f the
second chamber that at every public meeting its health was drunk,
with the additional sentiment, for which we are indebted to one of
the most distinguished members that ever represented the House of
Commons: "Thank God, there is the House of Lords."

Gentlemen, you will, perhaps, not be surprised that, having made
some remarks upon the monarchy and the House of Lords, I should say
something respecting that house in which I have literally passed the
greater part of my life, and to which I am devotedly attached. It
is not likely, therefore, that I should say anything to depreciate
the legitimate position and influence of the House of Commons.
Gentlemen, it is said that the diminished power of the throne and
the assailed authority of the House of Lords are owing to the
increased power of the House of Commons, and the new position which
of late years, and especially during the last forty years, it has
assumed in the English constitution. Gentlemen, the main power of
the House of Commons depends upon its command over the public purse,
and its control of the public expenditure; and if that power is
possessed by a party which has a large majority in the House of
Commons, the influence of the House of Commons is proportionately
increased, and, under some circumstances, becomes more predominant.
But, gentlemen, this power of the House of Commons is not a power
which has been created by any reform act, from the days of Lord
Grey, in 1832, to 1867. It is the power which the House of Commons
has enjoyed for centuries, which it has frequently asserted and
sometimes even tyrannically exercised. Gentlemen, the House of
Commons represents the constituencies of England, and I am here to
show you that no addition to the elements of that constituency has
placed the House of Commons in a different position with regard to
the throne and the House of Lords from that it has always
constitutionally occupied.

Gentlemen, we speak now on this subject with great advantage. We
recently have had published authentic documents upon this matter
which are highly instructive. We have, for example, just published
the census of Great Britain, and we are now in possession of the
last registration of voters for the United Kingdom. Gentlemen, it
appears that by the census the population at this time is about
32,000,000. It is shown by the last registration that, after making
the usual deductions for deaths, removals, double entries, and so
on