178 ENGLAND. 



ably jealous arc the commons of this privilege, that herein they will 

 not suffer the other house to exert any power but that of rejecting » 

 they will not permit the least alteration or amendment to be made 

 by the lords in the mode of taxing the people by a money-bill. Under 

 this appellation are included all bills by which money is directed to 

 be raised upon the subject, for any purpose, or in any shape whatso- 

 ever, either for the exigencies of government, and collected from the 

 kingdom in general, as the land-tax, or for private benefit, and col- 

 lected in any particular district, as by turnpikes, parishrates, or in 

 any other manner. 



The method of making laws is much the same in both houses. In 

 each house, the act of the majority binds the whole ; and this majority 

 is declared by votes publicly and openly given ; not privately, or by 

 ballot. The latter method might, perhaps, be serviceable, to prevent 

 intrigues and unconstitutional combinations ; but it is impossible to 

 be practised with us, at least in the house of commons, where every 

 member's conduct is subject to the future censure of his constituents, 

 and therefore should be openly submitted to their inspection. 



The giving the royal assent to bills is a matter of great form. 

 When the king is to pass bills in person, he appears on his throne in 

 the house of peers, in his royal robes, with the crown on his head, 

 and attended by his great officers of state, and heralds. A seat on 

 the right hand of the throne, where the princes of Scotland, when 

 peers of England, formerly sat, is reserved for the prince of Wales. 

 The other princes of the blood sit on the left hand of the king, and 

 the chancellor on a close bench removed a little backwards. The 

 viscounts and temporal barons, or lords, face the throne, on benches, 

 or wool-packs, covered with red cloth or baize. The bench of bishops 

 runs along the house, to the bar on the right hand of the throne ; as 

 the dukes and earls do on the left. The chancellor and judges, on 

 ordinary days, sit upon wool-packs, between the barons and the throne, 

 The common opinion is, that the house sitting on wool is symbolical 

 of wool being formerly the staple commodity of the kingdom. Many 

 of the peers, on solemn occasions, appear in their parliamentary robes. 

 None of the commons have any robes, excepting the speaker, who 

 wears a long black silk gown ; and when he appears before the king, 

 it is trimmed with gold. 



The royal assent may be given two ways ; 1, In person. When 

 the king sends for the house of commons to the house of peers, the 

 speaker carries up the money bill or bills in his hand ; and, in deliver- 

 ing them, he addresses his majesty in a solemn speech, in which he 

 seldom fails to extol the generosity and loyalty of the commons, and 

 to tell his majesty how necessary it is to be frugal of the public 

 money. It is upon this occasion that the commons of Great Britain 

 appear in their highest lustre. The titles of all bills that have passed 

 both houses are read ; and the king's answer is declared by the clerk 

 of the parliament in Norman French. 2, By the statute 33 Henry 

 VIII, c. 21, the king may give his assent by letters patent under his 

 great seal, signed with his hand, and notified, in his absence, to both 

 houses assembled together in the high house, by commissioners con- 

 sisting of certain peers named in the letters. And, when the bill has 

 received the royal assent in either of these ways, it is then, and not 

 before, a statute or act of parliament. 



The king of England, besides his high court of parliament, has 

 subordinate officers and ministers to assist him, and who are respon- 



