THE PEERAGE IN THE COMMONS.

TN the very first of the series of papers on the "Great Governing Families" which have so long been publishing in these columns, we ventured to lay down the principle that Great Britain was governed in times of excitement by its people, in quiet times by its property. The list of the new- House of Commons bears out that assertion to the full. The election, for all the rioting which has accompanied it, has been a quiet one, no great principle has been at stake, no decision of immediate urgency has been pressed upon the country, no statesman has openly appealed to the people to support him against dangerous rivals. The constituency though interested has not been excited, and everywhere therefore, in boroughs no less than in counties, the sons and nephews and sons-in-law of the historic families, wealthy landowners, and men who have accumu- lated commercial or manufacturing fortunes, have .been the favourite candidates. So rich a popular assembly probably was never gathered together, and we can fully believe an assertion fre- quently made by members, that although the Peers would sell by auction better than the Commons, the average income of the Lower House is greater than the average income of the Upper. The spendable income must be vastly greater, great breweries, import businesses, mining properties, shops, factories, and accumulations in stock not being burdened with dowers, rent-charges, old mortgages, pensions, and unnecessary palaces, as are the pro- perties of the great peers. Strike off the London rent- rolls, which are of no political meaning, and the mines, which are trades whether peers own them or Stock Exchange ad- venturers, and it may be questioned if there is a peer with 100,0001. a year to spend, while there are certainly thirty com- moners. Strangely enough, too, there is one mercantile family, or rather connection, which not by virtue of its connection, but by the influence of its wealth and ability, seats more members in the House than any family however ancient, or any landholder, how- ever wide his territory. We mean the great ci-levant Quaker cousinhood to which the Gurneys, Chapmans, Barclays, Hanburys, Buxtons, and Forsters all belong, and which we believe counts no less than nine seats all occupied by relatives, who, however, unlike the landlord connections, obey no common impulse. The sons of the historic families have, however, the first chance, ,one race, the Cavendishes, actually seating four for four different counties, a number equalled only by the Barings, who seat four, but all for minor boroughs. Another family, the Grosvenors, sends up three, the Cecils three, the Howards three, the Lowthers three, and the Stanleys three, seven families seating more mem- bers than the metropolis, while the total number of seats directly filled by the thirty-one English families selected by its as at once wealthy and historic, is no less than forty-five. This, be it remem- bered, is entirely independent of the relatives and nominees whom they send up, and ofethe members who, though not nominees, could not be elected without, their support, and are therefore amen- able to their influence. Behind these families stand the body of the Peerage, the seven hundred families whose chiefs have from age to age been picked out, and aa•it were labelled as influen- tial men. These families, besides constituting one entire branch of

the Legislature, with a legal power of final veto, practical power of suspensive veto, and appeal from one Parliament to the next, send up from among their own children, sons-in-law, nephews, and cousins, no less than a clear third of the House of Commons—more than Ireland, Scotland, and London all put together. Lest we should be accused of exaggeration we subjoin lists drawn up by Mr. Sandford, the historian of the great families, which will be found to err only in the narrowness of their range. When to this great number is aided the list of county gentle- men and baronets, who though not members of ennobled houses belong distinctly to the same class, and the nominee seats like Tavistock or Sutherlandshire, we shall find that less than one thousand persons really supply the whole of the Upper and one clear half of the Lower House, leaving to the people only a bare majority in the Commons, a majority which, as Parliament waxes older, and new members fall under the old social influences, slowly diminishes till, as was seen in the debates on the Game Laws, it vanishes altogether. It would of course be as impossible in such a House to carry a measure against the law of primogeniture as to carry a resolution abolishing the Peers, and but that the great families do not, except upon caste questions, vote together, it would be next to impossible to carry anything, for if united they could not only render any Ministry impossible, but select and .support for seven years their own nominees.

We do not of course intend to affirm that this immense prepon- derance of aristocratic influence is altogether objectionable or seri- ously dangerous to liberty; on the contrary, though we conceive that it is in this Parliament unreasonably great, still in the majority of cases the selection of members from among these families is the act of the people themselves. Westminster, for example, was under no more compulsion to choose Captain Grosvenor than to choose Mr. Smith ; Lynn takes Lord Stanley because it pleases, not because Lord Stanley could punish Lynn; the West Riding was mot forced to elect Lord Frederick Cavendish. The influence brought to bear on tenants is often exaggerated in the popular mind, the truth being that although it can crush individuals it has little weight among a considerable body, even of tenant farmers. Look at the style in which Lord Leicester, with 60,000 acres in East Norfolk and a great party at his back, was thrashed single-handed by a tenant farmer, who when returned said he -did not know what on earth he should do among six hundred gentlemen. The tenants could combine to break landlord power all over England if they wanted to do it, and drive the great owners almost out of political life. There is nothing to prevent the boroughs from ostracizing every " aristocrat," as the French boroughs did in 1789 and Prussian boroughs do now, if they only saw that it was clearly for their interest. The truth is they like these men, prefer candidates who have not to begin by explana- tions as to their identity, whose names are familiar to their ears, who have what is called a " stake in the country," and who, above .all, though not by any means above the average in point of ability, are bred early to the governing business. They take -things from these men they will take from nobody else, bear with their foibles and failures as they will not bear with those of new men. Let a new man, for example, try to read his speech out of his hat, as Lord Dalkeith did at his first election, and then calcu- late his chances.. Or if that is not a fair example, read the good- humoured chaff which the Berkshire non-electors poured upon the lad who tried with so much pluck and so little capacity to represent the Cravens, and contrast it with the treatment they would have bestowed on any unknown millionaire's eldest hope. It may be all very base and bad—there is some want of self-respect in it—but politicians must deal with facts, and the fact is that, .cteteris paribus, a Cavendish, has anywhere in England a better chance than a Jones or Tompkins. A Reform Bill may reduce his chance, but we very much doubt if it will, unless indeed the masses should resolve finally to remodel the succession laws. No .suffrage we are likely to accept will .give a wider constituency than that of the Tower Hamlets, and if Lord Hartington stood for the Tower Hamlets Mr. Ayrton would find his chance inde- finitely diminished. The direct power of the`Peeni as landlords would no doubt be weakened by a 201.dranchise, but not their in- ...direct influence, which indeedmight be increased, theeldest sons find- ing it necessary to exert themselves, and as profitable to stand for

„great cities as for the little county towns, to which, failing counties, they now addict themselves. " Lord Stanley, for example, instead of sitting quietly for Lynn, would bore himself but. gain a vote for his party, by wrenching away, as he might have done this election, one of the City seats. Universal suffrage might give Mr. Mill an additional chance in Westminster over Mr. Smith, but we should be sorry to rely on his victory over an Earl Percy standing on a moderately Liberal platform.

At all events, whatever the next Reform Bill may do, the present House contains some three hundred representatives who either will be peers, or are connected with peers, or are dependent on peers, or stand in all those relations to landholders who are almost peers, a fact which in itself distinguishes the House of Commons from every other representative assembly in the world. No other contains a solid mass of members all whose interests are connected with land, who have nothing to gain from change and everything to fear from democracy, who are linked to the past by indissoluble ties, and each man among whom feels that he is a stone and not a grain of sand, that he can and will, if necessary, stand alone, that if he must be .crushed by the locomotive, he has at least a chance of throwing it off the rails.

I.—The following forty-nine Members of the " Great Governing Families " have seats in the present Parliament for England and Wales (New Members *)

Howard (3).

Lord Edward Howard (Arundel). Hon. C. Howard (Cumberland, E.) Viscount Andover (Malmesbury). Lennox (2). Lord Henry Lennox (Chichester). Lord G. Lennox (Lymington). Lsveson- Gower (2).

Hon. E. Loveson-Gower (Bodmin). G. Leveson-Gowor (Reigate). Lowther (3).

Hon. a C. Lowther (Westmoreland) Capt. H. Lowther (Cumberland, W). '— Lowther (York).

Manners (2). Lord J. Manners (Leicestershire, N.) Lord G. Manners (Cambridgeshire.) Montagu (1). Lord R. Montagu (Huntingdon- shire).

Paget (1). Lord Clarence Paget (Sandwich). Percy (1). 'Lord H. Percy (Northumberland, North).

Russell (2).

F. C. H. Russell (Bedfordshire). Arthur J. E. Russell (Tavistock). Somerset (1).

Col. P. G. H. Somerset (Monmouth- shire).

Stanhope (1). Lord Stanhope (Nottinghamshire, South).

Stanley (3). Lord Stanley (Lynn-Regis); *Hon. Capt. Stanley (Preston); rEerby branch]. Hon. W. 01. Stanley (Beanmaris) ; [Alderley branch]. Stuart (1). Col. J. Crichton Stuart (Cardiff). Villiers (1).

Right Hon. C. P. Villiers (Wolver- hampton).

*** Of the above forty-five belong to our English aeries and four to our Scotch series of the " Great Governing Families."

II.—The following forty-five members of other noble English families have seats for England and Wales:- Amherst—Viscount Holmesdale (Kent, West). Anson—Hon. Major Augustus Anson (Lichfield). Bathurst—Alan A. Bathurst (Cirencester). Brand—Hon. Henry Brand (Lewes). Byng—Visconnt Enfield (Middlesex). Calthorpe—Hon. F. Calthorpe (Worcestershire, East). Carrington'—Hon. C. Carrington (Wycombe). Clive (Herbert)—Hon. Capt. George Windsor Clive (Ludlow). Courtenay—Lord Conrtenay (Exeter). Cowper—Hon. William Cowper (Hertford).

* Hon. Henry Cowper (Hertfordshire).

Cast—' Hon. C. H. Oust (Shropshire, North).

Duncombe—Hon. A. Duncombe (York, East Riding).

Hon. W. E. Dnncombe (York, North Riding). Dunclas—sHon. J. C. Dandles (Richmond). Dutton—Hon. Ralph Dutton (Cirencester).

Egerton—Hon. Algernon Egerton (Lancashire, South) fEarl of Eike-

mere's son]. Hon. Wilbraham Egerton (Cheshire, North);

77 Edward Christopher Egerton (3facolesfield); [son and brother of Lord Egerton of Tatton]. Forester—Hon, G. Forester (Wenlock). Fortescue —Hon. Dudley Fortescue(r clover). De Grey—nion. Thomas De Grey orfolk, West). Heathcote--Hon. G. H. Heatheote ntland). Hervey—Lord Augustus Hervey( Suffolk, West). Curzon-Howe—Viscount Curzon.( Leicestershire, South).

ffing—Hon. Locke King (Surrey, East). Labouchere—'Hon. H. Labodchere (Taunton). Barang (4).

Hon. A. H. Baring (Thetford). Henry B. Baring (Marlborough). Thomas Baring (Huntingdon). Thomas G. Baring (Falmouth).

Bentinck (1).

George C. Bentinck (Whitehaven). Berkeley (1).

Henry F. Berkeley (Bristol).

Bruce (2).

Lord Ernest Bruce (Marlborough). Lord C. Bruce (Wiltshire, North). Cavendish (4).

Lord G. Cavendish (Derbyshire North).

Marquis of Hartington (Lancashire, North).

'Lord F. Cavendish (York, N. W. Riding).

*Lord E. Cavendish (Sussex, E). Cecil (3).

Lord Burghley (Northamptonshire, North).

Viscount Cranbourne (Stamford). 'Lord E. Cecil (Essex South). Clinton (2).

*Lord Arthur Clinton (Newark). 'Lord E. Clinton (Nottinghamshire, North).

Fitzwilliam (2). Hon. C. Fitzwilliam (Melton). *Viscount Milton (York, S. W. Riding).

Grey (1).

Sir George Grey (3Iorpeth). Grosvenor (3).

Earl Grosvenor (Chester). Lord R. Grosvenor (Flintshire). 'Hon. Capt. R. Grosvenor (West- minster).

Hay (1). *Lord William Hay (Taunton). Herbert (Clive) (1). Hon. Col. P. Herbert (Shropshire, South),

Liddell-Hon. H. Liddell (Northumberland, South). Lygon-Hon. F. Lygon (Worcestershire, West). Morgan-Hon. G. C. Morgan (Breconshire).

„ C. S. 0. Morgan (Monmouthshire).

Noel-Hon. Gerard J. Noel (Rutland).

Onstow-Guildford J. H. Onslow (Guildford).

Pelham-*Lord Pelham (Lewes). Portman-Hon. W. Portman (Dorsetshire).

Thynne-Lord Henry Thynne (Wiltshire; South). Tollemache.-John Tollemache (Cheshire, South). Ranbury-Tracy.-Hon. Charles Hanbury-Tracy (Montgomery District). Trefusis-Hon. Charles H. R. Trefusis (Devonshire, North).

Vivian-'Hon. Capt. J. C. Vivian (Truro). Waldegrave-Hon. George Waldegrave-Leslie (Hastings) [husband

of Countess of Rothes].

Walpole-Right Hon. Spencer Walpole (Cambridge University).

Wyndham-Hon. Henry Wyndham (Sussex, West). Hon. Percy Wyndham (Cumberland, West). Yorke--*Lord Royston (Cambridgeshire).

111-.The five following Irish Peers have seats for England:-

Henley-Lord Henley (Northampton). Hesauker,-Major-Lord Henniker (Suffolk, East). Hotham-Lord Hotham (York, East Riding). Monckton-Arundell-Viscount Galway (East Retford). Temple-Viscount Palmerston (Tiverton).

IV.-The three following close relatives of Irish Peers sit for England :- Bourke-Lord Naas (Cockermouth) [eldest son of Earl of Mayo]. Butler-Henry A. Butler-Johnstone (Canterbury) [grandson of Lord Dunboyne].

Knox-Colonel Brownlow Knox (Great Marlow) [cousin of Earl of Ranfurly].

V.-The one following son of a Peer of the United Kingdom sits for England :- Tallour-Earl of Bective (Westmoreland) [eldest son of Marquis of Headfor].

VL-The three following members of noble Scotch families sit for England and Wales :-- Lindsay-.Col. Robert James Loyd-Lindsay (Berkshire) [Balcarres family, and son-in-law of Lord Overstone].

„ Hon. General James Lindsay (Wigan) [second son of Earl of Crawford].

Douglas.- Hon. Colonel E. Gordon Douglas-Pennant (Carnarvoushire) [brother of Earl of Morton]. Total noble members for England and Wales, 106-

VII.-The seven following members of noble families sit for places in Scotland :-

Bouverie-Hon. Edward P. Bouverie (Inverness District). Carnegie-Hon. Charles Carnegie (Forfarshire). Charteris-Douglas-Lord Elcho (East Lothian). Dundas-Frederick Dundas (Orkney and Shetland). Kinnaird-Hon. Arthur F. Kinnaird (Perth). Scott-Earl of Dalkeith (Midlothian).

„ Lord Henry Scott (Selkirkshire).

VIII.-The twenty-one following members of noble families sat for places in Ireland:-

Agar-Ellis-Hon. Leopold Agar-Ellis (Kilkenny county) Annesley-Hon. Capt. Hugh Annesley (Cavan). Beresford-5 Earl of Tyrone (Waterford County). Bernard-Hon. Henry Boyle Bernard (Bandon). Bingham-' Lord Bingham (Mayo). Browne-Viscount Castleroase (Kerry)_ , Lord John Browne (Mayo). D; Burgh-Lord Dankellin (Galway County). Cole -Hon. Colonel Henry A. Cole (Fermanagh).

„ Hon. John Lowry Cole (Enniskillen). Cony-Right Hon. Thomas Lowry Corry (Tyrone). Dawson-*Hon. Vesey Dawson (Monaghan). Fitzgerald-aLord Otho Fitzgerald (Kildare). French-Colonel Fitzstephen French (Roscommon). Hamilton-Viscount Hamilton ((Donegal).

„ Lord Claude Hamilton (Tyrone).

*Lord Charles Hamilton (Londonderry). Bill-7Trevor-Lord Arthur E. Hill-Trevor (Down). Knox-Hon. Major W. Stuart Knox (Dungannon). Proby-Lord Proby (Wicklow). Seymour-a— Seymour (Antrim) [Hertford Branch).

Total Members of noble families having seats for the United Kingdom, 134.

IX.-The 83 following Members are closely comzected.by the mother's side or marriage, &c., with noble families :-

Acton, Sir John, Bart. (Bridgnorth), the Leveson-Gower family. Adderley, Right Hon. C. B. (CStaffordshire), Leigh. Agnew, Sir Andrew, Bart. (Wigtonshire), Noel.

Antrobus, Edmund (Wilton), Lindsay.

Bagwell, John (Clonmell), ttie.

Baillie, Henry J. (Inverness-shire), Smythe. *Barron, Sir Henry W., Bart. (Waterford), Somerset. Bateson, Sir Thomas, Bart.(Devizes), Rice-Trevor. Beaumont, Wentworth B. (Northumberland, South), De Burgh. Booth, Sir Robert Gore, Bart. (Sligo County), King [Viscount Lorton]. *Bryan, George Leopold (Kilkenny County), Conyngham. Burrell, Sir Percy Burrell, Bart. (Shoreham), Wyndham *Buller, Edward (Staffordshire, North), Buller [brother of Lord

Chuiston].

*Buxton, Sir Thomas Fowell, Bart. (Lynn-Regis), Noel. Calcraft, Captain J. H. Montagu (Wareham), Montagu. *Colville, Charles R. (Derbyshire, South), Russell-South well [De Clif-

ford].

Cholmeley, Sir Montagu J., Bart. (Lincolnshire, North), Beauclerk. Corballey, Mathew E. (Meath), Preston. Dawson, Robert Peel (Londonderry County), Brownlow. Denison, Right Hon. J. Evelyn (Notts., North), Bentinck. Daring, Sir Edward Cholmley, Bart. (Kent, East), Edwardes. Du Pre, Charles G. (Bucks), Alexander. Fane, Colonel John W. (Oxfordshire), Hobhouse. Fellowes, Edward (Huntingdonshire), Miles. Fergusson, Sir James, Bart. (Ayrshire), Ramsay. Ferrand, William (Davenport), Stuart (Lord Blantyre). Foley, Henry Hedgetts (Staffordshire, South), Vivian. Foljambe, Francis J. Saville (East Retford), .Acheson. Galwey, Sir W. Payne, Bart. (Thirsk), Wyndham-Quin. Grenfell, Henry R. (Stoke), Molyneux. Greville, Col. Fulke S. (Longford), Nugent [Marquis of Westmeath].

Harvey, Robert Bateson (Bucks) [sister married to Duke of Buck-

ingham], Grenville.

Heathcote, Sir William, Bart. (Oxford University), Perceval. Hesketh, Sir Thomas G., Bart. (Preston), Fermor. *Hogg, Lient.-Colonel James M. (Bath), Douglas. *Hope, Alexander Beresford (Stoke), Cecil. Hubbard, John G. (Buckingham), Napier. Jolliffe, Sir William, Bart (Peterafield), Paget. Jolliffe, Captain Hedworth (Wells), Byng. Her, David Stewart (Downpatrick), Stewart [Marquis of London- derry], Blackwood.

Kerrison, Sir Edward C., Bart. (Eye), Fox-Strangwayes. Kingscote, R. N. Fitzhardinge (Gloucestershire, West), Somerset- Knight, Frederick Winn (Worcestershire, West), Winn. Langton, W. H. Powell Gore (Somerset, West), Grenville. Lefroy, Anthony (Dublin University), King Viscount Lorton).

Lopes, Sir Lopes Massey, Bart. (Westbury), Buller

Malcolm, J. Wingfield (Boston), Irby. *Martin, Charles Wykeham (Newport), Cornwallis. Martin, Philip Wykeham (Rochester), Cornwallis. Matheson, Alexander (Inverness District), Stapleton. *Milbark, Frederick A. (York, North Riding), Vane. • Milhi, C. H. (Northallerton), Lascelles. Mitford, W. Townley (Midhurst), Kenyon. Monsell, Right Hon. William (Limerick County), Wyndham-Quin.. North, Colonel J. Sidney (Oxfordshire), North. Ogilvy, Sir John, Bart. (Dundee), Howard. Palmer, Sir Holmdell (Richmond), Waldegrave. Peel, Sir Robert, Bart. (Tamworth), Ray. Peel, General Jonathan (Huntingdon), Kenn*. *Rebow, John Garden (Colchester), Toler. Repton, G. W. J. (Warwick), Fitzgerald Ridley, Sir William White, Batt (Northumberland, North), Parke.. St. Anbyn, John (Cornwall, West), Townshend.

'Saunderson, Edward (Cavan), Maxwell. *Schreiber, Charles (Cheltenham), Bertie. Simeon, Sir John, Bart. (Isle of Wight), Colville. Stanhope, James Banks (Lincolnshire, North), Murray [Earl of Mans-

field].

*Stucley, Sir George, Bart. (Barnstable), O'Bryen. Shirt, Charles Napier (Dorchester), Brae/id-Bruce. Start, Henry Gerard (Dorsetshire), Brudenell-Bruce and Bingham. Talbot, Christopher R. Manse' (Glamorganshire), Fox-Strangeways. Taylor, Captain Thomas Edward (Dublin County), Tallow and Mlle-

mache.

Vandeleur, Colonel Crofton (Clare), Moore.

Verner, Edward Wingfield (Lisburn), Wingfield

Verner, Sir William, Bart. (Armagh County), Win Vernon, H. Foley (Worcestershire, East), Baillie [Earl of Hadding-

ton].

Walsh, Sir John, Bart. (Radnorshire), Grey [Earl of Stamford ancl

Warrington].

Welby, W. E. (Grantham), Stuart-Wortley. *Whatman, James (Maidstone), Cornwallis. Whitbread, Samuel (Bedford), Pelham. Williamson, Sir Hedworth, Bart. (Durham, North), Lidde Wood, Right Hon. Sir Charles, Bart. (Halifax), Grey.

Wynn, Charles W. (Montgomeryshire), Piernloont.

Total number-83 closely connected with the nobility, in almost all cases either the mother or wife of the member being one of the noble. family named. Total of Members either of noble families themselves or closely connected therewith 134 83 —217 The following Members (not already mentioned, or immediately con- nected with the nobility) sit for noble nomination boroughs in Eng- land :-

Brown, James(Melton), Fitzwilliam. Cave, Stephen (Shoreham), Wyndham. Gaskell, J. M. (Wenlock), Bridgman and Forester. *Harvey, R. (Thetford), Baring. Lowe, Right Hon. Robert (Caine), Petty-Fitzmaurice. Mills, J. R. (Wycombe), Carrington. Northcote, Sir Stafford, Bart. (Stamford), Cecil.

Pander, John

Seymour, Alfred{(Totnes) } Seymour. 'Severn, — (Ludlow), Herbert [Clive]. Walcott, Admiral (Christchurch), Harris.

The following Member not already enumerated is returned by pre- dominant noble interest for an English county :- Barttelot, Colonel (Sussex, West), Wyndham.