of opposition the items on the programme are likely to encounter, and how many and which of them have a reasonable chance of being reached and disposed of before the end of the sitting. He also arranges in the same way the days on which it would be most convenient to take particular votes of supply, and how committees appointed by the house are to be constituted so as to give a fair representation to various sections and interests. These are the arrangements which are referred to when members of either of the two front benches talk of communications passing through the usual channels. It is by means of arrangements and understandings of this kind, carried on through the agency of the government whips, that a great part of the business of the house is conducted, and it could not be got through in any other manner.

The whips of the other parties do not enjoy the advantage of official posts or official salaries. There are at present three of these parties in the house, each with whips of its own: the regular opposition, whose leaders are on the front opposition bench; the Irish nationalist party; and the labour party.

During the session the whips of the several parties send round notices, which are also sometimes called "whips," warning the members of their party when important divisions are expected, telling them at what hour the division will probably take place, and expressing a hope that they will be in attendance at

that time. If a member wishes to withdraw from his party, he signifies his desire not to receive these notices from its whip. He may, of course, if he pleases, declare his independence of party by declining to receive any party whip. By so doing he sometimes increases his chance of a hearing in the house, but usually endangers his seat.

These party arrangements make it easier for a member to perform his parliamentary duties. He cannot be expected to stay long in the house itself: he has quite enough to occupy him in the committee room, in the library, in the smoking room, on the terrace, or elsewhere. But when the division bell rings he hurries to the house, and is told by his whip whether he is an "Aye" or a "No." When a division takes place on party lines, the party whips act as tellers. When they do not, members understand and, if necessary, are told by their whips that they can vote as they please, irrespectively of party obligations. Requests that members may be thus freed from party obligations are not infrequently made, and there are a good many occasions on which they can be properly and usefully granted. But it may be doubted whether open questions are really popular. A house is never more interesting than when members are left free to vote according to their individual consciences and convictions, and never more puzzled. Each member has to think and decide for himself, which is

always troublesome. Not that a member is a mere pawn in the game, far from it, but the number of questions which even a member of parliament has leisure and capacity to think out for himself is necessarily limited. And it is only through machinery of the kind described that a member of parliament can reconcile his independence as a rational being with the efficiency of a disciplined and organized body.

It is not merely, and indeed not mainly, through the action of the whips that party discipline is maintained. The pressure of public opinion, and of the opinion of constituents in particular, makes itself felt in many ways, and is, as a rule, adverse to those who wobble and to those who are slack. It was in 1836 that the division lists were first regularly published, and their publication elicited a protest from some old-fashioned members against what they regarded as the imposition of shackles on their independence. In the present day the division lists are jealously scrutinized and carefully analysed, and the member who is slack in attendance or uncertain in his allegiance is apt to be severely called to account by his constituents.

CHAPTER VII

THE MEMBER AND HIS CONSTITUENTS

WHAT are the duties of a member of the house of commons? By what obligations is he bound to the constituency by which he is returned and to the political party to which he is attached? What kind of work is he expected to do, and what kind of life has he to lead? We may try to answer these questions, first by referring to some general principles, and then by giving a concrete illustration.

In November 1774, Edmund Burke was invited, on short notice, to stand for one of the two vacant seats at Bristol. He was a stranger to the place, but his colleague was a local gentleman of accommodating nature, who expressed his willingness to carry out any instructions which he might receive from his constituents. Burke was duly elected, and in his subsequent address to the electors he touched on the topic of instructions to members. This is what he said—

"Certainly, gentlemen, it ought to be the happiness and glory of a representative to live in the strictest union, the closest corre

spondence, and the most unreserved communication with his constituents. Their wishes ought to have great weight with him; their opinion high respect; their business unremitted attention. It is his duty to sacrifice his repose, his pleasures, his satisfactions, to theirs; and above all, ever, and in all cases, to prefer their interest to his own. But, his unbiased opinion, his mature judgment, his enlightened conscience, he ought not to sacrifice to you, to any man, or to any set of men living. These he does not derive from your pleasure; no, nor from the law and the constitution. They are a trust from Providence, for the abuse of which he is deeply answerable. Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion.

"My worthy colleague says his will ought to be subservient to yours. If that be all, the thing is innocent: if government were a matter of will upon my side, yours, without question, ought to be superior. But government and legislation are matters of reason and judgment, and not of inclination; and what sort of reason is that, in which the determination preceeds the discussion; in which one set of men deliberate, and another decide; and where those who form the conclusion are perhaps three hundred miles distant from those who hear the arguments?

"To deliver an opinion, is the right of all