eir accepting certain offices under the crown.
Mr. E. L. Bulwer was dissatisfied with the proposition, because it
failed to remove the worst clanger of the present system. The principle
of the constitution, he said, was not that the people should choose
ministers, but that they should have an opportunity of deciding whether
or not they wished their representatives to become ministers, and this
principle the present measure would destroy. Pie moved, as an amendment,
"That, for the convenience of the public service, and the promotion
of the public interests, it is desirable that one member of each of the
principal departments of state should have a seat in that house, but
without the privilege of voting, unless returned by the suffrages of
a constituency." Dr. Lushington and Mr. Ward opposed both these
propositions, as taking from the people one of the most valuable
privileges given to them by the constitution, merely for the purpose of
consulting the convenience and safety of the party now in power. Lord
Althorp assured the house that the subject had been introduced without
the sanction of government; but, at the same time, he stated that
ministers had been put to great inconvenience. On the whole, however, he
thought that the time was not yet come when a measure like that
should be pressed on the house. Both the motion and the amendment were
withdrawn.

On the 15th of May Mr. Tennyson submitted a motion for leave to
introduce a bill to shorten the duration of parliaments. He reserved to
himself the right, he said, of suggesting the precise period to which
parliaments should extend, when the measure had gone into committee. The
motion was seconded by Sir Edward Codrington, who expressed himself in
favour of five years as being more likely to reconcile the different
parties. Colonel Davies opposed the motion as being premature; and Lord
Dalmeny thought the passing of the reform act the strongest possible
reason against entertaining the question. In reply, Mr. Tennyson stated
that those who supported the bill would bind themselves only to the
propriety of shortening the duration of parliaments, without at all
pledging themselves to any particular period, which might be reserved
for determination in committee; whereas, those who voted against it,
would give a conclusive opinion that the present term ought to be
continued. Mr. E. J. Stanley moved, byway of amendment, that the bill be
one to shorten parliaments to five years,