IV. THE COUNTRY’S VERDICT 53 V. TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF THE M.P. 66 VI. THE FASCINATION OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS 80 VII. PALACE OF WESTMINSTER 88 VIII. ASSEMBLING OF THE NEW PARLIAMENT 103 IX. TAKING THE OATH OF ALLEGIANCE 115 X. MR. SPEAKER 122 XI. “ORDER, ORDER!” 130 XII. HOW A GOVERNMENT IS MADE 141 XIII. DISAPPOINTED HOPES 154 XIV. THE KING AND HIS MINISTERS AND THE COUNTRY 166 XV. OFFICE AND ITS SPOILS 175 XVI. PENSIONS FOR MINISTERS 187 XVII. THE SPEECH FROM THE THRONE 201 XVIII. DEBATE ON THE ADDRESS TO THE KING 218 XIX. THE SERJEANT-AT-ARMS 225 XX. A NIGHT IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS 235 THE PAGEANT OF PARLIAMENT CHAPTER I THE MEMBER AND THE CONSTITUENCY 1 At the General Election the Party in office throws down its superb challenge to the Party in Opposition. “We appeal,” they say, “to the solemn judgment of the Nation on the political issues in contention between us.” This invoking of the electors’ decision at once raises a question of political morality as well as of constitutional practice—the relation in which a Member of Parliament rightly stands to his constituency. Is the M.P. a representative or a delegate? As these capacities may be said to be in a sense identical, it is well to put the question in a fuller and more definite form. Is the M.P. an agent sent to the House of Commons by the electors of a certain geographical district to state their opinions solely and act in accordance with them, or may he exercise his own independent judgment, even against the will of those to whom he owes his seat in the Assembly? Edmund Burke dealt with this question on the hustings at Bristol, during the General Election of 1774, in a speech that is memorable in political literature as a classic statement of the constitutional position of an M.P., in the opinion of the representative, at least, and also, it must be said, in the opinion of a large body of the electors. Burke said it ought to be the happiness and glory of a representative to live in the strictest union, the closest correspondence, and the most unreserved communication with his constituents. Their wishes ought to have great weight with him, their opinions high respect, their business unremitted attention. “But,” Burke goes on, “his unbiased opinion, his mature judgment, his enlightened conscience, he ought