PART III. SPEAKERS OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. THE JUDGES OF ENGLAND.- LAW OFFICERS OF THE CROWN.-ECCLESIASTICAL COURTS.-ADMIRALS OF GREAT BRITAIN.-GENERALS OF THE ARMY.— INDIA.- GOVERNORS-GENERAL OF COLONIES, &c. THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. THIS great and independent officer is chosen by the House of Commons from among its own members, subject to the approval of the sovereign, and holds his office until the dissolution of the parliament by which he was elected. As Chairman of the House, his duties are the same as those of any other president of a deliberative assembly. He is always a member of the privy council, and is entitled to rank immediately after barons and before the commissioners of the great seal. Generally speaking, the business of the House cannot be transacted in the absence of the Speaker, although to this rule there was an exception in the year 1606, when, during the illness of a Speaker, a prisoner was released from custody by order of the House. He reads to the sovereign the occasional petitions and addresses of the Commons, and, as their organ, makes such speeches as are usual or necessary on their behalf. He manages the House when prisoners, witnesses, or counsel are at the bar; reprimands persons who have incurred the displeasure of the House; issues warrants of committal for breaches of privilege; and expresses the thanks or approbation of the Commons to such personages as have been voted this high and most honourable distinction by the House. When parliament is about to be prorogued, it is customary for the Speaker to address the sovereign, at the bar of the House of Lords, in a speech recapitulating the leading business and proceedings of the session. The Speaker has the casting voice upon divisions in which the votes prove equal. SPEAKERS OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. The county, town, or borough following each name is the place for which the Speaker was returned ENGLAND AND WALES. KING HENRY III. KING RICHARD II. 1377. Sir Peter de la Mare, Herefordshire. 1378. Sir James Pickering, -Westmorland. 1260. Peter de Montfort. Killed at the battle of 1380. Sir John Goldsborough, — Essex. Evesham. 1381. 1660. Sir Harbottle Grimstone, bart.-Col- 1661. Sir Edward Turnor, bart. Hertford - 1678. Sir Edward Seymour, bart. - Hindon, Wilts. To this choice the king refused his approval; whereupon the commons returned to their house, and elected Serjeant William Gregory, -- Weobly, 1680. William Williams, Chester city. [The first parliament of Great Britain (the union with Scotland having become a law) assembled Oct. 23, 1707, and the commons proceeded to elect a Speaker. Their choice fell upon Mr. Smith, just mentioned, Speaker of the late house of commons of England, who was approved of by her majesty on the 30th, and the house then adjourned to Nov. 6. following, when the queen opened the session by a speech from the throne to the first BRITISH PARLIAMENT. 1707. John Smith,- Andover, Hampshire. 1708. Sir Richard Onslow, bart. - - Surrey. 1710. William Bromley, - Oxford university. 1713. Sir Thomas Hanmer, bart.-Suffolk. 1 One instance of the hardihood of Mr. Speaker Seymour deserves record. A message being brought him. that the king (Charles II.) was seated on the throne, and desired the presence of the Commons to hear the prorogation of parliament, he refused to stir until the Bill of Supply had been returned, according to precedent, fom the House of Lords; and although again warned that his majesty was waiting, he declared he would be torn by wild horses sooner than quit the chair. The bill was brought to him, and then the Commons advanced to the bar of the Lords, encouraged by the triumph of their Speaker. — Townshend. 2 Almost universal corruption prevailed about this time, and it seems to have been no bar, in many instances, to professional advancement or to personal honours. Vast sums were given by the East India Company and by the Chamber of London among the members, for facilitating acts of parliament relating to those bodies; and even the duke of Leeds, lord president of the council, was accused by the commons (who had appointed a committee of inquiry into charges of corruption) of having accepted a bribe of 5500 guineas from the East India merchants, for procuring them a charter of confirmation and regulations. Sir Thomas Cooke, governor of the company, and a member of the house, having refused to give an account of the money by him distributed in bribes, was ordered to be committed to the Tower, and a bill was brought in to compel him to render such an account; he afterwards confessed to having expended 70,000. among certain courtiers and commoners. The sums accepted by members of the commons' house were, in some cases, of very mean amount: Mr. Hungerford, chairman of the committee on the Orphans' bill was adjudged guilty of "a high crime and misdemeanour, in receiving 20 guineas for his pains and service," and was expelled from his seat; and Sir Basil Firebrace and other members were imprisoned, " to satisfy the clamours of the people." 3 He was elected by the unanimous concurrence of the House; and as he enjoyed this eminent station a longer time than any of his predecessors, so he executed his trust with equal, if not superior, abilities to any of those Speakers that had gone before him, Browne Willis, Notitia Parliamentaria. again. 1784. Charles Wolfran Cornewall, - now of 1790. Mr. Addington, re-chosen, Nov. 25. 1826. Mr. Manners Sutton, chosen a fourth time, Nov. 15. KING WILLIAM IV. 1830. Mr. Manners Sutton, chosen a fifth time, Oct. 26. 1831. Mr. Manners Sutton, chosen a sixth time, 1833. June 14. Sir Charles Manners Sutton, now representing Cambridge university; chosen a seventh time, Jan. 29. [Parliament assembled Jan. 22, 1801; when the house of commons, proceeding to the choice of a Speaker, elected Mr. Addington, late Speaker of the parliament of Great Britain, as Speaker of this parliament (the first of the UNITED KINGDOM); the act of union with Ireland having passed July 2, 1800.1 On the next day, the king, by commission, 1835. Rt. hon. James Abercromby 2,- Edinapproved of the choice made of Mr. Addington. Journals of the House.] GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 1801. Rt. hon. Henry Addington. Jan. 22. [Resigned Feb. 10; and became first lord of the treasury and chancellor of the exchequer March following: created. viscount Sidmouth, Jan. 1805.] Sir John Mitford, knt. Beeralston. Feb. burgh city, Feb. 19. QUEEN VICTORIA. 1837. Mr. Abercromby, again chosen, Nov. 15. 1839. Rt. hon. Charles Shaw Lefevre, Hamp- 1847. Mr. Charles Shaw Lefevre, chosen a third WITH the Revolution commenced the real importance of the Speaker in rank, character, and consideration. "Jam domiti ut pareant non ut serviant." From that auspicious era, he has occupied his proper station. Ever since the statute 1. William and Mary, cap. 21, he has taken his place next the peers of Great Britain, both in and out of parliament; in all public commissions he is so ranked, and he has this precedence at the Council Table. To secure his perfect independence, he ceased, in George III.'s reign, to hold any office under the crown, Mr. Speaker Onslow setting that example, to which his successors have invariably adhered. His impartiality and his acquaintance with precedents have been insured by an almost fixed tenure of office, and his arduous duties have been justly rewarded, at the close of long service, with a coronet. - Townsend's History of the Commons. The date of the passing of the bill in the British parliament. The union with Ireland became an operative law, Jan. 1, 1801, when the imperial standard was hoisted on the Tower of London, and on Bedford Tower, Dublin Castle. On Jan. 3, the king caused the great seal of Great Britain to be defaced, presenting the lord chancellor with a new one, of Great Britain and Ireland; and the members of his majesty's council took the oaths as privy councillors for the United Kingdom. - Annals of the Union. 2 In the memorable contest for the Speakership, in 1835, Mr. Abercromby had 316 votes, and Sir Charles Manners Sutton, 306; the majority in favour of Mr. Abercromby being ten. It has been affirmed that the House, upon this occasion, presented the largest assemblage of members that was ever drawn together, 622 having divided upon the question, although several members had left the house without voting. Sir Charles Manners Sutton was shortly after created viscount Canterbury and baron Bottesford; he retired immediately after this contest from political life, and died in 1845. THE JUDGES OF ENGLAND. CHIEF JUSTICIERS OF ENGLAND. In ancient times the Kings of England used to hear and determine causes; but it is declared by law, that "if the King cannot determine every controversy, he, to ease himself, may divide the labour among persons, men of wisdom, and fearing God, and out of such appoint judges." The Saxon kings of England appointed a judge after this manner, who was, in fact, the King's deputy. After the Norman Conquest, the personage invested with the office had the style of Capitalis Justicia or Justiciarius Anglia. These judges continued until the erection of the Courts of King's Bench and the Common Pleas. The last person that had the office of Justiciarius Angliæ, was Philip Basset; and he, for the better support of his dignity, received an annual stipend of a thousand marks out of the King's Exchequer, at Easter and Michaelmas, by equal portions, which stipend Hugh Bigod, his predecessor, also had received.-Beatson 1 When the king left England in 1073, these two were appointed chief justiciaries of the kingdom. Their government was principally distinguished by overcoming the rebellion raised by the earls of Hereford and Norfolk. But they disgraced their victory by cruelly ordering the right feet of their prisoners to be amputated !-a barbarous practice for which they had the example of the king in some of his Norman wars. Foss's Lives of the Judges. |