Staff Cavalry Infantry 
 Quartering of Troops Camps Purchase System Price 
 01 Commissions Pay of Officers Brevet Rank Recruiting 
 Pay of Privates Dragoon Regiments Names of Regiments 
 The Royal Artillery The Royal Engineers Precedence of 
 Corps Local Regiments Courts Martial Order of the 
 Bath Victoria Cross Decorations Pensions and Rewards 
 The Militia The Yeomanry. 
 
 THE force maintained for the defence of this king- 
 dom and its numerous dependencies against foreign 
 attack, for the support of order at home, and for 
 the security of our vast commerce, spreading over 
 the entire surface of the globe, consists principally 
 
 of THE ARMY and THE NAVY. 
 
 In treating of the first of these, I propose to 
 commence by telling you something about the 
 origin of a standing army in this country, and then 
 to explain its composition and management. 
 
 I have already described how the military ser- 
 vice of our ancestors was constituted under the 
 feudal system. In the rude ages in which it existed, 
 the force it provided was sufficient in every respect 
 
TBE FEUDAL SYSTEM. 95 
 
 to protect our shores. All persons holding knights 
 fees (of which there were more than 60,000 in 
 England alone), were bound to be in readiness to 
 attend their sovereign for forty days' service every 
 year. Those who were unable or unwilling to take 
 up arms were obliged to provide efficient substi- 
 tutes, so that when a rebellion broke out, or an in- 
 vasion was threatened, an army of 60,000 men 
 could be brought into the field with very littlf 
 delay, and no expense to the Crown. There were 
 few fortified places in those days, and campaigns 
 were not planned upon scientific principles. The 
 contending forces usually attacked each other 
 without delay, and the cause for which they fought 
 was generally won and lost within the forty days. 
 If the war was of longer duration, the feudal militia 
 were entitled to return to their homes, or, continu- 
 ing to serve, to be paid by the sovereign. 
 
 When our kings of the house of Piantagenet 
 began their foreign wars, and encountered the par- 
 tially trained soldiers of France, they found that they 
 required more continuous and experienced services 
 from their subjects than the Feudal system could 
 provide. They therefore began to commute the 
 military services of their tenants in capite for a 
 money payment, or scutage, as it was termed, 
 charged upon every knight's fee. Thus, when 
 Henry II. was about to engage in hostilities against 
 
96 MERCENARY SOLDIERS. 
 
 the Count of Toulouse, in 1159, instead of re- 
 quiring all his vassals to accompany him, he im- 
 posed upon them a scutage, which produced a sum 
 equal to 2,700,OOOZ. of the money of the present 
 day, with which he provided himself with an army 
 accustomed to the march, and to be relied upon on 
 the battle-field, and thus gained much popularity 
 from those of his subjects who preferred remaining 
 at home, in the pursuit of more peaceful avocations. 
 At last money payments were entirely substituted 
 for feudal services, which were finally abolished by 
 the statute 12 Charles II. c. 24. 
 
 Philip Augustus of France was the first king 
 who established an army of paid troops, in no way 
 connected with the feudal militia, to protect his 
 throne and humbler subjects from the lawlessness 
 and tyranny of his great vassals. From the fact 
 of their receiving money, they were called Soldati 
 (whence our word " soldier/") derived from soldo, 
 the Italian for pay. Several of our English 
 sovereigns also maintained similar bodies of mer- 
 cenaries, and paid them out of the revenues of the 
 vast estates belonging to the Crown. Kegular 
 garrisons were kept in the Tower of London, the 
 Castle of Dover, and in the Marches along the 
 Scottish border, posts of ,great military impor- 
 tance, where the presence of trained soldiers was 
 
ANCIENT WARFAKE. 97 
 
 always required ; but with these exceptions the 
 troops I have mentioned were only raised for some 
 special purpose, and were disbanded as soon as 
 the occasion for which they were embodied had 
 passed. 
 
 Until the reign of Charles VII. of France, what 
 we now designate a standing army that is, a 
 body of soldiers trained and paid by government, 
 and kept under arms during peace for the defence 
 of the State was unknown. By this time the 
 invention of gunpowder had entirely swept away 
 the ancient plan of making war. As long as per- 
 sonal courage, strength and daring, decided the 
 fate of a battle, war had great charms for noble 
 knights who fought each one at his own expense, 
 on horseback, cased in armour, and were always 
 the principal combatants. Intellectual employ- 
 ment was almost unknown in those days, war 
 and the chase being considered the only pursuits 
 worthy the attention of a gentleman. But the in- 
 troduction of firearms, especially artillery, deprived 
 brute force and valour of their exclusive impor- 
 tance. It was one thing, encased in proof mail, to 
 ride amongst an undisciplined and almost unarmed 
 herd of leather- clad countrymen, and to mow them 
 down with two-handed swords ; but to charge a 
 line of sturdy pikemen, supported by a rear rank of 
 JT 
 
98 STANDING ARMIES. 
 
 musketeers, whose bullets sent horse and rider 
 rolling in the dust before the latter had the oppor- 
 tunity of striking a blow, was a very different state 
 of affairs. Generals began to see the necessity for 
 regular tactics under these new conditions. A 
 crowd of armed men, each one fighting for himself, 
 was no longer of any use in settling the disputes of 
 nations. A military machine that could be di- 
 rected with exact and steady action by the master- 
 mind of the commander, was required. To produce 
 this, practice, training and strict and unquestion- 
 ing obedience were demanded, and the presence 
 of a lower order of men was required in the ranks. 
 The great importance of regular infantry became 
 every day more and more apparent ; war was re- 
 duced to a science, and standing armies were 
 established throughout the continent of Europe. 
 
 The origin of our own present standing army 
 dates as far back as 1660, when Charles II. formed 
 two regiments of guards, one of horse and one of 
 foot, and with these (and some other troops brought 
 over from abroad) he organized a force of 5000 
 men. This number was increased during the reign 
 of James II. to 30,000 soldiers. The embodiment 
 of this army was, however, never sanctioned by 
 Parliament ; the king raised it by his own autho- 
 rity, and paid it out of the civil list by wrongfully 
 
THE MUTINY ACT. 99 
 
 appropriating money granted for other purposes. 
 With this force he hoped to awe his subjects into 
 submitting to the unconstitutional encroachments 
 which had sent his father to the block. The hope, 
 however, was a delusive one. So treacherous and 
 fickle was his conduct, that civilians and the 
 military made common cause against him, and no 
 sooner had the Prince of Orange landed, than, as 
 you know, the army joined his standard almost to 
 a man. 
 
 But the danger which our forefathers thus es- 
 caped was a great one, and one which they were 
 determined not to risk again. If you will turn 
 back to my Letter in which I gave you some ex- 
 tracts from the Bill of Rights, you will see that 
 a standing army cannot be maintained without the 
 consent of Parliament. This is practically given 
 by passing the Mutiny Act, in which the number 
 of soldiers to be employed, the terms upon which 
 they shall be enlisted, the offences for which they 
 shall be punished, and the manner in which they 
 shall be billeted, paid and pensioned, is laid down. 
 The discipline of the army is regulated by the 
 Articles of War, which are issued by the Crown in 
 conformity with the Mutiny Act, and printed 
 with it. 
 
 You will remember my telling you that the 
 H2 
 
100 THE SECRETARY FOR WAJI. 
 
 sovereign is the head of the army ; but military 
 matters are managed entirely by the Secretary-of- 
 State for War, and the Commander-in-chief of the 
 Forces. 
 
 It is impossible to define with any great exact- 
 ness the functions of the Secretary-of-State for 
 War, as they seem to be mixed up with those of 
 the Commander-in-chief in a not very comprehen- 
 sible manner. This much, however, is clear, that 
 the former arranges the number of men that Par- 
 liament is to be called upon to provide for, and 
 forms the estimates accordingly ; decides what 
 troops are to be sent abroad in time of war ; ap- 
 points the generals who are to command them ; and 
 is the constitutional medium between the Govern- 
 ment and the army. The Commander-in-chief is 
 responsible for the discipline and recruiting of the 
 army. He is assisted by several subordinate 
 officers, such as 
 
 The Adjutant-General, who has the superin- 
 tendence of all matters relating to what is called 
 the personnel of the army ; he is the channel 
 through which all officers communicate with the 
 Commander-in-chief: and all instructions, regula- 
 tions and orders relative to the recruiting, organi- 
 zation and discipline of the army, and applications 
 for leave of absence, come through him. He regu- 
 
THE STAFF. 101 
 
 lates also the employment of officers upon the 
 staff, &c. 
 
 The Quartermaster-general, whose duty it is to 
 prescribe, map out, and plan routes of marches ; to 
 pitch camps and find quarters for the troops ; to 
 manage their embarkation and disembarkation ; to 
 provide the means of transport for their stores, &c. 
 
 The Paymaster-general, who distributes the pay 
 of the army, 
 
 The Commissary General supplies the troops 
 with stores and provisions. 
 
 Each of these officers has a host of subordinates 
 and clerks to transact the business of his depart- 
 ment 
 
 The British army consists of cavalry, infantry, 
 artillery, and engineers. That portion of it called 
 the Guards, or the " Household troops/'* as they 
 
 * The present strength of the Household troops is : 
 Foot Guards, 3 regiments, having 7 battalions, 6300 men, in- 
 clusive of 257 officers. 
 Cavalry, 3 regiments, 1320 men, inclusive of 99 officers. 
 
 There are two other corps attached to the person of the sove- 
 reign, and which are rarely employed but at levees and other 
 ceremonials ; but these can scarcely be considered, like the 
 Household troops, to form part of the army. The first is styled 
 the corps of " Gentlemen-at-arms," and consists of a captain, 
 lieutenant, standard-bearer, paymaster, clerk of the cheque or 
 adjutant, a harbinger, and forty gentlemen. The other is called 
 the "Yeomen of the guard," or, in common parlance, "Beef- 
 eaters," who until very lately have worn a singular costume, the 
 
J 02 CAVALRY. 
 
 are also termed, because they guard the palaces 
 and person of the sovereign, comprises the Grena- 
 dier, Coldstream, and Scots Fusileer regiments of 
 Foot Guards ; the 1st and 2nd regiments of Life 
 Guards, and the Royal Horse Guards, or Blues. 
 The three latter, which are cavalry, greatly dis- 
 tinguished themselves in the Peninsular war, as 
 well as at Waterloo, but they have not been em- 
 ployed on foreign service since 1815. The strength 
 of our regiments varies according to circumstances. 
 At present an ordinary regiment of cavalry on home 
 service consists of eight troops of fifty men each, 
 officered as follows : 
 
 1 Colonel. This is a mere titular rank, held by 
 some distinguished general, who, beyond receiving 
 the pay of the post, has very little to do with the 
 regiment. 
 
 1 Lieutenant-colonel, who commands it. 
 
 1 Major. 
 
 8 Captains. 
 
 8 Lieutenants,) 
 
 > one 01 whom is adjutant. 
 8 Cornets, ) 
 
 1 Paymaster. 
 ] Quartermaster. 
 
 fashion of which had not been altered since the days of Henry 
 VIII. This corps consists of 100 men, with the following offi- 
 cers : Captain, lieutenant, ensign, and two exons or corporals. 
 
INFANTRY. 103 
 
 ] Bidingmaste-r. 
 
 ] Surgeon. 
 
 1 Assistant -surgeon. 
 
 1 Veterinary surgeon. 
 
 Nearly all the infantry regiments have at present 
 two battalions. The regiment has but one colonel 
 (in the infantry as in the cavalry a mere titular 
 rank). Each battalion, which consists of twelve 
 companies of 100 men each (when at full strength), 
 is officered by 
 
 1 Lieutenant-colonel. 
 
 2 Majors. 
 12 Captains. 
 15 Lieutenants, 
 10 Ensigns, 
 
 1 Quartermaster. 
 
 1 Paymaster. 
 
 1 Instructor of musketry. 
 
 1 Surgeon. 
 
 2 Assistant-surgeons. 
 
 When a cavalry, or infantry, regiment is serving 
 in India, it has two lieutenant-colonels ; and the 
 former also has one, and the latter two, additional 
 assistant- surgeons. Regiments in India were paid 
 by the East India Company, not by this nation, 
 and received extra pay to place them upon an 
 
 ? one of whom is adjutant. 
 
104 QUARTERING OF TROOPS. 
 
 equality with its own army. Officers below 
 the rank of captain are called subalterns ; majors, 
 lieutenant-colonels, and colonels, field officers ; and 
 all above the latter grade, General officers. 
 
 When a regiment of cavalry, or an infantry bat- 
 talion, is sent abroad, two troops or companies re- 
 main behind, under a major, to form the depot, 
 which is to supply vacancies, &c. The remainder 
 are called the service troops, or companies. 
 
 When peace was proclaimed after the great war 
 with France, and the army returned, it was for awhile 
 popular enough ; but soon afterwards great political 
 agitation took place to such an extent, indeed, that 
 for a time the Habeas Corpus Act was suspended, 
 and our soldiers were scattered in small bodies over 
 the country to act as police and check disturbances, 
 particularly in Ireland. It was for a long time 
 deemed impolitic to familiarize the English people 
 with the display of soldiers massed together, and it 
 was hoped that, by their dispersion in detachments, 
 the existence of a standing army might be almost 
 ignored. This concession to popular prejudices, 
 which were not unreasonably founded, combined 
 with other politic and conciliatory measures, even- 
 tually restored confidence, and soldiers ceased to 
 be regarded as obnoxious agents of unconstitutional 
 power. The troops, meanwhile, from being cooped 
 
CAMPS. 105 
 
 tip in small detachments, had lost much of their 
 former efficiency ; and it was found that, when 
 occasionally brought together to execute manoeuvres 
 of any importance, they were strange to such 
 duties, and unhandy in the performance of them. 
 It was then felt that, if suddenly called upon to 
 meet a foreign foe, an army collected of such raw 
 materials would be no fair match for Continental 
 troops trained to act together in large bodies com- 
 prising every description of force, and forming com- 
 plete armies. To remedy this defect, camps were 
 subsequently formed, first at Chobham, and after- 
 wards at Aldershot, Shorncliffe, and the Curragh 
 in Ireland, and occasionally for siege operations at 
 Chatham, where our soldiers were enabled to practise 
 manoeuvring in large bodies, and rehearse some of 
 the ordinary operations of a campaign, and the at- 
 tack and defence of fortified places. When two or 
 more regiments act together, they form what is 
 called a brigade, and are commanded usually by the 
 senior Lt.-Col. as brigadier. Two or more brigades 
 form a division, and several divisions an army. 
 
 Officers in the Guards, and cavalry and infantry 
 of the Line, obtain their first and subsequent com- 
 missions up to the rank of major either by gift and 
 promotion by the cornmander-in-chief, in the name 
 of the sovereign, or by purchase from some of their 
 
106 PURCHASE SYSTEM. 
 
 comrades who have bought their commissions and 
 wish to dispose of them. Thus, if the major wishes 
 to sell, the senior captain who is ready and able to 
 purchase the step does so ; the senior lieutenant 
 buys the vacant captain's commission; and so on 
 down to the ensign or cornet, who sells the rank 
 from which he is promoted to the aspirant for 
 military fame who wishes to enter the service. But 
 no officer can be advanced in this way without the 
 approbation of the commander-in-chief, or until he 
 has served a certain time in the rank from which 
 he wishes to rise. Candidates for first commissions 
 must pass an examination before they are allowed 
 to enter the army. 
 
 There is no purchasing above the rank of 
 major. 
 
 Much has been said about the injustice of this 
 system of -promotion, and as much urged in its sup- 
 port. To do away with it, the nation must be pre- 
 pared to buy up all the commissions acquired under 
 it, which are as much the private property of the 
 officers who hold them as their swords. The lean- 
 ing of the military authorities towards a gradual 
 reform of the purchase system may, however, be 
 inferred, from the great number of officers who 
 now enter the army as ensigns without purchase. 
 Our regimental system is agreed upon all hands to 
 
PRICE OF COMMISSIONS. 
 
 107 
 
 be more perfect than that of any foreign army, and 
 although it may work injustice to individuals in 
 some cases, it would be rash to make any sudden 
 change, the introduction of which might impair the 
 present efficiency and soldier-like spirit of our 
 regimental officers. 
 
 It is essential, however, in reflecting upon this 
 subject, to bear in mind that in the scientific 
 branches of the army the Engineers and Artillery, 
 as well as the corps of Royal Marines promotion 
 is obtained by seniority, and that purchase in them 
 is unknown. These corps cannot be surpassed for 
 steady conduct and efficiency. 
 
 The following tables show the value of the 
 commissions of regimental officers, and their pay 
 per diem : 
 
 PRICE OF COMMISSIONS. 
 
 
 | 
 
 
 |d 
 
 
 | 
 
 K| g. 
 
 KA.NK. 
 
 1 
 
 11 
 
 hi 
 
 III 
 
 11 
 
 So 
 Tx-d 
 
 111! 
 
 
 g 
 
 w o 
 
 fi ?fl 
 
 CO 
 
 
 ^OJ ^ 
 
 
 j 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 " PH 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Major . 
 
 5,350 
 
 5,350 
 
 4,575 
 
 8,330 
 
 3,200 
 
 3,200 
 
 Captain 
 
 3,500 
 
 3,500 
 
 3,225 
 
 4,800 
 
 1,800 
 
 1,800 
 
 Lieutenant 
 
 1,785 
 
 1,600 
 
 1,190 
 
 2,050 
 
 700 
 
 700 
 
 2nd Lieutenant 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 500 
 
 Cornet 
 
 1,260 
 
 1,200 
 
 840 
 
 
 
 
 Ensign 
 
 
 
 
 
 450 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
108 
 
 DAILY PAY OF OFFICERS. 
 
 Eoyal 
 Engineers. 
 
 "^oTwr-l i-(OOt>. 
 
 o 
 
 ! 
 
 * In addii.ion to bis pay as a subaltern. t If 2nd Captain, 17*. 9d. I If 2nd Captain, 12*. Qd. 
 
 C,J5<1 rHO OOOOO 
 
 : : oo 
 
 o 
 
 
 BTILLERY. 
 
 Foot. 
 
 "^CSCOr-l rH O O l> 
 
 g" 
 
 oooocoo 
 
 .(^(MrHO OOOOO 
 
 :co i> 
 
 
 
 O O O iH O O 
 
 11 
 
 "^O 1 *!-! r-lrHOO 
 
 00 O 
 
 000 
 
 C^COrHrH OOOO 
 
 
 
 000 
 
 4* 
 
 I 
 
 : :t>?ci-ieocot>io(M>3i>.ociwDQOO 
 
 ^ OOOOOOOOOOrH-HOOOO 
 
 OOOOCDO 
 
 : eo o ot N t> o : : : ' 
 
 OOOr-lOO 
 
 I 1 ! 
 
 2 II 
 P5 
 cb 
 
 ^ ocot> o ooocoocooo 
 
 oooocooooooco 
 
 Cjj rHOO OOOOr-lp 
 
 (OOOO 
 
 OOOfiOOOOOOO 
 
 ^O 
 
 ^s ooco -* o 
 
 Cjj r-(i-(O O O 
 
 OCO CO OC5O OOOOO 
 
 :ocox o 
 
 35 co 10 05 w t^ o : : : : : 
 
 OOOOOOOOrtOO 
 
 111 
 
 O^3 
 
 .210 
 13 w 
 
 oo I'35T?W3 IO lOO I ' ' 
 
 O CO 
 
 icoo : i 
 i i 
 
 00 
 
 OO O CD O OO OOO 
 OOOi-<OOOOOCC 
 
 8 
 
 N 
 
 K 
 O 
 
 1 ] i 1 1 1 1 -.s 1 1 1 1 
 
 PM V 
 Adjutant 
 Quarter ("On appointment 
 faster | After 10 years' serv 
 *- **> 
 
 ' ' J8 Jo * ' V 
 
 "B 8 -'*i1jS% 5 ss 
 
 * L Jill 
 
 1] j . j 11 ; ! 
 
 JI lSli ;s 
 
 i 1 2*Oft S&! 
 
 11^ 1 
 
BREVET BANK. 109 
 
 The officers of the Foot Guards enjoy a peculiar 
 privilege, which entitles them to an accession of 
 army rank ; so that whilst in their own regiments 
 they are respectively captains, lieutenants, &c., in 
 the army at large they take a step higher, and rank 
 accordingly as lieutenant-colonels, majors, captains, 
 &c. What is called Brevet rank is given to officers 
 in all branches of the army as a reward for 
 brilliant and lengthened service ; and when such 
 nominal rank has been held for a certain number of 
 years, it is usually converted into substantial rank. 
 
 When officers desire to retire from active service 
 on account of ill health, wounds, &c., or when the 
 strength of a regiment is reduced, they are, on ob- 
 taining permission from the authorities, put upon 
 halfipay, which is a little more than a moiety of 
 the full pay of their rank ; they are, however, liable 
 to be called upon to resume their duties. 
 
 The British army is the only force in Europe 
 that is composed of volunteers. The great military 
 forces of the Continent depend almost wholly upon 
 conscription ; but in our service the ranks are filled 
 by voluntary enlistment, and recruiting parties are 
 stationed in all our large towns expressly for that 
 purpose. The recruit receives a sum of money as 
 bounty) and is provided with a kit of clothing and 
 necessaries. When enlisted he is taken before a 
 justice of the peace, who is directed by the Mutiny 
 
no 
 
 PAY OF PRIVATES. 
 
 Act to put to him certain questions, to give him 
 time to reflect upon what he has done, and to pre- 
 vent hasty or incautious enlistment. If he should 
 change his mind, he is dismissed upon paying a fine 
 of twenty shillings, popularly called smart money ; 
 but if he does not, he is attested, and after that, 
 should he abscond, he is considered and punished 
 as a deserter. If his conduct be good, he may rise 
 to be a non-commissioned, and even a commissioned 
 officer. In the latter case, he is presented in the 
 cavalry with 150Z., and in the infantry with 100J., 
 to purchase an outfit. 
 
 The following is a table of the pay of non-com- 
 missioned officers and privates, from which is de- 
 ducted a certain sum for their clothing and food : 
 
 
 1| 
 
 1 
 
 
 Koyal Artillery. 
 
 | 
 
 ts . 
 gg| 
 
 BANK. 
 
 |J 
 
 IJ 
 
 i 
 
 f 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 ||| 
 
 
 w 
 
 
 
 & 
 
 N 
 
 m 
 
 C3 
 
 
 *. d. 
 
 *. d. 
 
 . d. 
 
 8. d. 
 
 8. d. 
 
 8. d. 
 
 *. d. 
 
 Sergeants.. 
 
 2 8* 
 
 2 2 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 2 10 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 Corporals.. 
 
 
 1 5 
 
 1 4 
 
 2 4 
 
 2 2 
 
 2 4 
 
 1 7* 
 
 Privates... 
 
 HI* 
 
 1 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 5J 
 
 1 3* 
 
 1 5 
 
 1 3 
 
 Over and above all deductions, the private soldier 
 of the Line has about threepence left to him to 
 spend as he pleases. This may seem a small sum ; 
 but it must be remembered that his food and cloth- 
 ing are paid for, that he is provided with light, fire, 
 
DRAGOON REGIMENTS. Ill 
 
 and house-rent free, as well as medical attendance ; 
 and that, if he behaves himself well, he has good 
 prospects of promotion, and the certainty of a pen- 
 sion for his latter days. The majority of men in 
 the ranks of life from which he springs are certainly 
 not so well off in many respects. 
 
 I will now return to the organization of the army. 
 The cavalry are termed either heavy or light, ac- 
 cording to the nature of their respective duties on 
 service, and the manner in which they are mounted 
 and armed. Our heavy cavalry, besides the three 
 regiments of Household troops previously men- 
 tioned, consists of ten regiments, seven of which are 
 known as " Dragoon Guards," and the other three 
 as " Dragoons/'* We have at present fifteen regi- 
 ments of light cavalry, all officially styled " Light 
 Dragoons/' Of these, five regiments are Lancers, 
 so called from the weapon with which they are 
 armed namely, the 5th, 9th, 12th, 16th, and 17th 
 and six Hussars, which name is derived from the 
 Hungarian words husz (twenty), and ar (pay), 
 because every twenty houses had to provide one 
 horse soldier. The Hussar regiments are the 7th, 
 8th, 10th, llth, loth and 18t?h ; the remaining four 
 regiments have no other name than Light Dragoons. 
 
 * The term " dragoon" is derived from the Roman draconarii, 
 who bore lances ornamented with the figure of a dragon, and 
 were trained to fight both on horseback and on foot. 
 
112 NAMES OF REGIMENTS. 
 
 The Military Train is also a cavalry corps, its 
 duties being to transport stores and munitions of 
 war, to guard the baggage, &c. At present it 
 numbers 107 officers and 173 i men. 
 
 Each regiment is known by its number, and 
 many have a distinguishing name besides. Thus, 
 in the cavalry the 1st Dragoon Guards are called 
 "the King's;" the 4th Dragn. Guards, "the Eoyal 
 Irish;" the 6th Dragn. Guards, "the Carbineers/' 
 from the weapon they carry ; the 1st Dragoons are 
 called " Royals ;" the 2nd Drags, are the renowned 
 " Scots Greys ;" their old companions in glory, the 
 6th Drags, the " Inniskillens ;" the lltb Light 
 Drags, are " Prince Albert's Own Hussars." In the 
 infantry, which consists of 100 regiments, the 1st 
 Foot, formerly known as " the Royal Scots," is now 
 styled "Royals;" the 3rd Foot, "the Buffs;" 4th 
 Foot, "the King's Own;" 18th Foot, "the Royal 
 Irish;" 23rd Foot, "the Welsh . Fusileers ;" 26th 
 Foot, "'the Cameronians ;" 27th Foot, " Inniskillens ;" 
 33rd Foot, " the Duke of Wellington's Own Regi- 
 ment;" the S8th, "the Connaught Rangers;" the 
 100th Foot, just raised in Canada, " the Royal Cana- 
 dian Regiment." There are seven Highland regi- 
 ments* viz., the 42nd, 72nd, 74th, 78th, 79th, 
 
 * Of these, five regiments wear the kilt viz., the 42nd, 78th, 
 7&th, 92nd, and 93rd ; the other two wear the trews, or tartan 
 trousers , 
 
THE ROYAL ARTILLERY. 113 
 
 92nd, and 93rd ; five Fusileers, the 5th, 7th, 21st, 
 23rd, and 87th ; and nine Light Infantry regiments 
 viz., the 13th, 32nd, 43rd, 51st, 52nd, 68th, 71st 
 (Highland), 85th, and 90th. The 60th Regiment, 
 containing four battalions, is a Rifle corps; and 
 there is also a distinct corps (not numbered) called 
 the "Rifle Brigade/' likewise consisting of four 
 battalions. The first twenty-four regiments of foot 
 now have two battalions each. When any aug- 
 mentation of the army is required on the breaking 
 out of war, &c., it is customary to raise a second 
 battalion to existing regiments rather than to create 
 new ones. 
 
 Every battalion of foot has two flags, the Queen's 
 colour, or Union Jack, and the regimental colour, 
 upon which is emblasoned the arms or crest of the 
 corps, as well as the names of the victories to which 
 it has. contributed, inscribed under royal sanction. 
 The standards of the cavalry bear similar honour- 
 able decorations. 
 
 The Artillery has become in recent warfare the 
 most important arm of the military service. The 
 Royal Artillery is divided into brigades, which are 
 again subdivided into batteries. It numbers about 
 800 officers, 1500 non-commissioned officers, trum- 
 peters, and drummers, and 20,000 rank and file. 
 In the brigade of Horse Artillery there are 77 
 
 I 
 
114 THE ROYAL ENGINEERS. 
 
 officers, ]20 non-commissioned officers, &c., and 
 1700 privates. The gunners of the Royal Artil- 
 lery ride upon the tumbrils of the pieces ; those 
 of the Horse Artillery are mounted, and follow 
 them. 
 
 The Royal Engineers, the rank and file of winch 
 corps was formerly called the " Sappers and Miners/' 
 is also a most distinguished and useful branch of 
 the service. It is charged with the construction of 
 fortifications and entrenchments for the army in 
 the field, and to carry on mining operations". It 
 also conducts siege operations, constructs bridges 
 and pontoons for crossing rivers, and other neces- 
 sary works. At the commencement of the present 
 year the Royal Engineers consisted of 401 officers, 
 374 non-commissioned officers, &c., and 3918 
 privates. Commissions in the Artillery and Engi- 
 neers constituting the scientific corps of the army 
 are now thrown open for public competition ; 
 but candidates must be nominated by the com- 
 mander-in-chief before they can present themselves 
 for examination. This proviso, however, seems 
 only made to ensure the previous character of the 
 applicant being creditable. These two branches of 
 the service were formerly under the authority of 
 the Board of Ordnance, but are now merged into 
 the general management of the army. 
 
PIIECEDENCE OF CORPS. 115 
 
 The foregoing is an outline of the composition 
 of the hard-worked army of Great Britain, which 
 in turn is sent all over the world to protect her 
 rights and interests. 
 
 The etiquette of the army as to regimental pre- 
 cedence observed when forming the line at reviews 
 is as follows : 
 
 1 . The Artillery usually occupies both right and 
 left flanks. 
 
 2. The Cavalry is posted next to the Artillery 
 on the right. 
 
 3. The Foot Guards next to the Cavalry on the 
 right. 
 
 4. The Infantry of the Line on the left of the 
 Guards, according to the respective numbers of 
 their regiments. When the Royal Marines form 
 part of the line, their place is next after the 50th 
 Regiment. 
 
 The number of men voted for the British army 
 in the year 1865 was 142,477, at a total cost of 
 14,348,000^. This is, however, exclusive of be- 
 tween 70,000 and 80,000 men who are serving in 
 India, and are maintained out of the revenues of 
 that country. 
 
 In addition to the regular army we maintain 
 some local corps, which serve in the colonies and 
 foreign stations. These consist of 
 
116 COURTS MARTIAL. 
 
 Three regiments of blacks, which are recruited 
 and stationed in the West India islands and on the 
 coast of Africa. 
 
 Royal Malta Fencibles. 
 
 The Gold Coast Corps. 
 
 The St. Helena Regiment. 
 
 The Cape Mounted Rifles. 
 
 The Ceylon Rifles. 
 
 Royal Newfoundland Veteran Companies. 
 
 The Royal Canadian Rifle Regiment. 
 
 Offenders against military discipline are tried 
 before courts martial composed of officers selected 
 from the regiment or the garrison in which the 
 prisoner serves. The Judge-Advocate General, 
 who is a civilian nominated by Government, has 
 the control of these tribunals. A Deputy Judge- 
 Advocate, generally an officer, attends at every 
 trial, and sees that it is conducted according to 
 law. A member is appointed to preside, and the 
 charge against the accused, which must be in pro- 
 per form, is read over to him, and the evidence 
 against and for him heard and reduced to writing. 
 This done, the prisoner is ordered to withdraw, and 
 the court deliberates upon its verdict, which, as 
 well as. the punishment to follow it, should it be 
 one of "guilty/' is decided by a majority. The 
 
OEDlL-R OF THE BATH. 117 
 
 " proceedings/' comprising the charge and evidence, 
 are then submitted to the general commanding the 
 district, who either " approves and confirms them/' 
 or sends them back for further consideration, or 
 sets them aside altogether. The result of the trial is 
 not allowed to transpire, even to the prisoner, until 
 this officer's decision is made known. 
 
 The rewards for long and meritorious service 
 which are bestowed upon our brave defenders, 
 form a more pleasing subject than the last : these 
 are given in the shape of titles, pensions, promo- 
 tions and decorations. The sovereign has, as you 
 know, the right of bestowing any distinction upon a 
 subject. Peerages and baronetcies are frequently 
 given to the heroes of great military achievements, 
 and the people of England are by no means back- 
 ward in granting the substantial means necessary 
 for keeping up those dignities, as witness the pro- 
 vision made for Maryborough and Wellington by a 
 grateful nation, and in our time for Williams, the 
 gallant defender of Kars, and for the son of the 
 brave and lamented Havelock. 
 
 The Order of the Bath is a decoration much 
 coveted by military and naval officers. There is 
 also a civil branch of this Order for non-combatants: 
 it is divided into three ranks : 
 
 Knights Grand Crosses G,C.B. ; 
 
118 DECORATIONS. 
 
 Knights Commanders K.C.B. ; and 
 Companions C.B. 
 
 The decoration is a star. The order of St. Michael 
 and St. George is bestowed upon officers in the 
 army and navy who have distinguished themselves 
 in the Mediterranean. 
 
 But perhaps the most highly-prized decoration 
 worn by our army and navy is the lately instituted 
 Victoria Cross. This is a plain piece of bronze, 
 but upon it is imprinted the magic motto, " For 
 Valour" and it is only awarded for the most 
 devoted and daring bravery in the field. 
 
 Medals are often struck to commemorate suc- 
 cessful actions or campaigns, and are distributed 
 to, and worn by, all ranks that have taken part in 
 them. The medal itself commemorates the cam- 
 paign ; and clasps are frequently added to the 
 ribbon which suspends it, upon each of which is 
 engraved the name of the particular action for 
 which the wearer has received it. 
 
 Pensions are given to non-commissioned officers 
 and privates, who from wounds or infirmity are no 
 longer fit for service. Ou-pensioners receive their 
 pay, and live where they please. Some, the 
 youngest and most vigorous of these, are enrolled 
 for further service, if required, and are called out 
 for exercise every year. 
 
THE MILITIA. 119 
 
 /7i-pensioners are lodged and maintained in 
 the Hospitals at Chelsea near London, and Kil- 
 mainham in Dublin. 
 
 I must now draw this very long Letter to a con- 
 clusion, although, perhaps, I have not told you all 
 you might like to hear about our soldiers. But, 
 before I close it, there is a force which I must 
 not omit to describe, as it is the ancient consti- 
 tutional guardian of our shores, and of late years 
 has proved an admirable nursery for the regular 
 army, I mean the Militia. This term, in its 
 general sense, signifies the whole body of persons, 
 stipendiary or not, who bear arms for the defence of 
 the State ; but now its meaning is restricted to the 
 forces raised in our counties and commanded by 
 their lords-lieutenant. Formerly the Militia was 
 raised by ballot every person upon whom the lot 
 fell was bound to serve or find a substitute but 
 now its recruits are enlisted and bounty given to 
 them as in the regular army. Every county has its 
 regiment of Militia, the large ones having several : 
 thus Middlesex has five, and Lancashire and York- 
 shire eight apiece. Counties upon the sea-coast form 
 regiments of artillery and rifles; those in the in- 
 terior, infantry. These are generally called toge- 
 ther once every year for training during a period 
 of from twenty to twenty-seven days, or longer, at 
 
]20 THE MILITIA. 
 
 the option of the Government. Under recent Acts 
 of Parliament the Militia may be permanent^ em- 
 bodied, and even. sent abroad. During the late war 
 with Russia, many garrisons, both at home and in 
 the Mediterranean, were manned by Militia regi- 
 ments so embodied, much to their own credit and 
 greatly to- the advantage of the State, for we were 
 thus enabled to withdraw the regular troops from 
 those places, and to send them to reinforce our 
 hard-worked battalions before Sebastopol. More- 
 over, the Militia supplied thousands of recruits for 
 the line, men who had had some experience of a 
 soldier's life, liked it, and were already more than 
 half-trained to their duties. The officers and men 
 of the Militia, except the adjutant and staff, are 
 only paid when called out for training, or as long- 
 as they are embodied. The commissions of the 
 former are signed by the lord-lieutenant of the 
 county, but the adjutant is appointed by the Queen. 
 In England and Wales we have ninety-six regi- 
 ments of Militia ; in Scotland, seventeen ; and in 
 Ireland, forty-four. The army estimates provide 
 786,400?. for the disembodied militia in the year 
 J 865-6. The number of men to be called up for 
 27 days'- training is stated at 128,969. 
 
 A somewhat similarly constituted force to the 
 Militia is the Yeomanry, but greatly subordinate 
 
THE YEOMANEY. 121 
 
 to it in importance ; one object for which it is kept 
 up being apparently to provide certain country 
 gentlemen with a showy uniform, wherewith to 
 make a figure at court, instead of the unbecoming 
 footman-like costume in which etiquette demands 
 that simple gentlemen must appear at her Majesty's 
 levees and drawing-rooms. 
 
 The last branch of the military service to which 
 it is necessary for me to refer is the Volunteer 
 force. Owing its origin to the dread of a French 
 invasion, it has survived the cause from which it 
 sprang, and has now become a permanent element 
 in our system of national defence. At present it 
 consists of about 160,000 men, who give their ser- 
 vices gratuitously, although a small sum is annually 
 voted by Parliament in order to defray a portion at 
 least of the necessary expenses of the various corps. 
 
LETTER XII. 
 
 THE NAVY. 
 
 Popularity of the Navy Early History Naval Ascendency 
 Prizes of War Size of Men- of -War The Board of Admi- 
 ralty Rating of Ships Officers of a Man-of-War Stations of 
 Ships Pay of Officers Relative Army and Navy Rank 
 Commissions in the Navy Pay of Warrant Officers of Sailors 
 Pensioners The Coast Guard Ivoyal Marines Pay in the 
 Marines. 
 
 THE navy of Great Britain is perhaps the most 
 popular of our national forces, and deservedly so. 
 Our army has won us honour and triumphs abroad, 
 but it is to the navy that we owe our security at 
 home. From the time when Lord Howard of 
 Effingham, with his great sea captains Drake, 
 Hawkins, and Frobisher, scattered before them 
 the wrecks of the so-called "Invincible" Spanish 
 Armada down to that eventful day when Nel- 
 son's victorious cannons roared in the Bay of 
 Trafalgar, it has been our best bulwark against 
 the invader, and but for our stout wooden walls, 
 his devastating footsteps might even now be 
 traced upon our pleasant pastures. The navy 
 has never been looked upon with suspicion as a 
 
POPULAK1TY OF THE NAVY. 123 
 
 force which might be employed by an unconstitu- 
 tional sovereign to curtail the liberties and rights 
 of the people. On the contrary, save during that 
 humiliating epoch in our history when our king 
 was the pensioner of a French monarch, and ap- 
 plied to his vices and pleasures the sums which 
 should have gone to maintain the fleet, it has been 
 the special care both of governors and governed to 
 keep up its strength and efficiency. In the year 
 1707 the House of Lords, in an address to Queen 
 Anne, said " that the honour, security and wealth 
 of this kingdom depend upon the protection and 
 encouragement of trade and the improving and 
 right encouraging its naval strength . . . there- 
 fore ^ue do, in the most earnest manner, beseech 
 your majesty that the sea affairs may ahuays be 
 your first and most peculiar care." It will be 
 an evil day for England when the principle laid 
 down in this address is departed from. 
 
 Previous to the reign of Elizabeth our sovereigns 
 had but few ships of war. The naval force col- 
 lected to oppose the Armada was the largest arma- 
 ment that had ever been brought together under 
 an English commander. It consisted of 176 ships 
 and about 15,000 men. But of this fleet only 40 
 ships and 6000 sailors belonged to the royal navy ; 
 the rest were contributed by London, Bristol, 
 
124 EARLY HISTORY. 
 
 Yarmouth, the Cinque Ports, &c. The navy had 
 not yet become a separate service and distinct 
 profession. Our captains were soldiers or sailors 
 as occasion required. At the battle of Flodden 
 Field the admiral of England led the right wing 
 of the army, and Lord Howard of Effingham was 
 never bred up to the sea. The career of John 
 Sheffield, Earl of Mulgrave, shows how naval ap- 
 pointments were made in the latter part of the 
 sixteenth century. At the age of seventeen he 
 volunteered to serve at sea against the Dutch, and 
 after six weeks returned home to take the com- 
 mand of a troop of horse. Six years afterwards 
 he was made captain of an eighty-four gun ship, 
 although in the whole course of his life he had 
 never been three months afloat. A short time 
 afterwards he was given a regiment of foot ! 
 Under the first sovereigns of the house of Stuart 
 our navy degenerated : but the vigorous and 
 able administration of Oliver Cromwell speedily 
 raised it to a magnitude and power hitherto un- 
 known. He divided it into rates and classes, 
 and under the command of Admiral Blake it 
 not only equalled, but surpassed, the famous ma- 
 rine of Holland. James II. himself a naval 
 commander and his own Lord High Admiral 
 also paid great attention to marine affairs. At his 
 
NAVAL ASCENDENCY. 
 
 125 
 
 abdication, the fleet amounted to 173 sail, measuring 
 101,892 tons, and having on board 6,930 guns and 
 42,000 seamen. Since this time the efficiency of 
 the royal navy has steadily increased, and although 
 there have been periods in which the combined 
 fleets of France and Spain and other coalitions 
 have deprived us for a short time of our ascen- 
 dency, the victories of Rodney, Howe, Duncan, St. 
 Vincent, and Nelson soon restored to us that sove- 
 reignty of the sea to which, from our extended em- 
 pire, our enormous commerce,* and our maritime 
 habits and prowess, we may still justly lay claim. 
 
 The following tables will show the triumphs of 
 our gallant tars in the last wars, in which they took 
 a principal part : 
 
 Ships taken or destroyed- by the Naval and Marine 
 forces of Great Britain in the French Revolu- 
 tionary War ending 1802. 
 
 FOSCE. 
 
 French. 
 
 Dutch. 
 
 Spanish. 
 
 Other 
 
 Nations. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Ships of the Line 
 Fifty- gun ships 
 
 45 
 
 2 
 
 25 
 1 
 
 11 
 
 o 
 
 2 
 
 o 
 
 i 
 
 S3 
 3 
 
 Frigates 
 
 133 
 
 31 
 
 20 
 
 7 
 
 191 
 
 
 161 
 
 32 
 
 55 
 
 lo 
 
 9 Gi 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Grand Total 
 
 341 
 
 89 
 
 86 
 
 25 
 
 641 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 * Some idea may be formed of the gigantic extent of the 
 British commercial marine, from the fact that in 1863 it com- 
 prise! 20,877 vessels, of 4,795,279 tons, and manned by 184,727 
 sailors. 
 
126 
 
 PRIZES OF WAR. 
 
 dumber of Ships talcen or destroyed in the War against 
 Buonaparte ending 1814. 
 
 FORCE. 
 
 French. 
 
 Spanish. 
 
 Danish. 
 
 Eussian. 
 
 American. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Ships of the Line 
 
 70 
 
 27 
 
 23 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 124 
 
 Fifty- gun ships 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 Frigates 
 
 77 
 
 36 
 
 24 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 148 
 
 Sloops, &c 
 
 188 
 
 64 
 
 16 
 
 7 
 
 13 
 
 288 
 
 Grand Total... 
 
 3i2 1 127 
 
 64 
 
 17 
 
 19 
 
 669 
 
 It thus appears that in a period of about twenty- 
 one years our fleet had taken or destroyed one 
 thousand one hundred and ten ships of the navies 
 of our enemies ! 
 
 The introduction of steamers as ships of war has 
 caused a great revolution in naval tactics. For- 
 merly the main object of a commander was to get 
 what is called the weather gauge of his enemy ; 
 that is to say, to sail on the side of him from which 
 the wind is coming, so as to enable him to manoeuvre 
 round and rake him by sweeping the whole length 
 of his decks with his guns in crossing his bow or 
 stern. Steamers, however, are almost wholly in- 
 dependent of wind or tide, and screw-steamers 
 combine the advantages of steaming with sailing. 
 Our ships are now built very much larger, and 
 carry more and much heavier guns than they did 
 
SIZE OF MEN-OF-WAK. 127 
 
 even twenty years ago; in fact, the largest ships- 
 of-the-line with which Nelson and Collingwood 
 fought would be considered as mere frigates in 
 comparison with the mighty men-of-war of the 
 present day. Nor is it merely in their size that the 
 men-of-war of to-day differ from those of other 
 times. Formerly, as I daresay you know, they 
 were constructed of wood ; but, in order to cope 
 with the terribly destructive power of modern ar- 
 tillery, they are now covered with thick plates of 
 iron, and, indeed, in most cases the ships of what 
 may be called our effective fighting navy are en- 
 tirely built of that material. 
 
 The general direction and control of all affairs 
 connected with the royal navy is now entrusted by 
 her Majesty to the Commissioners for discharging 
 the duties of Lord High Admiral. From the reign 
 of Queen Anne down to the present time, with the 
 exception of a short period during which William 
 IV., when Duke of Clarence, held it, that high 
 office has never been entrusted to a single indi- 
 vidual. The commission for performing its duties 
 consists of the First Lord of the Admiralty a 
 cabinet minister and from four to six junior lords. 
 Civilians may be appointed to these posts, but at 
 least two of the loi'ds are always naval officers. 
 
128 THE BOARD OF ADMIRALTY. 
 
 Practically speaking, all the power and authority 
 of the Board of Admiralty, as the commission is 
 sometimes called, is vested in the First Lord. Its 
 powers are extensive and important. By its orders 
 all ships are built, repaired, fitted for sea, put in 
 commission and out of commission, armed, stored, 
 and provisioned, despatched on home or foreign 
 service, broken up, and sold. All appointments 
 and removals of commissioned and warrant officers 
 are made by its orders. All promotions in the 
 several ranks (except to that of Admiral, to which 
 Captains are promoted by seniority), all honours, 
 pensions, and gratuities, are granted upon its re- 
 commendation. All returns from the fleet, and 
 everything that relates to the order and disci- 
 pline of every ship, are sent in and reported to 
 this board. The annual estimates of the expenses 
 of the navy are prepared by the Lords Commis- 
 sioners, and are laid before Parliament by the First 
 Lord, or by the Secretary to the Admiralty. The 
 sums voted are expended by or under the direction 
 of the board. They also have the direction of all 
 buildings arid machinery in the dockyards, and no 
 new inventions can be adopted and no alterations 
 made in them without their sanction. 
 
 The ships of the royal navy were, by an 
 order in council dated 1816, divided into six 
 
EATING OF SHIPS. 129 
 
 rates,* or classes according to their size, &c., as 
 follows : 
 
 First-rates. All three- decked ships. 
 
 Second-rates. One of her Majesty's yachts, and 
 two-decked ships carrying not less than 80 guns, or 
 which have a complement of not less than 750 men. 
 
 Third-rates. Her Majesty's other yachts, and 
 all such vessels as may bear the flag or pendant 
 of any admiral, or captain superintendent of a 
 royal dockyard, and all ships carrying under 80, 
 and not less than 70, guns, or which have a com- 
 plement under 750, and not less than 620, men. 
 
 Fourth-rates. Ships carrying under 70, and not 
 less than 50, guns, or the complements of which 
 are under 620, and not less than 450, men. 
 
 Fifth-rates. All ships under 50 guns, and not 
 less than 30, or the complements of which are 
 under 450, and not less than 300, men. And 
 
 Sixth-rates which comprise three classes : 
 
 1. All other ships bearing a captain. 
 
 2. Sloops comprising bomb ships, and all other 
 vessels with commanders. 
 
 3. All other ships commanded by lieutenants, 
 and having complements of not less than 60 men. 
 
 * This classification is still nominally in force ; but it is prac- 
 tically obsolete, since it does not deal with the most important 
 vessels of our existing navy the iron-clads. 
 
 K 
 
130 OFFICERS OF A MAN OF WAR. 
 
 A First-rate has usually on board the following 
 officers : 
 1 Captain. 
 1 Commander. 
 6 Lieutenants, or more. 
 1 Master. 
 
 1 Captain of Marines. 
 
 2 Lieutenants of Marines. 
 1 Chaplain. 
 
 1 Surgeon. 
 
 2 Mates. 
 
 1 Assistant Surgeon. 
 
 1 Paymaster. 
 
 1 Second Master. 
 
 1 Chief Engineer (if a Steamer). 
 
 1 Naval Instructor. 
 
 Midshipmen and naval cadets according to cir- 
 cumstances. 
 
 If the ship carries the flag of an admiral, there 
 are besides that officer his flag-lieutenant and 
 secretary, on board. 
 
 Ships of lesser rates are officered in like manner ; 
 the number of lieutenants, &c., being proportioned 
 to their complement, and number of guns. 
 
 The following is an extract from a return of the 
 number of our iron-plated ships and batteries in 
 June, 1865 : 
 
IRON -PLATED SHIPS. 
 
 131 
 
 NAMES. 
 
 No. 
 of 
 Guns. 
 
 Tonnage. 
 
 Horse 
 Power. 
 
 Afloat. 
 
 
 
 
 Black Prince 
 
 41 
 
 6,109 
 
 1,250 
 
 Warrior 
 
 40 
 
 6,109 
 
 1,250 
 
 Defence 
 
 18 
 
 3,720 
 
 600 
 
 Resistance ... 
 
 18 
 
 3,710 
 
 600 
 
 Achilles 
 
 26 
 
 6,321 
 
 1,250 
 
 Hector 
 
 20 
 
 4,089 
 
 800 
 
 Valiant 
 
 24 
 
 4,076 
 
 800 
 
 Minotaur 
 
 26 
 
 6,621 
 
 1,350 
 
 Agincoturt ... 
 
 26 
 
 6,621 
 
 1,350 
 
 Royal Oak 
 
 35 
 
 4,056 
 
 800 
 
 Prince Consort 
 
 31 
 
 4,045 
 
 1,000 
 
 Caledonia- 
 
 30 
 
 4,125 
 
 1,000 
 
 Ocean ... 
 
 23 
 
 4,047 
 
 1,000 
 
 Royal Alfred 
 
 18 
 
 4,068 
 
 800 
 
 Zealous 
 
 20 
 
 3,716 
 
 800 
 
 Bellerophon... 
 
 16 
 
 4,270 
 
 1,000 
 
 Lord Clyde 
 
 24 
 
 4,067 
 
 1,000 
 
 Lord Warden 
 
 24 
 
 4,080 
 
 1,000 
 
 Pallas 
 
 6 
 
 2,126 
 
 600 
 
 Favorite 
 
 10 
 
 2,094 
 
 400 
 
 Research 
 
 4 
 
 1,253 
 
 200 
 
 Enterprise 
 
 4 
 
 993 
 
 160 
 
 Royal Sovereign 
 
 5 
 
 3,765 
 
 800 
 
 Prince Albert 
 
 4 
 
 2,511 
 
 500 
 
 Scorpion 
 
 4 
 
 1,857 
 
 350 
 
 Wyvern 
 
 4 
 
 1,857 
 
 350 
 
 Building. 
 
 
 
 
 Northumberland 
 
 26 
 
 6,621 
 
 1,350 
 
 Viper ... 
 
 4 
 
 737 
 
 160 
 
 Vixen 
 
 4 
 
 754 
 
 160 
 
 Waterwitch . . . 
 
 4 
 
 111 
 
 167 
 
 Penelope 
 
 10 
 
 2,947 
 
 600 
 
 Hercules 
 
 Design not completed. 
 
132 
 
 OFFICEES OF THE NAVY. 
 
 NAMES. 
 
 No. 
 of 
 Guns. 
 
 T 
 
 "(milage. 
 
 Horse 
 Power. 
 
 Floating Batteries. 
 
 
 
 
 Erebus 
 
 16 
 
 1,954 
 
 200 
 
 Terror 
 
 16 
 
 1,971 
 
 200 
 
 Thunderbolt 
 
 16 
 
 1,973 
 
 200 
 
 Etna 
 
 16 
 
 1,588 
 
 200 
 
 Thunder 
 
 14 
 
 1,469 
 
 150 
 
 According to the Navy Estimates for the year 
 1865-6, the force to be maintained will be 69,750 
 officers, seamen, and boys, including 17,000 Ma- 
 rines. The total cost of the navy, inclusive of 
 building stores, and various other items for the 
 year, is stated in the estimates at 10,892,224^. 
 
 There are three gradations of admirals in the 
 royal navy, viz. : Admirals, Vice- Admirals, and 
 Rear- Admirals. Admirals bear their flags at the 
 main-top-gallant mast head ; vice-admirals at the 
 fore-top-gallant mast head; and rear-admirals at 
 the mizen-top-gallant mast head. 
 
 All admirals are called flag-officers. 
 
 I gave you a tabular statement of the pay of 
 officers in the army ; I am afraid I cannot put 
 the full pay of the officers of the navy into the 
 
PAY OF OFFICEKS. 133 
 
 same shape, as there are, as you will see, so 
 many variations in its amounts. They are as 
 follow : 
 
 MILITARY BRANCH. 
 
 s. d. 
 ADMIRAL OP THE FLEET ... 2,190 per annum. 
 
 ADMIRAL ......... 1,825 
 
 VICE- ADMIRAL ......... 1,460 00 
 
 E EAR- ADMIRAL, and ) j Q^ Q Q 
 
 COMMODORE of the 1st Class ; 
 
 CAPTAIN OF THE FLEET ... 1,095 00 
 
 COMMODORE of the 2nd Class, 
 If commanding in chief, 
 
 (in addition to his pay as 
 
 Captain) ......... 365 
 
 'Jf not commanding in chief 
 
 (in addition to his pay as 
 
 Captain) ......... 182 10 
 
 CAPTAINS, 
 
 To the first 70 ...... 600 14 7 
 
 To the next 100 ...... 500 7 1 
 
 To the remainder ...... 399 19 7 
 
 COMMANDER, 
 In all rates ......... 365 00 
 
 LIEUTENANT, 
 
 In command of a ship ... 200 15 ,, 
 
 All others 182 10 
 
134 PAY OF OFFICERS. 
 
 MASTER, s. d. 
 
 After 25 years' service ... 365 per annum. 
 
 20 ... 328 10 
 
 35 ... 273 15 3 
 
 10 ... 219 00 
 
 6 ... 200 15 
 
 All others 182 10 
 
 SECOND MASTER, 
 
 If qualified for a Master ... 136 17 6 
 
 If not qualified for ditto ... 91 5 
 
 MIDSHIPMAN 31 18 9 
 
 MASTER'S ASSISTANT ... ... 47 2 11 
 
 NAVAL CADET 1614 7 
 
 CIVIL BRANCH. 
 
 PAYMASTER, 1st Class 600 71 
 
 2nd Class 474 10 
 
 3rd Class 349 15 10 
 
 4th Class... ... 34=9 8 4 
 
 CHIEF ENGINEER, 
 
 After 25 years' service, if 
 qualified for 1st or 2nd 
 
 rates ... 365 
 
 After 20 years' service, ditto 328 10 
 
 15 " ... 282 17 6 
 
 '10 ,., 237 5 
 
 5 ... 209 17 
 
 Under 5 191 12 6 
 
PAY OF OFFICERS. 
 
 135 
 
 ASSISTANT ENGINEER, 1st Class 
 2nd Class 
 
 s. d. 
 
 136 17 6 per annum. 
 109 10 
 
 CHAPLAIN, 
 
 According to length of ser- 
 vice, from ... 182100 to 20015 
 
 SURGEON, 
 
 According to length of ser- 
 vice, from ... 273 15 to 456 5 
 
 ASSISTANT SURGEON, 
 
 According to length of ser- 
 vice, from ... 182 10 to 237 5 
 
 NAVAL INSTRUCTOR, 
 
 After 20 years' service 237 5 per ami. 
 
 15 " 209 17 6 
 
 10 182 10 
 
 7 155 26 
 
 3 136 17 6 
 
 Under 3 127 15 
 
 With a tuition 
 allowance for 
 , each young 
 gentleman 
 instructed of 
 51. 
 
 CLERK 
 
 73 
 
 I have not included in the foregoing state- 
 incut all the officers and clerks of the civil branch, 
 but just enough of them to give you a suffi- 
 cient notion of the rate of pay of officers in the 
 navy. 
 
 The following table will show you the relative 
 rank of officers in the army and navy : 
 
136 RELATIVE ARMY AND NAVY RANK. 
 
 1. The Admiral of the Fleet ranks with a Eield Marshal in 
 the army. 
 
 2. Admirals rank with Generals. 
 
 3. Vice-Admirals Lieut-Generals. 
 
 4. Rear- Admirals Major-Generals . 
 
 5. Commodores of the First"! 
 
 Class, Second Class and the I Brigadier-Generals, 
 
 Director General of the Medi- [ 
 cal Department of the Navy . J 
 
 6. Captains after 3 years' service Colonels. 
 
 7. Other Captains Lieut.-Colonels. 
 
 8. Commanders, Secretaries"] 
 
 to Flag Officers, and Deputy [ -..- . 
 
 Inspectors General of Hospitals j 
 and Fleets ... J 
 
 9. Lieutenants, 
 Masters of the Fleet, 
 Inspectors of machinery 
 
 afloat, 
 Masters, 
 Chief Engineers, 
 Chaplains, 
 Secretaries, 
 Surgeons, 
 Paymasters, 
 
 10. Mates, 
 Assistant Surgeons, 
 
 11. Second Masters, 
 Passed Clerks, 
 Midshipmen, 
 
 But no officer of the navy can assume command 
 of land forces, neither can an officer of the army 
 assume command of any ship. 
 
 r 
 
 Captains. 
 
 Lieutenants. 
 Ensigns. 
 
COMMISSIONS IN THE NAVY. 137 
 
 The number of officers employed and unem- 
 ployed, on the active list of the Royal Navy on the 
 1st of July, 1865, is given as follows : 
 
 Flag Officers 81 
 
 Captains 300 
 
 Commanders ... ... ... 399 
 
 Lieutenants... .'. 733 
 
 Masters 244 
 
 Engineers ... ... ... ... 229 
 
 Second Masters ... ... ... 14 L 
 
 Chaplains ... ... ... ... 15G 
 
 Naval Instructors ... ... ... 102 
 
 Surgeons 287 
 
 Assistant Surgeons... ... ... 285 
 
 Paymasters... 299 
 
 Assistant Paymasters ... ... 277 
 
 In addition to these there are a large number of 
 officers (no longer available for active service), on 
 the reserved and retired lists. 
 
 Commissions and promotions in the navy are not 
 obtained by purchase, but young gentlemen enter 
 this service as naval cadets, after passing an ex- 
 amination ; and promotion to every subsequent 
 step up to the rank of captain, must be preceded 
 by a similar test of efficiency. 
 
 Sailors for manning the navy were not long ago 
 obtained, during time of war, by impressment. 
 Armed parties, under the command of an officer, 
 called press-gangs, used to land at a port and 
 
138 PAY OF WARRANT OFFICERS AND SAILORS. 
 
 carry off by force any seafaring men that they 
 could lay their hands on, to serve in the royal 
 navy. Under laws, now repealed, justices of the 
 peace had power to give rogues and vagabonds 
 the alternative of going to jail, or serving in the 
 fleet ! But no such measures are now resorted 
 to ; seamen, like soldiers, enter the Queen's service 
 at their own free will, and receive bounty for so 
 doing. 
 
 The pay of some of the warrant, and petty 
 officers, answering to the non-commissioned officers 
 of the army, and of sailors in the royal navy, is as 
 follows : 
 
 WARRANT OFFICERS. 
 Gunner, \ s. d. 
 
 Boatswain, 
 
 and 
 Carpenter, 
 
 1st Class 164 5 per annum. 
 '2nd 127 15 
 3rd 109 10 
 
 PETTY OFFICERS. 
 
 Chief Gunner's Mate, \ 
 
 Chief Boatswain's Mate, 
 
 Chief Carpenter's Mate, 
 
 Ship's Cook, 
 
 Gunner's Mate, \ 
 
 Captain of the Fore-top, 39 10 
 
 Captain of the Hold, ) 
 
 Coxswain of the Barge, \ 
 
 Captain of the Mast, 34 19 7 
 
 Yeoman of the Signals, ) 
 
PENSIONERS. 139 
 
 s. d. 
 
 Stoker and Coal Trimmer 3610 per annum. 
 
 Able Seaman 28 17 11 
 
 Ordinary Seaman 22 16 3 
 
 Boy, 1st Class ... ..-. ... 10 12 11 
 Boy, 2nd Class 926 
 
 Pensions are granted to all seamen discharged 
 after twenty-one years' service for any cause 
 other than misconduct. Sailors who engage for 
 what is called continuous service, receive the pay 
 I have set against their names as long as they 
 remain in the service. Those who enlist otherwise 
 receive full pay whilst their ships are in commis- 
 sion, when the ship is put out of commission they 
 are paid off and discharged. It is in the discretion 
 of the Board of Admiralty to award pensions under 
 any circumstances. 
 
 Pensioners are divided into two classes, in and 
 out pensioners of Greenwich Hospital. This mag- 
 nificent building, once a royal palace, was appro- 
 priated in the reign of William III. as an asylum 
 for seamen, who by wounds, age, or accident, have 
 become unfit for further active service. When, 
 after the famous battle of La Hogue, crowds of 
 maimed and suffering sailors were cast upon their 
 country, Queen Mary, the good and gentle wife of 
 that monarch, showed great solicitude for their 
 
140 THE COAST GUARD. 
 
 welfare, and wished to found an institution to re- 
 lieve and maintain them. Upon her death, which 
 took place soon afterwards, her sorrowing husband 
 set apart the palace of Greenwich for that purpose. 
 It has been greatly improved and enlarged since 
 then, and it stands a national memorial of one of 
 our greatest naval victories, and a monument to 
 the memory of her who, amidst the exultations 
 that followed the triumph, did not forget those 
 whose blood had been shed to gain it. 
 
 The rules and provisions for the enforcement of 
 discipline and good order in the navy are embo- 
 died in an Act of Parliament passed in the 19th 
 year of George III., and offenders against them are 
 tried by courts-martial, nearly in the same way as 
 in the army, except that the court must be held in 
 a ship afloat, and that its decision does not require 
 confirmation, and is made public directly it is de- 
 livered. 
 
 The Coast Guard until lately was partly under 
 the control of the Admiralty, and partly under 
 that of the Excise. It was manned in a great 
 measure, and commanded, by men and officers 
 from the navy, but was a separate service. It is 
 now incorporated with the royal navy. Its duties 
 are to capture smugglers and to prevent the land- 
 ing of contraband goods. To carry out these, 
 
ROYAL MARINES, 141 
 
 small fast-sailing vessels, ranging from one hundred 
 and fifty down to twenty-three tons, carrying from 
 five to thirty-two men, and commanded by lieu- 
 tenants in the navy, or by civilians from the mer- 
 chant service, cruise about our coasts. Stations 
 also are formed on shore from which patrols are 
 sent out, and where watch is kept day and 
 night. 
 
 The Coast Volunteers are a sort of seafaring 
 militia, trained for service with the navy in case 
 of emergency, 
 
 The Royal No/oal Reserve consists of volunteers 
 from the mercantile service who undergo a certain 
 amount of training annually in time of peace, and 
 hold themselves at the disposal of the country in 
 time of war. Merchant vessels, whose crews com- 
 prise a certain proportion of naval reserve men, 
 have a right to carry the Blue ensign, ordinary 
 merchantmen being restricted to the use of the 
 Red ensign ; while men-of-war bear the White 
 ensign. 
 
 The corps of Royal Marines is under the control 
 of the Board of Admiralty, and forms part of the 
 establishment of the navy. It serves on board our 
 ships, and garrisons the royal dockyards. The date 
 of the formation of this force has not been exactly 
 ascertained : we first hear of it in the year 1684 
 
140* PAY IN THE MARINES. 
 
 It is now separated into two sections, the Marine 
 Light Infantry and the Royal Marine Artillery: 
 the former consists of four divisions, which are 
 stationed respectively, at Chatham, Portsmouth, 
 Plymouth, and Woolwich, and number more than 
 1 00 companies. There are thirteen companies of 
 Marine Artillery, the head-quarters of which are at 
 Portsmouth. The following is a table of the an- 
 nual pay of officers and men in the Marines : 
 
 Light Infantry. Artillery. 
 
 OFFICERS. 8. d. S. d. 
 
 1st Colonel Commandant 702 12 6 ... 
 2nd Colonel Commandant 365 ... 476 1 3 
 Lieutenant Colonel 310 5 ... 326 19 7 
 Captain, having higher rank by brevet 247 17 11 ... 257 5 
 Captain . 211 7 11 220 10 5 
 
 1st Lieutenant, after 7 years' service. 136 17 6 ... 142 19 2 
 under ... 118 12 6 ... 124 14 6 
 Adjutant, besides pay as Lieutenant. 118 12 6 ... 
 2nd Lieutenant 95 16 3 ... 101 16 11 
 Cadet 66 18 4 ... 
 
 NON- COMMISSIONED OFFICERS AND PRIVATES. 
 
 Sergeant Major 5415 0... 7418 Oj 
 Sergeant ... 33 9 2 .... 44 9 8i 
 
 Corporal, 1st Class ... 
 2nd ... 
 Private, 1st Class 
 2nd , 
 
 .27 7 6 ... 42 11 8 
 24 6 8 ... 39 10 10 
 21 5 10 ... 26 4 8 
 
 18 5 ... 23 3 
 
 Gentlemen enter this service as cadets, and are 
 instructed in their profession on board The Excel- 
 lent, gunnery ship, at Portsmouth. The most pro- 
 
PAY IN THE MARINES. 141* 
 
 ficient are chosen for the Marine Artillery, the 
 junior officers of which force are selected from the 
 most capable of their rank in the general body of 
 the Royal Marines. 
 
 Promotion in this corps goes entirely by 
 seniority. 
 
 All the rewards for long and distinguished ser- 
 vices and bravery, that I mentioned in my letter 
 upon the army, are open to officers in the navy 
 and Marines. 
 
142 
 
 LETTER XIII. 
 
 THE LAW. 
 
 j?he Common Law Statute Law Civil Law Roman Civil 
 Law Equity Conflicts of Law and Equity New Procedure 
 Interpretation of the Law The Sheriff, his Office and Re- 
 sponsibility in executing and enforcing the Law. 
 
 I SHALL now proceed to the second division of my 
 
 subject, the 
 
 "PRACTICE OF THE LAW OF ENGLAND/' 
 
 Our law is of two kinds, the unwritten, or 
 Common Law, made up of ancient customs,* either 
 general, affecting the whole kingdom, or special) 
 having force only in particular places ; and the 
 written, or Statute Law, made and altered from 
 time to time in Parliament, as I have described in 
 a former Letter. The Common, and the Statute 
 Law, are declared and interpreted by the decisions 
 of the judges contained in the law reports. 
 
 The law thus composed may again be divided 
 under two heads : the Civil Law, which relates to 
 the rights of the people amongst themselves, giving 
 remedies by action, in which the person aggrieved 
 is called the plaintiff, and he against whom the 
 
 * A " custom," to be good iu point of law, must have existed 
 from, time immemorial. 
 
EQUITY. 143 
 
 proceedings are taken the defendant ; and the 
 Criminal Law, which is put in operation by pro- 
 secution, in the name of the Sovereign, against evil- 
 doers. 
 
 A particular code of Civil Law derived from the 
 Roman Civil Law, and some portions of the Roman 
 Canon Law, is adopted in the Ecclesiastical and 
 Admiralty Courts, and the Courts of Probate and 
 Matrimonial Causes, which severally decide cases 
 relating to the discipline of the clergy, and the 
 regulation of divine service in churches ; questions 
 of prize during war, and claims that arise out of 
 accidents and shipwrecks at sea ; adjudicate upon 
 disputes relating to the form and validity of wills ; 
 and grant separations and divorces to married 
 people. 
 
 Equity is a principle acting in conjunction with 
 the law to soften and correct its operation in cer- 
 tain cases, by taking cognizance of those trusts and 
 confidences which, although binding upon the con- 
 science, a Court of Common Law is unable to en- 
 force. For a long time after its introduction, Equity 
 was a principle, separate, and sometimes anta- 
 gonistic, to the law, and was administered in courts 
 of its own, presided over by judges trained to its 
 practice, assisted by advocates who made it a dis- 
 tinct profession. You can imagine, I dare say, with- 
 out much difficulty, how questions both of Law and 
 
144 CONFLICTS OF LAW AND EQUITY. 
 
 Equity might be mixed up in one dispute, but it 
 could not be decided by the tribunals of either act- 
 ing separately. Thus, under the old system, if an 
 estate were given to me on trust, to pay the rent 
 and profits of it to your uncle, and to allow him 
 quiet enjoyment of it, I should be considered, in 
 the Common Law Courts on one side of Westminster 
 Hall, the sole owner of the land, and might bring 
 an action against him as a trespasser upon it ; but 
 in the Courts of Chancery, on the other side, he 
 would be the real beneficiary owner, and I should 
 be treated merely as the channel through which 
 his property came. Again, if I had a patent inven- 
 tion which you unlawfully used, I could have ob- 
 tained from an Equity judge, an injunction com- 
 manding you to cease from using it without my 
 permission ; but I should have had to bring an 
 action at Common Law before I could recover 
 damages against you for infringing my rights. So 
 in the case which I put first, your uncle could not 
 have pleaded in a Court of Law that I was merely 
 a trustee for him, but as such, Equity would have 
 restrained me from proceeding further in my ac- 
 tion. Thus an appeal to two tribunals was fre- 
 quently requisite to obtain redress for a single 
 
 nf, or to settle one and the same dispute. 
 Proceedings in Chancery were protracted and 
 
NEW PROCEDUEE. 145 
 
 expensive in the extreme. A suit sometimes lasted 
 for twenty years, or longer still, and costs more than 
 the value of the subject-matter of the dispute were 
 frequently incurred. Every person interested to the 
 most remote degree, whether in Law or Equity, was 
 made a plaintiff or defendant as the case might be, 
 and if any of them died, or, being a female, married, 
 the suit abated, or ceased, and the proceedings had 
 to be begun all over again. 
 
 These anomalies and stumbling-blocks in the path 
 of justice no longer exist to the same extent as for- 
 merly. The principles of Equity are now, by recent 
 legislation, acknowledged and acted upon in Courts 
 of Common Law, and Common Law relief and com- 
 pensation is in like manner granted by Courts of 
 Chancery. The practice of equity has been rendered 
 much more rapid and inexpensive, and suits do not 
 abate as long as the parties or their representatives 
 are qualified and willing to carry them on. In Ame- 
 rica, whose legal code is founded upon our own, Law 
 and Equity are administered indifferently in the 
 same courts, by the same judges, and are applied as 
 the justice of the case demands. We are progress- 
 ing, although not so rapidly as might be desired, 
 towards an equally simple and desirable procedure. 
 
 The laws are interpreted and administered by the 
 Judges in the courts I shall mention by-and-by, and 
 
146 OFFICE OF SHERIFF. 
 
 their decisions are executed or enforced, in the 
 name of the Sovereign, by the sheriffs of the various 
 counties into which the kingdom is divided. The 
 office of the sheriff shire reeve, or shire gereffa 
 is of great antiquity ; it is held for one year only 
 at the nomination of the Crown. All arrests for 
 debt are made by the officers of the sheriff, who is 
 responsible for the safe custody of the debtor. He 
 has also to summon j uries to serve upon trials, and 
 to carry out the extreme sentence of the criminal 
 law. The powers which he exercises in the election 
 of members of Parliament I have already sketched, 
 and I will briefly notice those judicial functions 
 which he has to perform, when I write to you about 
 the proceedings in an action at law. As keeper of 
 the Queen's peace in his county, the sheriff is the 
 first man in it, not excepting the lord- lieutenant, 
 who, as the successor of the earl, as I have told you 
 already, was once its chief military governor. By 
 virtue of his office the sheriff possesses the powers 
 of a justice ; but, being the executor of the law, he 
 may not act as an ordinary magistrate in adminis- 
 tering it. He is bound to defend his county against 
 all the Queen's enemies, and must take into custody 
 all traitors and felons ; and to enable him to do so, 
 may summon to his assistance all the people in the 
 county under the rank of a peer. This is called 
 the posse comitatus, or power of the county. 
 
OFFICE OF SHERIFF, 147 
 
 Such are the duties and powers of the sheriff as 
 defined by laws now in full force, but in practice 
 he is hardly ever called upon to perform them. 
 His deputy, the under-sheriff, transacts all the legal, 
 judicial, and formal duties of the office ; the police 
 relieve him from the trouble of looking after crimi- 
 nals ; and the time has passed in which our national 
 defences could safely be trusted in his hands, how- 
 ever brave or loyal he may be. It is still a distinc- 
 tion to hold this post of high sheriff, as none but 
 gentlemen of character and sufficient property are 
 usually nominated to fill it. They have to accom- 
 pany, and entertain the judges of assize through 
 their county, and to provide a sufficient escort of 
 javelin men for their protection. They sit on the 
 right hand of the presiding judge at criminal trials, 
 girt with a sword ; and when there is a " maiden 
 assize," that is one at which there are no prisoners 
 to be tried, they present him with a pair of white 
 gloves. When they have done this, and presided 
 at any election that may take place during their 
 years of office, they have done all that is required 
 of them. So that when in future Letters I tell 
 you that the sheriff has to do this or that, you 
 will understand that his deputy, the umler-sheriff, 
 has to do it for him. 
 
148 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 
 THE COURTS OF LAW AND EQUITY, AND THEIR 
 PROCEDURE. 
 
 The Superior Courts Circuits of the Judges Their several 
 Commissions District Courts of Record Counsel and At- 
 torney The Inns of Court An Action at Law The Plead- 
 ings The Jury The Trial The Verdict Judgment by De- 
 fault 'The Costs Execution Judges in Equity. 
 
 A "COURT" is defined to be a place wherein jus- 
 tice is judicially administered. As the power of 
 executing the laws is vested by our constitution in 
 the Sovereign, it follows that all courts of justice 
 derive their power from the Crown. 
 
 The principal courts of Common Law hold their 
 sittings in Westminster Hall, and are three in 
 number, the Court of Queen's Bench, the Court 
 of Common Pleas, and the Court of Exchequer. 
 The judges of the two former are called Justices, 
 those of the latter Barons. The Lord Chief Jus- 
 tice of England and four justices preside in the 
 Court of Queen's Bench ; the Chief Justice of the 
 Common Pleas and the same number of justices sit 
 in that court, and the Lord Chief Baron and four 
 barons in the Court of Exchequer. These judges 
 
THE SUPERIOR COURTS. 149 
 
 hold their offices for life, and can only be removed 
 for misconduct upon a petition of both Houses of 
 Parliament to the Crown. Formerly each of these 
 courts had a separate jurisdiction : the King's Bench 
 only heard criminal causes, and such as related to 
 the controlling of inferior tribunals ; the Common 
 Pleas was for trials between subject and subject ; 
 and the Exchequer decided only such causes as re- 
 lated to the collection of the revenue. Now, how- 
 ever, these distinctions, long since evaded by legal 
 fictions, are done away with by statute, and a pri- 
 vate person may bring his action in any one of 
 these courts. But the Queen's Bench still retains 
 special jurisdiction in certain particulars; it keeps 
 all inferior courts within the bounds of their au- 
 thority, arid may either order their proceedings to 
 be removed for its own consideration, or may pro- 
 hibit their progress altogether. It controls all civil 
 corporations in the kingdom, it commands magis- 
 trates and others to do what the law requires in 
 every case where there is no other course prescribed, 
 and has both a criminal and civil jurisdiction. 
 
 Twice a year, in the spring and summer, the 
 judges of these courts go round the whole country 
 on circuit, to try actions at law, and criminals. 
 The sittings which they hold in the principal town 
 in each county are called Assizes. 
 
150 THE COURTS OF THE JUDGES. 
 
 England and Wales are divided into eight cir- 
 cuits, as follows : 
 THE HOME CIRCUIT: 
 
 Assize Towns Hertford, Chelmsford, Lewes, Maid- 
 stone, Croydon, Kingston and Guildford. 
 
 THE NORFOLK CIRCUIT: 
 
 Assize Toivns Aylesbury, Bedford. Huntingdon, 
 Cambridge, Norwich, Oakham, Leicester, 
 Northampton, and Ipswich. 
 
 THE MIDLAND CIRCUIT: 
 
 Assize Towns York, Leeds, Nottingham, Lincoln, 
 Derby, and Warwick. 
 
 THE OXFORD CIRCUIT: 
 
 Assize Towns Abingdon, Oxford, Worcester, Staf- 
 ford, Shrewsbury, Hereford, Monmoutb, and 
 Gloucester. 
 
 THE WESTERN CIRCUIT: 
 
 Assize Toivns Devizes, Winchester, Exeter, Dor- 
 chester, Bodmin, Wells, and Bristol. 
 
 THE NORTHERN CIRCUIT : 
 
 Assize Towns Durham, Newcastle, Carlisle, Ap- 
 pleby, Lancaster, Manchester, and Liverpool, 
 
 THE NORTH WALES CIRCUIT : 
 
 Assize Towns Newtown, Dolgelley, Carnarvon, 
 Beaumaris, Jluthin, Mold, and Chester. 
 
 THE SOUTH WALES CIRCUIT: 
 
 Assize Towns Cardiff, Haverfordwest, Cardigan, 
 Carmarthen, Brecon, Preston, and Chester, 
 where the Welsh Circuits join. 
 
 Two judges go on each of these circuits, except 
 
COMMISSIONS OF ASSIZE, ETC. 151 
 
 the last two, and in turn transact the civil and criminal 
 business in its towns, except in the county palatine 
 of Lancaster, in which the senior judge always 
 presides in the criminal, or Crown, court. On the 
 Welsh circuits only one judge attends, on account 
 of the smallness of the business to be transacted. 
 
 In the more populous counties a Winter Assize, 
 or Gaol Delivery, is held, for the trial of prisoners, 
 and in a few instances the judges also take civil 
 business at the same time, 
 
 The judges transact the business upon circuit by 
 virtue of five separate authorities, only two of which 
 I need mention here, in treating of civil procedure, 
 namely, the commission of assize, authorizing them 
 to hear and determine disputes relating to land, 
 and the commission of nisiprius, which empowers 
 them to try all actions pending in the superior 
 courts that are ripe to be heard. These causes 
 are appointed to be tried at Westminster, before a 
 jury of the county out of which the dispute arose, 
 nisi prius (unless before) the day fixed, the judges 
 come into that county to hear and decide it. 
 
 There are also distinct Courts of Record, such as 
 the Courts of Common Pleas of the counties of 
 Durham and Lancaster, the Passage Court of Liver- 
 pool, and the Court of Record of Manchester, hav- 
 ing the same procedure as the superior courts, and 
 
152 COUNSEL AND ATTORNEY. 
 
 an unlimited, or limited jurisdiction, as to the 
 amount they can award, according to their consti- 
 tution. 
 
 Any person may bring, and defend, his own action 
 in person, but almost all the business of our courts 
 of law is carried on by counsel and attorneys, se- 
 lected by the parties to act for them. The former 
 are of two classes, serjeants-at-law, and barristers, 
 some of whom are appointed Queen's counsel by 
 patent from the Crown all these fall under the 
 general name of Counsel. From the most eminent 
 of these the judges are selected. The CMef Jus- 
 tices and Chief Baron are appointed by the Prime 
 Minister ; the lesser, or puisne judges, by the Lord 
 Chancellor. The privilege of calling persons to 
 the bar to act as barristers in England is exclusively 
 held by four ancient societies ; viz., that of Lincoln's 
 Inn, the Middle and Inner Temple, and Gray's 
 Inn. Until recently students had only to pay 
 some fees and to eat a certain number of dinners 
 in the halls of these societies to entitle them to 
 be called to the bar ; but they have now to undergo 
 a preliminary examination in general knowledge 
 before they are admitted as students, and they 
 must also pass an examination in law, or attend 
 lectures instituted for their legal education, before 
 they are granted the degree of barrister-at-law, 
 which confers the liberty of practising in all English 
 
ATTORNEY AND CLERK. 153 
 
 courts (except those in Doctors 5 Commons, in which 
 those only who have taken the university degree of 
 Doctor of Laws have audience as advocates), and 
 gives a legal right to the title of esquire. 
 
 An attorney is one who is put in the place 
 or turn of another to manage his affairs. At- 
 torneys are now formed into a regular society, to 
 which, in conjunction with some officials named 
 by act of Parliament, the examination of per- 
 sons desiring to become members of this pro- 
 fession, and the charge of the rolls or lists of 
 persons duly entitled to practise in it, is confided. 
 Once admitted and sworn, an attorney may practise 
 in any court except the Court of Chancery, to act 
 in which he must be admitted a Solicitor thereof. 
 Persons are admitted by the superior courts after 
 they have served for a certain time as clerks in the 
 office of an attorney or solicitor, under a legal in- 
 strument called articles of clerkship, and have 
 passed an examination in law. They are then con- 
 sidered to be officers of the courts. The judges ex- 
 ercise strict supervision over their conduct, and may 
 strike their names off the rolls, should it be proved 
 to their satisfaction that they have been guilty of 
 conduct deserving such a punishment. Attorneys 
 and solicitors have to take out a certificate every 
 year, upon which they have to pay a fee for leave 
 to pursue their vocation. 
 
154 AN ACTION AT LAW. 
 
 The actions most commonly brought in the courts 
 of Common Law are to recover disputed debts or 
 demands, the possession of land, or a compensa- 
 tion in money called damages, for acts committed 
 or neglected to be done whereby the plaintiff suffers 
 an injury in his person, property, or reputation. 
 
 When an action is to be brought, the plaintiff 
 lays his case before an attorney, who issues a writ 
 summoning the defendant to appear to answer the 
 complaint of the plaintiff. This " appearance " is 
 made by his lodging with the proper officer of the 
 court, a writing stating where notices and further 
 proceedings may be served upon him. The next 
 step is the delivery by the plaintiff of a state- 
 ment in writing of his cause of action, called the 
 declaration. The defendant's answer to this is 
 called the plea ; this is also in writing. Parties 
 may now bring both the law, and the facts of their 
 cases into question. Formerly, by disputing the 
 one, they were held to admit the other, and thus 
 great injustice was frequently done. The declara- 
 tion and plea form part of what is called the 
 pleadings in an action, the objects of which are to 
 ascertain what is really in controversy between 
 the parties, so as to exclude all that is imma- 
 terial or irrelevant. Thus the plaintiff having 
 stated facts constituting his cause of action, the 
 

 THE PLEADINGS. 155 
 
 defendant is obliged to deny them, or, confessing 
 their accuracy, to avoid their effect by asserting 
 fresh ones, or, admitting them, to deny the legal 
 effect contended for by the plaintiff. The plaintiff 
 then replies in like manner, and the defendant 
 rejoins, until some fact is asserted on the one side, 
 and denied on^the other, or some proposition of 
 law is relied upon by the one, and disputed by the 
 other. The questions thus raised are issues in fact 
 or law, according to circumstances. The latter are 
 argued before the judges of the court in which the 
 action is brought, and decided by them ; the former 
 go before a jury. 
 
 The pleadings on either side, and the issues 
 joined that is accepted as the matter in dispute 
 by the parties, form the record of the action. 
 
 All natural born subjects between the ages of 
 hventy-cne and sixty, who have an income of 10. 
 from land or tenements of freehold, or ()/. from 
 leaseholds, or, being householders, are rated to the 
 poor at 30?., are qualified to be jurors. In Wales 
 the qualification is one-fifth less than above ; but in 
 the city of London no man can serve upon a jury who 
 is not a householder, or occupier of a shop or count- 
 ing-house, and worth 100?,. a year. A book called 
 the Jurors Book is kept by the sheriff, in which 
 is entered the names of all qualified persons, and 
 
156 THE JURY. 
 
 from this he selects the panel, or list, which, in 
 obedience to the writ venire facias juratores, he 
 sends to the sittings, or assizes, and summons 
 those persons included in it to attend there under 
 pain of a penalty of not less than forty shillings. 
 They receive no remuneration for their services. 
 Thus is formed the common jury. ^ 
 
 If either plaintiff or defendant wish to have their 
 case tried before a higher class than this, they may 
 demand a special jury. The special jury list, kept 
 as before by the sheriff, contains the names of more 
 wealthy persons than the common jury. They are 
 selected and summoned in the same way, and paid 
 one guinea a-piece by the party who required theii 
 services, unless the judge orders otherwise. 
 
 The following persons are exempted from serving 
 on juries : Peers, judges, clergymen of all deno- 
 minations acknowledged by law, doctors of laws, 
 advocates, barristers and solicitors in practice, 
 officers of the army and navy, of courts of law 
 and equity, and of the customs and excise, physi- 
 cians and surgeons, pilots, persons engaged in 
 laying down buoys 'for the Trinity House, the 
 household of the Sovereign, sheriffs' officers, parish 
 clerks, and all persons above sixty years of age. 
 
 When a cause is ripe for trial, the attorneys for 
 either party make out statements of the facts and 
 
THE TKIAL. 157 
 
 circumstances of their cases in writing, which are 
 called briefs. They then generally select a queen's 
 counsel or Serjeant to conduct the case, and one or 
 more barristers to assist them, giving each a brief, 
 upon which is marked the fee by which they pro- 
 pose to reward these services. The fee of a barris- 
 ter and a physician, is considered in the light of 
 a free gift, or honorarium, which cannot be de- 
 manded or recovered at law. 
 
 A jury of twelve householders is then empanelled 
 as follows : The names of all the jurors summoned 
 are written each upon a separate piece of paper and 
 put into a box ; the officer of the court selects twelve 
 at random, and these form the jury. The judge hav- 
 ing taken his seat, and the jury sworn to give a true 
 verdict between theparties, the trial commences. The 
 junior counsel for the plaintiff opens the pleadings, 
 stating the issue to be tried ; the leading or senior 
 counsel then states the facts of the case to the jury, 
 after which the witnesses, by whose testimony it is to 
 be supported, are examined by the counsel for the 
 plaintiff, generally in turn this is called the exa- 
 mination in chief. The defendant's counsel may 
 then cross-examine the witnesses as they are 
 called forward, to test the truth of their story, 
 and require them to answer as to such other 
 circumstances as mav favour the defendant's 
 
160 EXECUTION. 
 
 unliquidated damages, or damages the extent of 
 which have yet to be ascertained, are sought, the 
 plaintiff has to call upon the sheriff to assess the 
 damages. The sheriff summons a jury, and holds 
 his court (which is generally presided over by his 
 deputy); the plaintiff proves his case, and the de- 
 fendant may be heard in reduction of damages. 
 The jury fix what sum is to be paid, and it is re- 
 covered according to law. If the defendant refuses 
 or neglects to pay in this, as in any other case in 
 which a verdict or judgment is given against him, 
 his property may be seized by the sheriff under a 
 writ from the court, and sold to raise the required 
 sum, or he may be arrested and imprisoned until 
 he shall have satisfied it, if he has the means of so 
 doing. 
 
 The parties may agree to accept the opinion of 
 a judge upon the law and the facts of their case, 
 and when his decision is given, it has all the force 
 of a verdict by a jury. Actions involving mere 
 questions of account, are often referred to some 
 competent person, whose award is made a rule of 
 court, and enforced by it. 
 
 If the question in dispute be an abstract point 
 of law, the parties may state it for decision to the 
 court in what is called a special case, without 
 pleadings. 
 
THE JUDGES IN EQUITY. 161 
 
 The costs of the suit are generally paid by the 
 party against whom a decision or verdict is ulti- 
 mately given, but if an action, which might have 
 been brought in a county court, is brought in the 
 superior courts for a debt under 20Z., the plaintiff 
 will not get his costs, unless the judge certifies that 
 it was a proper case to be brought there for trial. 
 If it is brought to recover compensation for a wrong 
 in legal language a tort he must obtain a ver- 
 dict for 5. to entitle him to costs. 
 
 In the local Courts of Record, a verdict of forty 
 shillings generally entitles the plaintiff to his costs. 
 
 In addition to the sittings held in Westminster 
 Hall, in the district Courts of Record, and at the 
 Assizes for the trial of actions, there are the new 
 County Courts, which, with a very sim pie procedure, 
 decide cases in which the sum in dispute does not 
 exceed 50f. ; but, with the consent of the suitors, 
 an action to any amount, but not of any character, 
 may be tried there. The judge usually decides both 
 upon the law and the facts of the case, unless either 
 of the parties desire to have it tried before a jury, 
 which in these courts consists of five persons. 
 
 Such is the legal jurisdiction of the county 
 courts ; and by an. Act passed in the present year 
 (1865) an equitable jurisdiction has also been con- 
 ferred upon them. That jurisdiction is given in 
 
162 THE JUDGES IN EQUITY. 
 
 all suits by creditors, legatees, devisees, heirs-at- 
 law, or next-of-kin, against or for an account of 
 administration of property not exceeding 500. in 
 value ; in suits for the execution of trusts, the pro- 
 perty not exceeding 500?. ; in suits for foreclosure 
 or redemption or enforcing a charge, the property 
 not exceeding 500Z. ; in suits for the dissolution 
 or winding-up of partnership, the partnership 
 assets not exceeding 500?. ; and in some other 
 cases with a like restriction as to amount. A Vice- 
 Chancellor sitting at chambers has, however, the 
 power to make an order transferring the suit to the 
 Court of Chancery. 
 
 The judges in Equity are the Lord Chancellor, 
 two Lords Justices of Appeal, the Master of the 
 Rolls, and three Vice-Chancellors. Appeals from 
 the decisions of the four latter are heard, first, 
 before the Lords Justices, or the Lord Chancellor, 
 and then before the House of Lords. The Lord 
 Chancellor has the appointment of all Justices of 
 the Peace, in the name of the Crown. He is the 
 Keeper of the Great Seal and of the Sovereign's 
 conscience the office having been formerly held 
 by an ecclesiastic. He is the patron of all livings 
 in the Church in the gift, of the Queen under a 
 certain value ; he is the guardian of all infants (as 
 persons under the age of twenty-one years are 
 
COURT OF BANKRUPTCY. 163 
 
 called in law), idiots, and lunatics, and has the 
 general control over all charitable trusts. 
 
 The Master of the Rolls is the only Equity judge 
 who may sit in the House of Commons. 
 
 Proceedings in the Courts of Equity are com- 
 menced by bill, claim, or petition : these are 
 written pleadings, in which the plaintiff states his 
 complaint and prays a remedy. Should questions 
 of fact arise in a Chancery suit, the judge may 
 direct the issue to be tried before a Court of 
 Common Law. Cases relating to the interpreta- 
 tion of deeds of settlement and other legal in- 
 struments, the execution of trusts, the granting of 
 injunctions, &c. &c., are those which come, com- 
 monly, before Courts of Equity. 
 
 The Courts of Bankruptcy administer the law 
 for the protection of unfortunate traders and other 
 persons unable to pay their debts, and for securing 
 to their creditors an equal distribution of their 
 possessions, called their estate. It is now con- 
 sidered worse than useless to lock up an insolvent 
 debtor in prison, (unless it be by way of punish- 
 ment for dishonest dealing,) when, if free, he might 
 be earning money to pay his liabilities. 
 
 When the bankrupt has conformed to the law 
 by making a perfect disclosure of his affairs, if his 
 conduct has not been grossly culpable, he obtains 
 
164 COURT OF BANKRUPTCY. 
 
 an order of discharge, which frees him from all 
 personal liability as to his former debts, unless the 
 court annexes to such discharge conditions requir- 
 ing him to set apart a portion of his future earn- 
 ings for the benefit of his creditors. The judges 
 in Bankruptcy are called Commissioners, and 
 rank with those of the superior courts. Three of 
 them hold sittings in London, and in several large 
 provincial towns there is a local court of bank- 
 ruptcy, and one or two commissioners. An appeal 
 from their courts lies to the Lords Justices, and 
 from them to the House of Lords. 
 
165 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 OF CRIMES AND OFFE-NCES. 
 
 Definition of Crimes Treasons Felonies Misdemeanours 
 Punishments Costs of Prosecutions Accessaries and Accom 
 plices Nuisances Common Law Offences. 
 
 BEFORE I enumerate to you the courts of criminal 
 law and describe their procedure, I will briefly 
 state over what sort of cases they have jurisdiction. 
 
 Crinies and offences are acts done, or omitted, 
 in violation of some public law. It is the duty 
 of the head of a State to prevent their com- 
 mission as far as possible, and to inflict suitable 
 punishment upon those who are proved to have 
 taken part in them ; not from a feeling of revenge 
 against the evil-doers, but to make of them ex- 
 amples to deter others from similarly offending. 
 
 Offences against the criminal law are divided 
 under three heads : treasons, felonies, and misde- 
 meanours. The two latter together represent 
 again two divisions of offences 1st, those acts 
 evil in themselves (mala in se) forbidden from 
 the first by the revealed law of God, such as mur- 
 
166 HIGH TKEASON. 
 
 der, theft, and other crimes ; and 2nd, those which 
 the spread of civilization has required mankind to 
 provide against (mala prohibita), such as coining 
 false money, frauds on the revenue, tampering with 
 signals on railways, &c. 
 
 The principal crimes known to the laws, into 
 which it is fit that we should enquire, -are as 
 follow : 
 
 High Treason. This crime now comprises the 
 "compassing, contriving, inventing, or intending 
 death or destruction, or any bodily harm tending 
 to death or destruction; or wounding, imprison- 
 ment, or restraint of the heirs and successors of 
 his Majesty King George the Third " in " levying 
 war against the Sovereign within the realm," and 
 in "adhering to her enemies, giving them aid or 
 comfort in the realm or elsewhere." All the other 
 offences made high treason by ancient statutes, 
 such as imitating the Royal Sign Manual or the 
 Great Seal, coining false money, &c., now rank as 
 felonies, punishable by imprisonment arid penal 
 servitude. 
 
 The punishment for high treason is death ; the 
 law enacts that the person convicted "shall be 
 drawn on a hurdle to the place of execution, and 
 be then hanged by the neck until such person be 
 dead, and that afterwards the head shall be severed 
 
FELONIES. 167 
 
 from the body of such person, and the body divided 
 into four quarters, shall be disposed of as his Ma- 
 jesty King George the Third and his successors 
 shall think fit." The sovereign, " by warrant under 
 the sign manual counter-signed by a secretary of 
 state, may direct that the offender shall not be 
 drawn, .but shall be taken in such a manner as in 
 the warrant shall be expressed, to the place of ex- 
 ecution, and that he shall not be there hanged by 
 the neck, but that instead thereof the head shall 
 be there severed from the body whilst alive, and 
 in such warrant direction may be given as to, and 
 in, what manner the body, head, and quarters shall 
 be disposed of." Barbarous and disgusting as these 
 details appear, the ancient punishment for high 
 treason was mere revolting still. 
 
 Murder is the taking away of the life of a fel- 
 low-creature intentionally, and with malice. The 
 punishment for murder is death by hanging. 
 
 Manslaughter is the taking away of the life of 
 a fellow-creature unintentionally, by accident, or 
 in sudden anger, without malice. Slaying a per- 
 son in self defence is not a crime. As the offence 
 of manslaughter ranges from something very nearly 
 akin to murder, down to mere mischance, to which 
 hardly any blame attaches, so the punishment for 
 it varies from penal servitude for life, down to a 
 
168 FELONIES. 
 
 nominal imprisonment, according to the circum- 
 stances of the case. 
 
 Attempting to murder by shooting, poisoning, 
 stabbing, &c. These crimes were formerly capital, 
 that is, they were punishable with death, but 
 under the Criminal Statutes Consolidation Acts of 
 1861, the punishment was reduced to penal servi- 
 tude, which may, however, extend to the period of 
 the culprit's natural life. 
 
 Stabbing, shooting, or throwing explosive or cor- 
 rosive substances upon any person, with intent to 
 disable, maim, or disfigure, or do some grievous 
 bodily harm. Punishment penal servitude, or 
 imprisonment with hard labour. 
 
 Robbery Stealing from the person with vio- 
 lence, or threats of violence. It is punishable by 
 penal servitude or imprisonment. 
 
 Burglary Breaking into a dwelling-house be- 
 tween the hours of nine at night and six in the 
 morning, with intent to steal therein ; or (having 
 .committed a felony, or being in a house with the 
 intention of committing one) breaking out of it be- 
 tween the same hours. It is not necessary that the 
 premises should be actually damaged to constitute 
 this offence. Opening a door or a window that 
 has been closed, is a constructive " breaking" in 
 the eyes of the law. Punishment penal servitude 
 or imprisonment with hard labour. 
 
FELONIES. 169 
 
 Housebrealdng The same offence committed 
 in the day-time. Punishment penal servitude, or 
 imprisonment with hard labour. 
 
 'Forgery Making false bank notes, cheques, 
 signatures, wills, &c., or altering part of a genuine 
 instrument with intent to defraud. Punishment 
 as above. 
 
 Uttering the above -that is, attempting to pass 
 them off as genuine, knowing them to be false and 
 counterfeit. Punishment as above. 
 
 Bigamy Marrying again in the lifetime of a 
 wife or husband. Punishment as above. 
 
 Piracy Seizing, and stealing from, ships at sea ; 
 punishable by penal servitude and imprisonment 
 with hard labour. 
 
 Arson Setting fire to houses, buildings, stacks, 
 ships, &c. Punishment imprisonment with hard 
 labour, or penal servitude. If a person or persons 
 be in the house at the time it is set on fire, the 
 incendiary may be sentenced to penal servitude 
 for life. 
 
 Coining Making false money. Punishment > 
 penal servitude or imprisonment with hard labour. 
 
 Larceny Stealing. When committed by clerks 
 or servants, or from a dwelling-house to the value 
 of 51., and in some other cases, penal servitude 
 may be awarded ; but unless a previous conviction 
 for another felony be proved against the thief, im- 
 
170 ' CRIMES AND 
 
 prisonment with hard labour is the usual punish- 
 ment. 
 
 Receiving stolen goodSj knowing them to have 
 been stolen. Punishment as above. 
 
 Embezzlement The wrongful appropriation by 
 clerks and servants of money or property received 
 by them, by virtue of their employment as such 
 for their master. Punishment penal servitude, or 
 imprisonment with hard labour. 
 
 Rioting Rioters are punishable by imprison- 
 ment with hard labour ; or with penal servitude, if 
 they remain together after being called upon by a 
 magistrate to disperse. 
 
 Escaping from prison. Imprisonment or penal 
 servitude, according to the offence for which the 
 prisoner was in confinement. 
 
 Returning from transportation. Same punish- 
 ment. 
 
 Assisting a prisoner to escape, with many other 
 offences, are felonies. The following are misde- 
 meanours : 
 
 Perjury Taking a false oath. Punishment 
 penal servitude, or imprisonment with hard labour. 
 
 Cheating Obtaining money or goods by false 
 pretences, or fraud. Punishment penal servitude, 
 or imprisonment with hard labour. 
 
 Assaults Unlawful attacks upon the person, 
 
MISDEMEANOURS. 171 
 
 without the intents before mentioned. Punish- 
 ment fine, or imprisonment with or without hard 
 labour. 
 
 Conspiracy Two or more persons combining 
 together for an unlawful purpose, or to carry out 
 a lawful one by unlawful means. Punishment 
 fine, or imprisonment with or without hard 
 labour. 
 
 Uttering, or passing base or false coin. Punish- 
 ment imprisonment with hard labour ; after pre- 
 vious conviction, penal servitude. 
 
 Publishing libels against individuals, or blasphe- 
 mous or seditious statements against religion or 
 government. Punishment fine, or imprisonment, 
 or both. 
 
 Poaching Trespassing in pursuit, and destruc- 
 tion of game ; punishable, according to the time and 
 manner in which it is committed, and the number 
 of persons engaged together, by penal servitude, or 
 imprisonment with hard labour. 
 
 Gambling Using false scales and weights 
 Smuggling Sending threatening letters, &c. &c. 
 are misdemeanours punishable variously, by fine, 
 imprisonment, and penal servitude. 
 
 Finally, all attempts to commit felonies are mis- 
 demeanours. The amount of punishment to be 
 Awarded is within certain limits., which I need not 
 
1 72 MISDEMEANOURS. 
 
 lay down, in the discretion of the judge. Not more 
 than two years' imprisonment can generally be 
 given, but penal servitude for life, or any lesser 
 term, can be awarded for serious offences. The 
 punishment of transportation is now abolished, as 
 our colonies are no longer willing to receive con- 
 victs, but criminals sentenced to penal servitude 
 maybe sent abroad wherever her Majesty, through 
 her Secretary of State, may direct. 
 
 The above misdemeanours are of a public nature, 
 affecting the peace and prosperity of the country, 
 and the honour of its government. In some of 
 them, such as assaults and libels, a double remedy 
 is open to the injured person ; he may put the 
 criminal law in motion against his assailant, and 
 have him punished for offending against the law 
 and breaking the peace, and he may bring a civil 
 action against him, and obtain damages for the 
 private wrong done to his person or character. As 
 a general rule it is however advisable to take only 
 one of these courses, as it is not likely that a jury 
 would give heavy damages against a man who had 
 already suffered punishment, or that a judge would 
 pass a severe sentence upon a n:an who had already 
 been made to pay largely for committing the same 
 offence. But there are cases in which both civil 
 and criminal remedies may very properly be taken, 
 
ACCESSARIES. 173 
 
 the one to compensate an injured individual, the 
 other to vindicate an outraged law. 
 
 The cost of prosecuting persons for having com- 
 mitted any of the misdemeanours or felonies above 
 enumerated, and others which have not been men- 
 tioned, is paid by the State out of the Consolidated 
 Fund, whether the prisoner be convicted, that is, 
 proved to be guilty, or acquitted. 
 
 Persons who combine together for the purpose 
 of committing any offence and act in concert are 
 all equally guilty. Thus, if several men conspire 
 to rob a house, and some of them watch outside to 
 prevent surprise, whilst one of their number com- 
 mits a felony within, they are each and alt guilty 
 of his crime. Persons so assisting are principals 
 in the second degree. 
 
 Accessaries 'before the fact are such as command 
 or procure a felony to be committed. Those who 
 harbour or assist the principal felon, by hiding him, 
 or providing him with money or a horse, &c. &c., 
 to escape, are accessaries after the fact. Either 
 class may be tried with the principal felon, or by 
 themselves, even although he may not have been 
 brought to trial. But his crime must be proved to 
 have been committed. 
 
 Ignorance of the law will not excuse from the 
 consequences of guilt, any one who has capacity to 
 understan 1 it. All persons are presumed to know 
 
NUISANCES. 
 
 the law, but infants under the age of seven years 
 are supposed to be incapable of committing a capital 
 offence ; and from that age up to fourteen it must 
 appear that they know right from wrong before 
 the law will be put in force to punish them. 
 
 Persons of unsound mind are also exempted from 
 punishment, as also are those who act in subjection 
 to the powers of another, for neither can be said to 
 have a will of their own. But the frenzy and tempo- 
 rary insanity produced by drunkenness is no excuse ; 
 for this is the consequence of a vice voluntarily in- 
 dulged in, and not, as in the case of lunacy and mad- 
 ness, the act of God, which no man can prevent. 
 
 A married woman who commits a felony (other 
 than murder) jointly with her husband, in his 
 presence, and with his sanction, cannot be con- 
 victed, for, in contemplation of law, she always acts 
 
 under his control. Neither can she be convicted 
 
 
 
 of stealing his goods, for in the eye of the law 
 husband and wife are one; but if she steals them 
 to give to an adulterer, the latter may be convicted 
 if he carries them off or takes possession of them, 
 well knowing at the time that they have been stolen 
 by his paramour from her husband. 
 
 There are numerous misdemeanours of a private 
 nature affecting the rights of individuals or socie- 
 ties, such as committing or maintaining nuisances 
 prejudicial to. the health of a man, or of the dis- 
 
COMMON LAW OFFENCES. 175 
 
 trict in which he lives (such as chemical works), or 
 to his or their repose and morality (such as dis- 
 orderly gatherings), or to his or their peace of mind 
 (such as keeping large stores of inflammable or 
 explosive substances likely to create a conflagration, 
 &e.), the expenses of prosecuting which must be 
 borne by the parties complaining. 
 
 Persons or corporate bodies whose duty it is to 
 make or keep in repair roads, bridges, or buildings, 
 may be indicted for a misdemeanour if they refuse 
 or neglect to do so. 
 
 You must understand, however, that although 
 most of the crimes that can be committed are de- 
 fined and forbidden by act of Parliament, still a 
 remedy exists at common law for many offences 
 against public justice, peace, or morality, that may 
 not come within the strict letter of any statute; but 
 no new offence can be dealt with under the common 
 law, because, as I have said, it consists only of an- 
 cient customs. When a remedy has been provided, 
 or a course of prosecution pointed out, by a statute, 
 the common law yields to it. All statutes which 
 impose penalties must be construed most strongly 
 against the Crown and in favour of the subject. 
 No person may be tried or punished twice for the 
 same offence ; if it is attempted to do so, he may 
 plead autrefois convict (before convicted) or autre* 
 fois acquit (before acquitted) to the Indictment. 
 
176 
 
 LETTER XVI. 
 
 OF THE COURTS OP CRIMINAL LAW. 
 
 The High Court of Parliament The Court of the Lord High 
 Steward The Queen's Bench Office of Coroner Of Justices 
 of the Peace The Assize Courts The Central Criminal Court 
 Quarter and Petty Sessions Jurisdiction of Justices of the 
 Peace and Police Magistrates. 
 
 Now that you know the nature of many of the 
 offences that are punishable by our laws, I will show 
 yon by what tribunals persons suspected of having 
 committed them are tried. 
 
 In the letter in which I described the constitu 
 tion of Parliament, I told you that the House of 
 Lords has the right of trying persons impeached by 
 the House of Commons. It has also the privilege, 
 whilst Parliament is sitting, of trying its own 
 members for treason or felony, but not for misde- 
 meanours. A peer accused of any of these offences 
 is tried in the ordinary way before a jury. A bishop, 
 although he sits in the -House of Lords, must be 
 tried as a commoner. When Parliament is not 
 sitting, peers may be tried for treason or felony in 
 
TRIAL OF PEERS. . 177 
 
 the courts of the Lord High Steward of England. 
 This office is of great antiquity but is not filled 
 now, except upon special occasions, such as the trial 
 of a peer, for which a person is specially appointed 
 to hold it, and when the business is over he breaks 
 his wand of office and his functions are at an end. 
 Trials in this court are held before not less than 
 twenty-four peers, including the Lord High Stew- 
 ard, who is the judge. In trials before the Lords 
 in Parliament, a High Steward is also appointed, 
 not as judge, but as a kind of speaker to regulate 
 the procedure. 
 
 The Sovereign is supposed to be the judge in 
 these cases, and a majority of peers return the 
 verdict of guilty or not guilty, not upon oath,, but 
 in the words, " upon my honour." 
 
 The Court of Queen's Bench, besides its civil 
 has a very important criminal jurisdiction. Prac 
 tically speaking, it is the principal court of criminal 
 jurisdiction in the country, and takes cognisance of 
 all offences from high treason down to the most 
 trivial assault. Indictments and other criminal 
 proceedings from all the inferior courts may be 
 removed into it, tried before its judges, and, if in- 
 formal or illegal, set aside by them. 
 
 The Lord Chief Justice is the principal coroner of 
 the kingdom, and all its judges are coroners and 
 
178 OFFICE OF CORONER. 
 
 justices of the peace. It may be convenient here 
 to state how coroners and justices of the peace are 
 appointed, and what duties they have to perform. 
 
 The office of coroner is one of great antiquity 
 and importance. The coroner is elected by the 
 freeholders of the county or district within which 
 he holds his court, and his principal duty is to 
 enquire, with a jury, into the circumstances at- 
 tending every sudden death. This proceeding is 
 called an inquest, and in strictness should be held 
 in sight of the body of the departed person, but 
 this rule has been very much relaxed. It is now 
 customary for the coroner and jury to view the 
 body, and then to adjourn to some convenient place 
 to hear the evidence, and to draw up the inquisi- 
 tion or finding, as to how the death was caused. 
 If the body cannot be found, there can be no 
 coroner's inquisition, and the inquiry must be 
 conducted by justices of the peace. 
 
 Should it turn out that murder or manslaughter 
 has been committed, it is the duty of the coroner 
 to commit the suspected person or persons for trial, 
 and the inquisition, which must be signed by him 
 and twelve of the jury, has all the force of a bill of 
 indictment that has been " found" by the grand 
 jury a proceeding which I will explain here- 
 after. The coroner is the deputy of the sheriff, 
 
JUSTICES OF THE PEACE. 179 
 
 and when the law has to be executed against that 
 officer, the coroner must execute it. 
 
 Justices of the peace are gentlemen appointed 
 by the special commission of the Sovereign, at the 
 recommendation of the Lord Lieutenant of their 
 county, to assist in the administration of the law 
 in some cases. They must have a qualification of 
 the value of 100Z. a year, arising out of landed 
 estate. Certain persons, however, such as justices 
 of corporations, peers, privy councillors, judges, and 
 others, are privileged to act without such qualifica- 
 tion. Their duty is to preserve the Queen's peace 
 by committing to prison any person actually guilty 
 of a breach of the peace, and to bind over to be of 
 good behaviour such as are suspected of being about 
 to become so ; also to prevent and suppress riots 
 and affrays, by apprehending disorderly persons ; 
 and they have to administer the law at general and 
 petty sessions, as will be seen hereafter. They 
 discharge these services without any fee or salary. 
 
 The courts of Oyer and Terminer and general 
 gaol delivery are those which are held upon circuit 
 in every county, before the judges of assize, and 
 commissioners appointed to assist them. 
 
 It has already been stated that the judges and 
 commissioners of assize sit under five distinct com- 
 missions ; two of these, which relate to the dis- 
 
180 CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT. 
 
 charge of their civil jurisdiction, have already been 
 described. The remaining three give them power 
 to act in criminal cases, and are 3rd, the commis- 
 sion of the peace ; 4th, of oyer and terminer ; and 
 5th, general gaol delivery. The duty of a justice 
 of the peace has been lately laid down. The com- 
 mission of oyer and terminer authorises the per- 
 sons named in it to enquire, hear, and determine 
 all treasons, felonies, a*id misdemeanours ; and 
 that of general gaol delivery to try and deliver 
 every prisoner who shall be in the gaol when the 
 judges arrive at the circuit town, no matter by 
 whom they are indicted, or of what crime they are 
 charged. 
 
 The Central Criminal Court has jurisdiction to 
 try all offences committed in London and Mid- 
 dlesex, and in certain parts of Essex, Kent, and 
 Surrey adjoining. This court sits once a month, 
 and is presided over by the Recorder, and Common 
 Sergeant, of the City of London ; by a third com- 
 missioner generally the judge of the sheriffs' 
 court ; and by her Majesty's judges of the superior 
 courts, two, or more, of whom attend in rotation 
 and try the more serious offences. If it be proved 
 that a person is not likely to obtain a fair trial in 
 the county in which the crime was committed, he 
 may be removed for trial into this court. He may 
 
QUARTER SESSIONS. 181 
 
 be also tried " at bar/' before the judges of the 
 Queen's Bench.- 
 
 The Assize Courts, Central Criminal Court, 
 and Court of Queen's Bench, have power to 
 try all treasons, felonies, and misdemeanours, 
 committed or removed for trial within their juris- 
 diction. 
 
 The courts of quarter sessions of the peace have 
 a limited jurisdiction. They are restrained from 
 trying all capital offences, and many others. 
 Thieving, unaccompanied with violence ; obtaining 
 money or valuables under false pretences ; attempts 
 to commit felonies, indictments against nuisances, 
 and for the non-performance of public duties ; 
 offences relating to game, highways, alehouses ; 
 the settlement and provision for the poor ; dis- 
 putes between masters, their apprentices, and ser- 
 vants, are the class of cases usually heard and de- 
 cided before them. 
 
 The courts of quarter sessions in counties are 
 held before the justices of the peace, whose chair- 
 man presides. In some populous counties a bar- 
 rister of standing and experience is appointed to 
 that post by the justices, and receives a salary for 
 his services. In cities and boroughs the Eecorder 
 is the judge. As their name implies, these courts 
 are held quarterly, but in places where the busi- 
 
182 POLICE COURTS, ETC. 
 
 ness to be transacted is considerable, they sit by 
 adjournment at intervening periods. 
 
 Lastly, we have the courts of petty sessions, 
 which, in country places, are held before two or 
 more justices of the peace, and in populous 
 towns are presided over by a stipendiary magis- 
 trate, who must be a barrister of a certain 
 standing, and who receives a salary for his 
 services. The first proceeding in all criminal 
 cases, except high treason, takes place in these 
 courts. They have power to deal with many cases 
 of a trivial nature summarily that is, to dispose 
 of them by punishing or discharging the accused 
 upon their own responsibility. The graver class of 
 criminals they commit for trial, to the assizes or the 
 sessions, according to the nature of the charge 
 made against them. Persons suspected of high 
 treason are generally examined before a Secretary 
 of State, and committed for trial or discharged 
 by him. 
 
 It is not necessary to trouble you with the con- 
 stitution and practice of other courts of a criminal 
 jurisdiction, which are seldom resorted to. My 
 object has been to give you a concise and practical 
 view of the machinery of our criminal lav/, and 
 this is comprised, to all useful intents and pur- 
 poses, in the courts which I have mentioned. 
 
183 
 
 LETTER XVII. 
 
 OF THE PRACTICE OF THE CRIMINAL LAW. 
 
 Conduct of Public Prosecutions Arrest of Prisoners by the 
 Police Examination before Magistrates Committal or Dis- 
 charge of Prisoners Indictments Office of the Grand Jury 
 Trial Challenges of Jurors Proceedings at Trial Court of 
 Criminal Appeal Pardons. 
 
 WE have no official charged to institute and con- 
 duct the legal proceedings against suspected persons. 
 Most continental states have a Public Prosecutor 
 appointed by government, and charged to put the 
 criminal law in operation ; and very many persons 
 are of opinion that we ought to have such a functi- 
 onary in England. It is urged that we have no secu- 
 rity that every offen der is brought to j ustice ; and that 
 some may escape, owing to the proper steps not being 
 taken for their apprehension. Further, that others, 
 by intimidation and bribes, may induce the persons 
 they have injured to defeat justice by absenting 
 themselves at the trial. The trial itself too, may be 
 conducted in such a slovenly manner as to result 
 in a verdict of acquittal. There is much truth in 
 
184 PUBLIC PKOSECUTORS. 
 
 this ; but I am by no means sure that the appoint- 
 ment of a public prosecutor would lessen the occur- 
 rence of these possible evils. When once informa- 
 tion is given of the commission of a crime, he is a 
 clever man, indeed, who can elude for any length of 
 time the vigilance and perseverance of our detective 
 police. No public prosecutor could prevent a 
 witness being bribed ; and as to the conducting of 
 cases in court, I think that as our bar is constituted 
 every man vying with his fellow for practice, and 
 striving to distinguish himself it may be better 
 relied upon for properly managing criminal prose- 
 cutions, than any set of officials secure of a position 
 and its stipend. In every town where there is a 
 bench of magistrates, there are attorneys who act 
 as their clerks, and get up the evidence against 
 persons committed for trial, and instruct counsel to 
 prosecute. They are paid according to the number 
 of cases entrusted to them, and it is to their in- 
 terest, of course, that every complaint should be 
 investigated. In large towns, such as Manchester, 
 Liverpool, Birmingham, &c., there is an attorney 
 specially appointed by the corporation to attend to 
 all prosecutions. These are, in point of fact, public 
 prosecutors, and, as far as I, can judge, no reflection 
 can be cast upon the way in which they manage 
 their business, or select counsel to conduct it. 
 
POLICE FUNCTIONS. 185 
 
 Iii the first instance, the police are practically 
 public prosecutors. They apprehend persons in the 
 commission of crime, receive information of offences 
 that have been done in secret, and collect evidence. 
 
 Justice, whether it be in criminal or civil cases, is 
 administered in public, and the latter always in 
 presence of the accused parties. A prisoner must be 
 brought before a magistrate upon the earliest oppor- 
 tunity after his capture. The evidence tendered 
 against him is heard, taken down in writing, and 
 signed by the witness who gives it. This is called his 
 deposition, and the prisoner, if.committed for trial, 
 has an absolute right to a copy of this on paying a 
 small fee for making it out. If the evidence is not 
 complete at the first hearing, but enough is given to 
 raise a strong presumption against the prisoner, the 
 magistrate has the power of " remanding" him, or 
 sending him back to prison for eight days, whilst 
 further proofs are being collected, or of taking "bail" 
 for his appearance to answer the charge. To be 
 admitted to bail, a prisoner must get two or more 
 householders, to be bound to bring him forward 
 when required, on pain of incurring a penalty, fixed 
 by the magistrate, in case they should fail to do 
 so. Sometimes the prisoner's promise, under a 
 penalty, to appear, is taken as sufficient. When 
 all the evidence that can be obtained is col- 
 
186 INDICTMENT. 
 
 lected, the accused is either summarily convicted 
 and sentenced, or committed for trial to the as- 
 sizes or sessions, where the witnesses and nomi- 
 nal prosecutor are bound over to appear against 
 him; but when the evidence is insufficient to 
 substantiate the charge against him, the prisoner 
 is discharged. After committal for trial, the depo- 
 sitions are sent to the proper officer of the court 
 in which the prisoner is to be tried, and there the 
 " indictment" is prepared and written upon parch- 
 ment. The indictment is a statement in legal lan- 
 guage of the offence for which he has to answer, 
 and in former days much exactness and technicality 
 were required in its wording. The slightest error 
 in stating the offence alleged, or the name or sur- 
 name of the prisoner or prosecutor, or in describing 
 the property stolen, was sufficient to render it in- 
 valid, and the prisoner escaped. Recent alterations 
 in the law, however, have made it much more 
 simple, and any mistakes, such as are not calculated 
 to mislead the accused, or prejudice him in his de- 
 fence, may be amended by order of the court. 
 The proceedings in trials at assizes and sessions are 
 almost identically the same. 
 
 The day for holding them having arrived, a 
 grand and a petty jury are summoned by the sheriff 
 of the county exactly as in civil cases ; the jury for 
 
THE GRAND JURY. 187 
 
 criminal and civil trials being taken indifferently 
 from the same panel. But if a foreigner is to be 
 tried, he is entitled to demand a jury de medietate 
 linguce, composed half of Englishmen and half of 
 foreigners (not necessarily his own countrymen), 
 whom the sheriff must summon. The indict- 
 ments are laid before the grand jury, which 
 consists usually of thirty persons, selected from 
 amongst the magistrates and principal gentry in 
 the county, who possess the qualification required 
 of a justice of the peace. They examine only the 
 witnesses in support of the charges against the pri- 
 soner to see if there be a sufficient ground to justify 
 his being put upon his trial. If a majority of twelve 
 agree that there is one, their foreman, the prin- 
 cipal person on the jury, writes " a true bill" upon 
 the indictment. If, on the contrary, no sufficiently 
 strong case appears, he writes " no true bill" upon 
 it, and in some counties cuts it across, and the pri- 
 soner is entitled to be liberated if there be no other 
 charge against him. All the indictments are 
 brought by the grand jury from the room in which 
 they discharge their duties into open court, and 
 there their decisions of "true" and "no true bill" on 
 each is read out. Those prisoners against whom true 
 'bills are returned are then assembled in the dock, 
 the indictment is read over to each by the officer 
 
188 PUNISHMENT OF PENANCE. 
 
 of the court, and he is asked if he pleads " guilty" 
 or "not guilty" to the charge. This is called 
 " arraigning''' the prisoners. Those who plead 
 i( guilty" have sentence passed upon them at one , 
 and those who plead " not guilty" are brought up 
 in turn to be tried before the petty jury. 
 
 Formerly if a prisoner refused to plead he was 
 sentenced to endure penance, or the pzine, forte et 
 dure. He was taken into the prison, laid upon 
 his back in a low, dark chamber, and weights of 
 iron as heavy as he could bear, were placed upon 
 his chest. He was allowed for food three morsels 
 of the worst bread upon the first day, and three 
 draughts of the stagnant water that was nearest 
 the prison door upon the second. Thus his daily 
 sustenance was alternated, and thus he was kept, 
 the weights upon his body being increased every 
 day, until he died, or (as the ancient judgment 
 ran) till he answered. It was only by the statute 
 12 Geo. III. c. 20, that this barbarity was put an 
 end to. 
 
 Now, if a prisoner refuses to plead, a jury is 
 irnpannelled to try whether he stands " mute of 
 malice," or "by the visitation of God" that is, 
 if he be merely vexatiously silent, or incapable of 
 answering by reason of being deaf, or dumb, or of 
 
BENCH WARRANTS. 189 
 
 unsound mind. If a verdict to the former effect is 
 returned, a plea of " not guilty" is entered for him, 
 and the trial proceeds ; if the latter, the trial is 
 postponed, and the prisoner sent to some asylum, 
 from whence, should he recover his senses, he 'may 
 be brought up again and tried. 
 
 It is not absolutely necessary that an accused 
 person should be brought before a magistrate and 
 committed before he can be indicted, although 
 that is the most ordinary and proper course. An 
 Indictment maybe preferred without his knowledge, 
 and a "Bench Warrant" for his apprehension may 
 be obtained from the presiding judge at assizes or 
 sessions. By this means he loses the fair advan- 
 tage which the law allows, in giving prisoners a 
 copy of the depositions of the witnesses about to 
 be examined against them ; consequently it is a 
 course which should not be adopted except upon 
 extreme occasions, and one which has always of 
 late years found disfavour with our judges, as being 
 a proceeding by means of which the law may be 
 employed by designing individuals as an engine of 
 extortion or revenge. 
 
 An ordinary indictment for stealing is in the 
 following form : 
 
190 FORM OF INDICTMENT. 
 
 * Kent, to wit 
 
 " The jurors for our Lady the Queen upon 
 their oath present that John Smith (the 
 prisoner), on the first day of May, in the 
 year of our Lord one thousand eight 
 hundred and fifty-eight, one gold ring and 
 one box of the goods and chattels of James 
 Brown, feloniously did steal, take and carry 
 away against the peace of our Lady the 
 Queen, her crown and dignity" 
 
 Any number of prisoners may be charged in one 
 indictment with an offence in which they have 
 all been participators. Only one felony may be 
 charged in one indictment that is to say, you 
 cannot indict a man for murder and burglary at 
 once ; but any number of misdemeanours may be 
 included, and any number of indictments for dis- 
 tinct felonies may be brought in against one pri- 
 soner ; and three acts of stealing, if committed 
 within six months, from the first to the last, may 
 be charged in the same indictment. 
 
 Persons may also be tried, as we have seen, 
 upon a coroner's inquisition, without the interven- 
 tion of a grand jury ; and likewise upon an instru- 
 
 * Or whatever the county in which the offence was committed 
 happens to be. 
 
INFORMATIONS. 191 
 
 inent filed by the Attorney- General, called an ex 
 officio information, and upon an information filed 
 by the Master of the Crown Office. The former 
 process has fallen into disuse and is seldom em- 
 ployed ; the latter lies only for misdemeanours, 
 and the accused person is always given an oppor- 
 tunity of showing cause why it should not be issued 
 against him. Informations of either sort are tried 
 in the Queen's Bench. 
 
 When a convenient number of prisoners have 
 pleaded, the officer of the court addresses them 
 thus : 
 
 "Prisoners, these good men that you shall 
 noiv hear called are the jurors who are to 
 pass bet^veen our Sovereign Lady the Queen 
 and you upon your trials; if, therefore, 
 you, or either of you, will challenge them, or 
 cither of them, you must challenge them as 
 they come to the book to be sworn, and before 
 they are sivorn, and you shall be heard." 
 
 The officer then proceeds to call twelve jurors 
 from the list of those summoned, called the 
 '' panel," calling each juror by name and address. 
 The jury then stand up in the jury-box, and are 
 sworn one by one, and before the oath is adminis- 
 tered, the prisoner may "challenge" or object to 
 o 
 
192 CHALLENGES OF JURYMEN. 
 
 the serving upon his trial of any person there 
 present. 
 
 Challenges are of two kinds 1st, to the array, 
 when exception is taken to the whole number im- 
 pannelled ; and 2ndly, to the polls, when individual 
 jurymen are objected to. They are divided again 
 into challenges peremptory, for which no cause is 
 stated, and per causam, when a reason is given. 
 Both kinds of challenge may be made either on 
 behalf of the Crown or the person about to be tried. 
 For high treason thirty-five peremptory challenges 
 may be made ; in all other felonies the limit is 
 twenty. In cases of misdemeanours there is no 
 peremptory challenge. If the panel be exhausted 
 by challenges of the prisoner and the Crown, or 
 either, before a full jury has been obtained, the 
 practice is to call over the whole panel again, but 
 omitting those peremptorily challenged, and then, 
 as each juror again appears, whichever party chal- 
 lenges must show cause for his objection. 
 
 Challenges for cause are either to the " array" or 
 to individual jurymen. To the array, if the sheriff 
 be supposed to have made an unjust panel ; to the 
 individual, when he is supposed to be actuated by 
 ill-feeling or favour towards the prisoner whom he 
 is to try. If the cause be disputed, two triers are 
 appointed, who hear the evidence and decide 
 
PROCLAMATION. 193 
 
 upon oath whether the panel is improper., or the 
 juror impartial. 
 
 When a full jury have been sworn, if the trial 
 takes place at the assizes or the Central Criminal 
 Court, the crier makes proclamation in the follow- 
 ing form : 
 
 "If any one can inform my lords the 
 Queens Justices, the Queen's Attorney - 
 General, or the Queen's Sergeant, ere this 
 inquest be taken between our Sovereign 
 Lady the Queen and the prisoners at the 
 bar, of any treasons, murder, felony, or mis- 
 demeanours, committed or done by them, or 
 any of them, let him come forth and he shall 
 be heard, for the prisoners stand at the 
 bar upon their deliverance. God save the 
 Queen." 
 
 The officer of the court then calls the prisoner 
 about to be tried to the bar, and says : 
 
 c ' Gentlemen of the jury, the prisoner 
 stands indicted by the name of A. B., for 
 that he [and so on, stating an abstract 
 of the indictment, to the end] ; upon this 
 indictment he has been arraigned, and 
 upon this arraignment he has pleaded that 
 he is not guilty, and so for trial has put 
 
 
THE TRIAL. 
 
 himself upon his country, which country 
 you are. Your charge, therefore, is to in- 
 quire whether he be guilty or not guilty, and 
 to hearken to the evidence. 3 ' 
 This is called " giving the prisoner in charge to 
 the jury/' 
 
 The trial then commences. The counsel for the 
 prosecution states the case against the accused to 
 the jury, and calls the witnesses to support it. The 
 prisoner, or his counsel, if he has one, may cross- 
 examine them, and at the close of the case for the 
 prosecution may address the jury in his behalf. 
 And here I must impress upon you the difference 
 of the proof required between the parties in a civil 
 and in a criminal case. In the former the dispute 
 is between subject and subject, and the object is 
 to obtain all the facts in the readiest manner. 
 Both sides must give evidence, or it will be pre- 
 sumed that what one deposes to must be true be- 
 cause it is not refuted by the other. In a crimi- 
 nal case it is vastly different. All the power oi 
 the State is employed against the accused ; the 
 Crown is prosecutor, and has unlimited sums of 
 money and resources at its command, to collect 
 evidence, secure the attendance of witnesses, and 
 to obtain men of the highest rank at the bar to 
 conduct the case. Therefore, as the first object of 
 
FOREIGN SYSTEM. 195 
 
 the law is to protect the weak against the strong, 
 it throws every possible shield around the accused 
 against the abuse of power. He is not bound to 
 criminate himself; it is for the prosecution to 
 prove his guilt, not for him to prove his innocence. 
 He may not be heard upon oath to contradict, or 
 explain, what has been deposed to by his prose- 
 cutors ; therefore the case against him must be 
 made out beyond any doubt such as would occur 
 to the mind of a reasonable man, or he is entitled 
 to his acquittal. 
 
 The direct contrary of these wholesome provi- 
 sions appears to prevail in many continental States. 
 There, the prosecution starts with the assumption 
 that the prisoner is guilty, and calls upon him to 
 prove his innocence. He is cross-examined by his 
 judges with the view of getting him to make ad- 
 missions from which his guilt may be inferred. 
 Poor and ignorant as the great majority of those 
 accused of crime in all countries are, it is an easy 
 task for a practised mind to wring from the most 
 guiltless person, by this process of mental torture, 
 some contradiction or equivocation that may con- 
 demn him. Every act of his life is raked up against 
 him, and it is sought to prove that he committed 
 the offence for which he is being tried, by showing 
 that at some other time he was found guilty of 
 
196 PRESUMPTION OF CRIMINALITY. 
 
 something that has nothing whatever to do with 
 it ! Worst of all, he may be tried and convicted 
 in his absence upon a charge of which he may be 
 utterly ignorant. The cruelty and bad policy of a 
 system which shuts out reformation to the con- 
 victed, is apparent. Our law is more just and 
 logical. It does not seek to find a man guilty of 
 murder because, when a boy, he stole apples; but our 
 neighbours across the Channel would gravely state 
 that fact in the indictment. They prove previous con- 
 victions against a prisoner at the outset of his trial. 
 We allow them to be mentioned only after it is 
 concluded. With us a jury are sworn to give a true 
 verdict according to the evidence, and none is ad- 
 mitted that does not directly bear upon the issue 
 to be tried. I have no doubt but that you have 
 heard it complained of that some crafty fellow has 
 escaped punishment by a mere quibble of law, but 
 you never hear how that same " quibble" may have 
 protected innocent persons from untrue and mali- 
 cious charges. Better, say I, that a hundred 
 criminals should escape they are sure to get their 
 due some day than that one honest man should 
 suffer. 
 
 It is not necessary that a prisoner should be 
 seen to commit a crime before he can be convicted 
 of it. There are presumptions of fact, upon which 
 
PROGRESS OF THE TRIAL. 197 
 
 jurors are justified in deciding ; for example, if 
 a man be found near the place, where a murder 
 has been committed, with his hands stained with 
 blood, having in his possession a weapon such as 
 might have been used to do the deed, a jury would 
 no doubt find him guilty, unless he could explain 
 away these circumstances. Or, if a person be dis- 
 covered in possession of stolen goods immediately 
 after they have been stolen, and fails to give a 
 reasonable account of how he came by them, the 
 natural conclusion must be that he is the thief. 
 
 I will now return to the proceedings at a criminal 
 trial. The case for the Crown having been closed, 
 the presiding judge asks the counsel for the defence 
 (supposing there be one) whether he intends to 
 call witnesses on behalf of the prisoner. If he 
 reply in the negative, the counsel for the prose- 
 cution sums up his evidence ; and the prisoner's 
 counsel then addresses the jury. If, on the con- 
 trary, witnesses are called for the defence, the 
 counsel for the prosecution does not sum up his 
 evidence, but has a general reply at the close of 
 the case ; the prisoner's counsel having the right 
 previously to sum up the evidence he has adduced. 
 When the Attorney -General appears in a criminal 
 case, he has a right to reply, whether evidence be 
 given for the prisoner or not. No Queen's counsel 
 
198 THE VERDICT. 
 
 may accept a brief to defend a prisoner without a 
 licence from the Crown, to obtain which a fee 
 must be paid, of course by the person requiring 
 his assistance. The reason for this rule is, that 
 Queen's counsel must all hold themselves in readi- 
 ness to act for the Crown, and may be called upon 
 at any time to conduct the prosecutions taken in 
 her Majesty's name. 
 
 When both sides have been heard, the presiding 
 judge sums up the evidence to the jury, who return 
 a verdict of "guilty" or " not guilty/' according to 
 the evidence. If the former, the prisoner is sen- 
 tenced according to law ; if the latter, he is dis- 
 charged. The same rule which governs civil pro- 
 ceedings prevails ; the judge lays down the law, 
 and the jury decide upon the facts. If a legal 
 question of sufficient difficulty arise, the judge " re- 
 serves the point" for the consideration of the Court 
 of Criminal Appeal, which is composed of all the 
 superior judges ; and, pending their decision, ac- 
 cording to circumstances, the prisoner is remanded 
 or admitted to bail. 
 
 The result of the trial is entered on the indict- 
 ment which forms the "record" of the case. If n 
 substantial defect appear in this, what is called a 
 " writ of error" may be obtained, with the consent 
 of the Attorney-General, which is granted as a 
 
PARDONS. 199 
 
 matter of course. The prisoner then appears in 
 person in the Court of Queen's Bench and "assigns 
 error" that is, states formally in writing the mis- 
 takes upon which he relies, and demands to be 
 acquitted. The Attorney-General makes "joinder 
 in error/' denying that the record and proceedings 
 are faulty ; the question comes on for argument, 
 and the judgment is either affirmed or reversed, 
 according to law. 
 
 No new trial can be obtained upon a mistake in 
 fa$t, even if it be clearly ascertained after the trial 
 that the witnesses on either side have been guilty 
 of perjury, or have been mistaken, or that others 
 can be brought to prove or disprove any doubtful 
 particular. If it appear that the prisoner has been 
 wrongly convicted, the royal prerogative of pardon 
 is exercised, and he is released. If, on the other 
 hand, he be wrongfully acquitted, there is no re- 
 source, for, as I have told you, no person can be 
 tried a second time for the same offence. You will 
 easily perceive that this is a great defect in our 
 law ; it is but a poor consolation to a person who 
 has been proclaimed a felon in open court to re- 
 ceive in secret, through the post, a pardon for a 
 crime he has never committed. The pardon should, 
 at any rate, be granted as publicly as the sentence 
 was pronounced. 
 
200 
 
 LETTEE XVIII. 
 
 THE LAW OF EVIDENCE. 
 
 Conditions of Evidence Parol Verbal Direct 
 Circumstantial Primary and Secondary Evidence. 
 
 You now know how civil and criminal trials are 
 conducted ; but there is a very important subject 
 respecting which I must give you some information 
 before I conclude that is, the law of evidence, 
 which regulates what sort of testimony may or may 
 not be received. 
 
 Evidence is so called because it makes evident 
 the point in issue. It is of two kinds, parol, or 
 verbal, and written. These, again, are divided into 
 primary and secondary evidence. 
 
 Parol evidence is that which is given by word 
 of mouth by witnesses. It is usually given upon 
 oath ; and formerly Quakers, Moravians, arid others 
 who are forbidden by their religion to take one, 
 although they might give evidence upon affirma- 
 tion in a civil action, were incompetent to give 
 testimony in a Criminal Court. By a recent Act of 
 
WITNESSES. 201 
 
 Parliament this distinction is abolished, and persons 
 -who have conscientious objections to being sworn 
 may make an affirmation that what they are about 
 to say is the truth ; after which, their evidence is 
 admitted. It is a general rule that persons must 
 be sworn in the manner most binding upon their 
 conscience. Thus, the Christian is sworn upon the 
 New Testament with his head uncovered ; the Jew 
 upon the five books of Moses, with his hat on; 
 the Mahometan upon the Koran ; the Hindoo by 
 the river Ganges ; the Chinese by breaking a saucer, 
 and praying that he may be similarly destroyed if 
 he be guilty of a falsehood. Idiots, lunatics, and 
 children who do not understand the nature of an 
 oath, cannot be admitted to give evidence. 
 
 Husband and wife may not be witnesses for or 
 against each other in criminal cases, except when 
 a charge of bigamy is to be proved, and in some 
 cases where the wife accuses her husband of having 
 injured her or deprived her of her liberty. 
 
 Prisoners upon their trial may not be examined 
 upon oath upon their own behalf, but if several 
 persons be jointly indicted, any one of them may 
 be called as a witness either for or against his 
 co- defendants, excepting only in those few cases 
 where the indictment is so framed as to give 
 him a direct interest in obtaining their discharge. 
 
202 PKIMARY EVIDENCE. 
 
 Evidence may be given by persons who have been 
 previously convicted of crimes, but such testi- 
 mony is always received with suspicion. Wit- 
 nesses may only state what they know of their own 
 knowledge ; what they have heard from others is 
 not evidence, because its accuracy depends upon 
 the truth of the speaker, and he is not upon his 
 oath. But if the person to whom the words re- 
 lated was within hearing, and had an opportunity 
 of contradicting them and did not do so, then the 
 person who heard what was said may give it in 
 evidence, for the silence of him to whom it re- 
 lated is considered as an admission that it was 
 true. The best or primary evidence must always 
 be given. Thus, the contents of a written docu- 
 ment may not be heard upon par 61, or a copy of 
 it admitted, because the document itself provides 
 the best evidence of what is stated in it. But if it 
 be a writing such as from its position cannot be 
 brought into court an inscription upon a wall for 
 example a verbal account of its contents or a 
 drawing of it may be admitted. In pedigree cases, 
 and some other, in which reputation is the only 
 proof that can be given, hearsay or secondary evi- 
 dence may be given Thus, entries in old Bibles, 
 recitals in deeds, dates and particulars on ancient 
 coffin-plates, &c. &c., are received as evidence 
 
WRITTEN EVIDENCE, ETC. 203 
 
 Written evidence is proof by the production of 
 written records or documents. 
 
 An examined copy of, or extract from, many 
 papers of a public character may be admitted to 
 prove a fact ; and if such as are of a private nature 
 happen to be in the custody, or under the control, 
 of the adverse party, upon giving him notice to 
 produce it, and his neglecting or refusing to do so, 
 a copy or counterpart may be used as secondary 
 evidence, or part testimony may be given of its 
 contents. 
 
 Evidence thus composed is either direct or cir- 
 cumstantial. Direct evidence is such as plainly 
 proves that a person did or said something. Cir- 
 cumstantial evidence is a combination of circum- 
 stances from which it may be inferred that he did 
 so. I have already given you some instances of 
 this latter kind of proof in my letter upon the 
 criminal procedure. The former requires no de- 
 scription. The admissibility or non-admissibility 
 of evidence is a question for the judge. Its value 
 in determining the issue, remains for the jury to 
 consider. 
 
 I have given you but an imperfect outline of 
 this important subject in the space which, is left 
 me. Half the discussions in our courts turn upon 
 the law of evidence, and its study is one of the 
 
204 OTHER KINDS OF EVIDENCE. 
 
 principal labours of those who follow the legal pro- 
 fession. But I trust, however, I have said enough 
 to make you understand what is meant, when you 
 hear some statement which to the uninitiated may 
 appear to be conclusive proof, objected to in a court 
 of justice as not being evidence. 
 
205 
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 I MUST now draw our correspondence to an end, 
 not because I have exhausted the subject upon 
 which I have touched, but because I have gone as 
 far as is for the present desirable. It has been a 
 labour of love to me, and to you, I hope, it will be 
 a source not only of amusement, but instruction. 
 I trust that the little information which I have 
 imparted will only make you thirst to acquire more 
 knowledge respecting the progress of our glorious 
 constitution, and the theory and practice of a law 
 which, taking it all in all, is the soundest in prin- 
 ciple, and in practice the purest of any code, an- 
 cient or modern. In the politics of parties and 
 the fate of cabinets you cannot, at your ages, be 
 expected to feel much interest ; but every girl and 
 boy in England ought to know the great value of 
 the rights which they inherit ; and what can be a 
 more fascinating study than to trace through the 
 pages of Blackstone, Hallam, or Macau lay, or De 
 Lolme, the struggles, sacrifices, and triumphs of the 
 brave and good men who won and protected these 
 rights for us ? 
 
206 CONCLUSION. 
 
 It is the fashion, nevertheless, with a certain class 
 of our public writers and speakers to cry down the 
 institutions of their country and to applaud to the 
 echo those of foreign States. They may be per- 
 fectly conscientious in what they advance ; but 
 they are evidently too ready to expose the faults 
 of our system, and not so willing to acknowledge 
 the benefits which ought, in common fairness, to 
 be set off against them. Such reasoners are too 
 prone to fall into raptures at what they have 
 seen, or heard of, abroad, after a very superficial 
 examination. Strike a fair balance, and what 
 country under the sun is so free, so happy, so 
 secure as our own ? We have a Queen upon 
 the throne who, as a monarch, is an example to 
 every crowned head, and as a Christian gentle- 
 woman, a pattern to every fireside. We have an 
 aristocracy that has learned to carry its pride with- 
 out offence, and is ever active in its endeavours to 
 do something for the people in return for the privi- 
 leges which it enjoys. We have a middle class 
 that is raising imperishable monuments to its own 
 industry and enterprise in every quarter of the 
 globe. We have strong, honest workmen, without 
 whose skill and strength those monuments would 
 never rise. We have Poor honourably and bravely 
 toiling, Poor ignorant and starving, Poor vicious 
 and degraded, but I think that there are few 
 
CONCLUSION. 207 
 
 amongst the community at large that are not add- 
 ing their mite to the great work of encouraging, 
 educating, providing for, and reforming them. 
 
 Can we look abroad to find that a better govern- 
 ment than our own exists ? No ; with all its faults 
 and short-comings and they are many the British 
 Constitution stands pre-eminent amidst the ruling 
 systems of the world. That this may long continue 
 to be the case must be the fervent prayer of every 
 ioyal and patriotic Englishman, as it is of 
 
 Your affectionate father, 
 
 A.B. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 ACCESSARIES See Principals 
 
 Actions, forms of, 152 ; costs of, 161 ; proceedings in, 154 ; 
 
 pleadings in, 154 ; parties in, 152 
 Address to the Crown, 50 
 Admirals, gradations of, 132 
 
 Admiralty, Board of, 128 ; First Lord of, 128 ; powers of, 128 
 Adjutant- General, duties of, 100 
 Aldermen, 79 
 Ancient Warfare, 97 
 Appropriation Bill, 58 
 
 Appeal, court of Criminal, 198 ; Supreme court of, 30 ; from Su- 
 perior courts, 159 ; in Bankruptcy, 163 ; in Equity, 160 
 Archdeacons, 89 
 Army, the British composition of, 101 ; designation of regiments 
 
 in, 112 ; expense of, 115 ; quarters and encampments of, 105 ; 
 
 recruited, how, 109 ; strength of, 115 ; standing, origin of, 97 
 Articles of War, 99 
 Arson, crime of, 169 
 Artillery, introduction of, 97 ; importance of, 113 ; Foot, strength 
 
 of, 113 ; Horse, strength of, 113 
 Assaults, 170 
 
 Assisting a prisoner to escape, offence of, 170 
 Attorney, what, 153 ; how admitted to practice, 152 
 Attorney-General, the, 47 
 Autrefois acquit, plea of, 175 
 Autrefois convict, plea of, 175 
 BALANCE OF TRADE, 68 
 Ballot, the, 40 
 Bankruptcy, appeals in, 163 ; courts of, 162 ; judges in ditto, 163; 
 
 practice of ditto, 163 
 Baron, rank of, 58, 29 
 Barristers, how called to the Bar, 152 
 Bath, Order of the, 117 
 Bigamy, crime of, 169 
 Bill in Parliament, 56 ; opposing a, 56; passing a, 53 55; public, 
 
 52 ; private, 5257 
 Bill of Eights, the, 12 
 
INDEX. 209 
 
 Bishop, derivation of title of, 87 ; how chosen, 87; right to sit in 
 
 Parliament, 28 ; trials of, 176 
 Board of Trade, President of, 46 
 Board of Admiralty, duties of, 128 
 Boards of Health, 79 
 
 Boroughs, one of the divisions of the country into, 71 
 Borough-mongers, what, 33 
 Budget, the, 57 
 Burgesses, 9 
 Burglary, crime of, 168 
 
 CABINET COUNCIL, 44 
 
 Candidates for election in Parliament, disqualifications of, 37 
 
 Canterbury, province of, 86 ; suffragan bishops in, 87 
 
 Challenges to jurors, 192 
 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer, 46 ; the Lord High Chancellor, 45, 161 
 
 Cheating, offence of, 170 
 
 Chiltern Hundreds, the, 42 
 
 Church accommodation, 92 
 
 Church of England, history of, 80 
 
 Churchwardens, origin and duties of, 73, 75 
 
 Circuits of the Judges, 150 
 
 Circumstantial evidence, 203 
 
 Civil Law, the, 142, 143 
 
 Civil List, the, 21 
 
 Coast-Guard, the, 140 
 
 Coast Volunteers, the, 141 
 
 Coining, offence of, 169 
 
 Commissary-General, 101 
 
 Committee of House of Commons, 54 ; Select, 57 ; of Supply, 
 
 58 ; of Ways and Means, 58 
 Common Council- men, 79 
 Common law, the, 142 
 Common Pleas, Court of, 148 
 Commons, House of, 31 ; composition of, 35 ; rights of, 42 ; voting 
 
 in, 56 ; Speaker of, 49 ; proceedings in, 50 
 Commune Concilium Regni, the, 4 
 Consolidated Fund, the, 20 
 Conspiracy, offence of, 171 
 Constitution, definition and origin of British. 3 
 Constable, duties of, 71* 
 Convocation, what, 91 
 Coroner, office and duties of, 178 
 Corporations, Municipal, 78 
 
 Costs, in actions and suits, 161 ; in criminal cases, 173 
 Country, divisions of the, 71 
 County Courts, the, 161 
 Courts of Law, definition of, 148 ; of Bankruptcy, 162 ; Central 
 
210 INDEX. 
 
 Criminal, the, 180 ; of Common Pleas, 148 ; of Criminal Ap- 
 peal, 198 ; District Courts of Record, 151 ; of Equity. 16*2 ; 
 of Exchequer, 148 ; of the Lord High Steward, 177 ; Martial, 
 116, 139 ; of Oyer and Terminer and gaol delivery, 179 ; of 
 Parliament, 176 ; of Police, 182 ; of Queen's Bench, 148, 177 ; 
 of Quarter Sessions, 181 
 
 Crimes and offences, classification of, 165 
 
 Criminal Jaw and practice, 183; Foreign, how conducted, 195 
 
 Curates, 89 
 
 DAMAGES, 158160 
 
 Deacons, ordination of, and title to orders of, 91 
 
 Dean and Chapter, 88 
 
 Depositions, what, 185 
 
 Duke, definition of title of, 28 
 
 EARL, derivation of title of, 29 
 
 Election of Members of Parliament, before the Reform Act, 32 ; 
 after, 39 ; expenses of, 40 ; proceedings at, 39 
 
 Electors, qualification of, 36 
 
 Embezzlement, crime of, 170 
 
 Engineers, the Royal, 114 
 
 Equity, what, 143 ; conflicts of, with law, 144 ; courts of, 160 ; 
 judges in, 160 ; old procedure in, 145 ; new, 145 
 
 Escaping from prison, offence of, 170 
 
 Evidence, circumstantial, 203; law of, 200; hearsay, 202 ; raixl, 
 200 ; written, 203 
 
 Exchequer, Court of, 148 
 
 Exports, British, amount of, 68 
 
 FALSE Weights and Scales, offence of using, 171 
 
 Felony, what now is, 165, 168 ; costs of prosecuting, "173 ; \vir n 
 committed bydrunkards, idiots, married women, and infants. 1 71 
 
 Feudal system, the, 5, 95 
 
 Feuds, division of the kingdom into, 5 
 
 Fines on land, &c., under feudal system, 6 
 
 First Lord of the Admiralty, 46, 128 
 
 First Lord of the Treasury, 45 
 
 Flags in the Army, 113 
 
 Foreign prosecutions contrasted with English, 195 
 
 Foreigners, trials of, 187 
 
 Forgery, crime of, 169 
 
 Freeholders, origin of term of, 7 
 
 Funds, 61 
 
 GAMBLING, offence of, 171 
 
 Government bills, 52 57 
 
 Government of England denned, 16 
 
 Grand Jury, functions of, 187 
 
 Greenwich Hospital, 138 
 
 Guards, the, 101 ; brevet rank in, 109 
 
INDEX. 211 
 
 HEALTH, Boards of, 79 
 
 Hearsay evidence, 202 
 
 High treason, 166 ; punishment for, 166 
 
 Highways, surveyors of, 73 
 
 Housebreakino, crime of, 169 
 
 Houses of Parliament See Commons and Peers. 
 
 Household troops, 101, 102 
 
 Hundreds, divisions of the country into, 71 
 
 Hustings at elections, where erected, 39 
 
 IMPORTS, British, amount of, 68 
 
 Improvement Commissioners, 79 
 
 Incumbent clergy, 89 
 
 Indictments, 186, 190 
 
 Informations, 191 
 
 Inns of Court, the, 152 
 
 Inquisition and inquest See Coroner. 
 
 Irish peers, and members of Parliament, 26, 35 
 
 JEWS, former disabilities of, 85 
 
 J'udges See Courts of Lau\ &c. 
 
 Judicial Committee of Privy Council, 44 
 
 Jurors, challenges to, 192 
 
 Jury, grand, the, 187 ; common or petty, the 155 ; mixed, for 
 the trial of foreigners, 185 ; qualifications for serving on, 155 ; 
 special, 156 
 
 Justices of the Peace, 71*, 179, 181 
 
 KNIGHTS of the shire, 9 
 
 LARCENY, 170 
 
 Law, the, administration of, 145 148 ; common, the, 142 ; civil, 
 the, 143; criminal, the, 143, 183; execution of, 146; interpre- 
 tation of, 145; statute, the, 142; superior courts of, 148 
 
 Libels, 171 
 
 Local government, 70 
 
 Lords, House of See Peers. 
 
 Lord Lieutenant, 71 
 
 Lord Privy Seal, the, 46 
 
 Magnum Concilium Regis, the, 4 
 
 Maintenance of the poor, 74 
 
 Manslaughter, crime of, 167 
 
 Marines, the Royal, 141 
 
 Marquess, derivation of title of, 28 
 
 Marriage Act, the Royal, 24 
 
 Married women, felony by, 174 
 
 Medals for victories, 118 
 
 Members of Parliament, how elected, 38 ; unseating, and expul- 
 sion of, 41 ; numbers of, 35; qualifications of, 37 ; ministerial, 
 47 ; opposition, 48 
 
 Mercenary soldiers, 96 
 
212 INDEX. 
 
 Michel Gfemote, the, 4 
 
 Michel Synod, the, 4 
 
 Militia, the 119, 120 
 
 Ministry, the, how composed, 45 48 
 
 Misdemeanours, 170, 174 
 
 Money, price of, 63 
 
 Municipal Corporations, 78 
 
 Mutiny Act, 58 
 
 Murder, crime of, 167 ; attempting to commit, 168 
 
 NATIONAL Debt, the, 5967 
 
 Navy See Royal Navy 
 
 Naval Keserve, Royal, 141 
 
 Nobility See Peers 
 
 Norman Conquest, consequences of, 5 
 
 Nuisances, 174 
 
 OATH, mode of taking an, 200 
 
 Officers See A rmy, Navy, Marines, and Militia 
 
 Opposition, the Parliamentary, 47 
 
 Order of the Bath, 117 
 
 Order of St. Michael and St. George, 118 
 
 PARDONS to convicted persons, 199 
 
 Parishes, division of the country into, 71 
 
 Parliament (see also Commons and Peers}, assembly of, 38 ; dura- 
 tion of, 38 ; opening of, by the Queen, 50 ; by Commission, 51; 
 passing a Bill in, 53 ; proceedings in, 51, 53 ; official printing 
 Reports of, 52 ; admission of strangers in, 51 
 
 Parol evidence, 200 
 
 Paymaster-General of the Army, 101 
 
 Peers, House of, 8 ; creation of, 29 ; privileges of, 30 ; protest by 
 dissentient, 30 ; proxies of, 30 ; trials of, 177 
 
 Pensioners in the arrny, 118 ; in the navy, 138 
 
 Penance, old punishment of, peine forte et dure, 188 
 
 Perjury, crime of, 170 
 
 Piracy, crime of, 169 
 
 Pleading, in criminal cases, 188 ; in civil actions, 153 
 
 Poaching, offence of, 171 
 
 Police Courts, 185 
 
 Poll at elections, 40 
 
 Poor, maintenance of, 74 
 
 Poor Law, origin of, 74 ; old and present laws, 76, 77. 
 
 Pope of Rome, authority of, in this country, 81 
 
 Postmaster- General, 46 
 
 Practice of criminal law, 183 ; of civil law, 148 
 
 Prerogative of the Crown, 1 8 
 
 President of the Board of Trade, 46 
 
 Presumptions of criminality, 197 
 
 Priests, ordination of, 91 
 
 Primary evidence, 202 
 
INDEX. 213 
 
 Prince of Wales, the, 23 
 
 Princess Royal, the, 23 
 
 Principals and accessaries, 173 
 
 Privy Council, the, 43 ; Cabinet Council of, 44 ; Judicial Com- 
 mittee of, 44 
 
 Privy Councillor, oath of, 43 ; power of, 44 ; title of, 45 
 
 Privy Seal, the Lord, 46 
 
 Proceedings at criminal trials, 186 ; in civil actions, 154 164 
 
 Proroguing of Parliament, 58 
 
 Public prosecutor, supposed necessity for, 183 
 
 Purchase system in the army, 105 
 
 Puritans > former disabilities of, 83 
 
 QUEEN CONSORT, the, 23 
 
 Queen Dowager, the, 23 
 
 Queen's Counsel require licence to defend prisoners, 197 
 
 Queen's Advocate, 47 
 
 Queen's Bench, Court of, 148, 177 
 
 Quartermaster-General, 101 
 
 BATES, of what kind, and how levied, 71* 
 
 Eating of ships in the navy, 129 
 
 Receiving stolen goods, crime of, 170 
 
 Record in criminal cases, what, 198 ; in civil cases, 155 
 
 Recruit, how enlisted, and bounty to, 109, 110 
 
 Rector, what kind of living held by, 89 
 
 Reformers, political, 33 
 
 Religious disabilities of Roman Catholics, Puritans, Dissenters, 
 and Jews, 8385 
 
 Revenue, amount of, at various times, 67 
 
 Rights of Englishmen, 12 
 
 Rioting, offence of, 170 
 
 Robbery, crime of, 168 
 
 Roman Catholics, former disabilities of, 84 ; since repealed, 85 
 
 Rotten boroughs, 33 
 
 Royal assent to Bills in Parliament, 55 
 
 Royal Consort, the, 22 
 
 Royal Family, the, 22 
 
 Royal Navy, the history of, 122 ; officers of, their pay, 133 ; their 
 commissions, 137; their number (1865), 137; their relative 
 rank, 136 ; warrant officers, their pay, 138 ; cadets in, 141 ; 
 pensioners in, 139 ; discipline of the navy, 140 ; how manned, 
 137 ; iron ships and batteries, 131 ; direction of affairs of, 127 ; 
 triumphs of, 126 
 
 Rural dean-?, 89 
 
 SCOTCH PEERS, and Members of Parliament, 26, 35 
 
 Secondary evidence, 202 
 
 Secretary of State for War, 46, 100 ; for the Colonies, 46 ; for 
 Home Department, 46 ; for India, 46 ; for Foreign Affairs, 46 
 
 Select Committees of Houses of Parliament, 57 
 
214 INDEX. 
 
 :?ts -.it-Law, 152 
 
 Sheriff, High, 71, 146 ; under, or deputy, 147 
 
 Shires, divisions of the country into, 71 
 
 Show of hands at elections, 39 
 
 Sinking Fund, 64 
 
 Smuggling, 171 
 
 Soldiers; how the common soldier is enlisted, 100: pay of. 110 , 
 prospects of, and promotion of, 110 
 
 Solicitor-General, 47 
 
 Sneaker of House of Commons, 41; election of, 49; salary-, 
 
 Speaker of House of Lords, 29 
 
 Special jury, 156 
 
 Special case, what, 160 
 
 Stabbing, crime of, 163 
 
 Statute Law, the 142 
 
 Statutes, construction of, 19S 
 
 St. Michael and St. George, Order of, 113 
 
 Succession to the throne of Great Britain, the, 17 
 
 Surveyors of highways, 73 
 
 Tenant in capite, what, G 
 
 Threatening letters, offence of sending, 171 
 
 Tithes, 90 
 
 Tithings, division of the country into, 71 
 
 Towns, formation of, 9 
 
 Trade, balance of, 63 
 
 Transportation, returning from, 170 ; offence of, 172 : punish- 
 ment of, now abolished, 172 
 
 Trial, civil cases, 156 ; criminal ditto, 193 
 
 I"TTEIUNG forged documents. ]69 ; base coin, 171 
 
 VASSAL, what, 5 
 
 Verdict of the Jury, 153, 198 
 
 Vestry, 73 
 
 Vicar, in the Church of England, 89 
 
 Victoria Cross, Order of Valour, 118 
 
 Viscount, derivation of title of, 29 
 
 Volunteers, 121 
 
 WlTTEN T A G EMOTE, the, 4 
 
 Witness, who may be a, 200 
 
 Writ of error, 198 
 
 Written evidence, 203. 
 
 YEOMANRY, the, 121 
 
 York, province of, 86 ; suffragan bishops of, 87 
 
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