Proportional Representation | Page 5

in Burke's time, the
government of the nation by its chosen representatives. Indeed, so
much is this the case that, in spite of the continued presence of
elements which are far from representative in character, originating in
that distant past when commoners had little, if any, political influence,

the British Constitution and Representative Government are almost
synonymous terms, and the "mother of parliaments" has given birth to
so long a succession of constitutions of which the cardinal principle is
representative government--the association of the governed with the
government--that we cannot now think of our House of Commons save
as the most complete expression of this principle. Nor, despite the
criticisms, many of them fully deserved, which have been directed
against the working of parliamentary institutions, has the House of
Commons ceased to be taken in other lands as a model to be
reproduced in general outline. New parliaments continue to arise and in
the most unexpected quarters. China is insistently demanding the
immediate realisation of full representative government. Japan has not
only assimilated western learning, but has adopted western
representative institutions, and in copying our electoral machinery has
added improvements of her own. Russia has established a parliament
which, although not at present elected upon a democratic basis, must
inevitably act as a powerful check upon autocracy, and in the process
will assuredly seek that increased authority which comes from a more
complete identification with the people. The Reichstag has demanded
the cessation of the personal rule of the German Emperor, and will not
be content until, in the nation's name, it exercises a more complete
control over the nation's affairs. Parliamentary government was
recently established at Constantinople amid the plaudits of the whole
civilized world, and although the new régime has not fulfilled all the
hopes formed of it, yet upon its continuance depends the maintenance
of the improvements already effected in Turkey. Lord Morley
signalized his tenure of office as Secretary of State for India by reforms
that make a great advance in the establishment of representative
institutions. Some of these experiments may be regarded as premature,
but in the case of civilized nations there would appear to be no going
back; for them there is no alternative to democracy, and if
representative institutions have not yielded so far all the results that
were expected of them, progress must be sought in an improvement of
these institutions rather than in a return to earlier conditions. The only
criticism, therefore, of the House of Commons that is of practical value
must deal with those defects which experience has disclosed, and with
those improvements in its organization and composition which are

essential if in the future it is to discharge efficiently and adequately its
primary function of giving effect to the national will.
_The House of Commons and sovereign power._
"The essential property of representative government," says Professor
Dicey, "is to produce coincidence between the wishes of the Sovereign
and the wishes of the subject.... This, which is true in its measure of all
real representative government applies with special truth to the English
House of Commons." [1] This conception of the House of Commons as
the central and predominant factor in the constitution, exercising
sovereign power because it represents the nation which it governs, has
been notably strengthened during the last fifty years. A change having
far-reaching consequences took place in 1861, when the repeal of the
paper duties was effected by a clause in the annual Bill providing for
the necessary reimposition of annual duties, a proceeding which
deprived the Lords of the opportunity of defeating the new proposal
other than by rejecting the whole of the measure of which it formed a
part. This example has since been followed by both the great parties of
the State. Sir William Harcourt embodied extensive changes in the
Death Duties in the Finance Bill of 1894; Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, in
1899, included proposals for altering the permanent provisions made
for the reduction of the National Debt; Mr. Lloyd George, following
these precedents, included in the Finance Bill of 1909 important new
taxes which, prior to 1861, would have been submitted to both Houses
in the form of separate Bills. The House of Commons, however, has
not yet attained the position of full unqualified sovereignty, for, whilst
the relations between the King and the Commons have been
harmonised by making the King's Ministry dependent upon that House,
the decisions of the House of Lords are not yet subject to the same
control. The Lords successfully rejected the Education, Licensing, and
Plural Voting Bills, all of which were passed by the Commons by large
majorities during the Parliament of 1906-1909. Further, it refused its
consent to the Finance Bill of 1909 until the measure had been
submitted to the judgment of the country, and