Conclusion

‘How men can proceed without any connexion at all, is to me utterly incom­prehensible’. Burke’s exploration of this point tied the human need for friendship in the chamber to the advancement of ‘public utility’.

Of what sort of materials must that man be made, how must he be tempered and put together, who can sit whole years in Parliament, with five hundred and fifty of his fellow-citizens, amidst the storm of such tempestuous passions, in the sharp conflict of so many wits, and tem­pers, and characters, in the agitation of such mighty questions, in the discussion of such vast and ponderous interests, without seeing any one sort of men, whose character, conduct, or disposition, would lead him to associate himself with them, to aid and be aided, in any one system of public utility?⁶⁹

Even if Burke’s thinking is taken in the narrowest sense, he has connected the members’ acquisition of energy in the chamber with the assembly’s merit outcomes. Law-making energises in the same way that house-building inspires the effort required.

A German traveller visiting London in 1782 recorded his observations (on one of his many visits to the House of Commons) in the following obser­vations. This passage supplies a pendent to Burke’s rumination on the same subject: do politicians enjoy serving in the assembly and, if so, what is the source of that enthusiasm?

A favourite member, and one who speaks well and to the purpose, rises, the most perfect silence reigns, and his friends and admirers, one after another, make their approbation known by calling out, “Hear him,” which is often repeated by the whole House at once; and in this way so much noise is often made that the speaker is frequently interrupted by this same emphatic “Hear him.” Notwithstanding which, this call­ing out is always regarded as a great encouragement; and I have often observed that one who began with some diffidence, and even somewhat inauspiciously, has in the end been so animated that he has spoken with a torrent of eloquence.⁷⁰

At six to seven years into this study, each of the two national legislative assemblies under examination had achieved significant insight into chal­lenges and opportunities that faced its members.

Legislative process served as the essential tool by which merit law-making accomplished manufactured outcomes. When members engaged in merit law-making they found that the range of their aspirations was to become, through the 1770s, significantly expanded. From that point assemblies dis­patched agents into the world, endowed with ever more ambitious missions. This rise in expectations for accomplishment in political society signalled that legislative process was on track to turn the tables and demand from civil society recognition for its ambitions.

Episodes related in the 1770s and into the 1780s presented Edmund Burke and John Hatsell at work in this chapter. The former explored the inner workings of the House of Commons and the latter exploited the chamber’s potential for introspection and reform. These two enterprises will shortly be seen as intimately related. The risks and burdens Burke and Hatsell shoul­dered in their respective endeavours made it possible for them to endure the disappointments and hardships of a parliamentary life. At last, we have the confidence to know that parliamentary procedure - conceived and matured at Westminster as a blood-sport - was not boring.

Notes

1 Black, Military History, 53-56.

2 Quoted in Black, War for America, 228.

3 Syrett, Royal Navy, 218; Higginbotham, War, 380.

4 Ibid.

5 Burnett, Congress, 499-500.

6 Alexander Hamilton to James Duane on 3 September 1780. Founders Online, National Archives, last modified 28 December 2016; last retrieved 31 Janu­ary 2017. http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-02-02-0838.

7 Congress Journal, 19:208; March 1781.

8 Ibzd., 19:225, 1 March 1781.

9 Ibid, 19: 236, 6 March 1781.

10 James Madison’s, ‘Proposed Amendment of Articles of Confederation’, 12 March 1781. Founders Online, National Archives, last modified 28 Decem­ber 2016; last retrieved 31 January 2017. http://founders.archives.gov/ documents/Madison/01-03-02-0007.

Congress Journal, 19:263; 15 March 1781.

Ibid., 19:264; 15 March 1781.

Ibid., 19:359; 6 April 1781.

Ibid., 20:476-482; 4 May 1781.

Ibid., 20:473; 4 May 1781.

Ibid., 20:479; 4 May 1781.

Ibid., 21:893-96; 22 August 1781.

Alexander Hamilton to James Duane on 3 September 1780. Founders Online, National Archives, last modified 28 December 2016; last retrieved 31 Janu­ary 2017. http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-02-02-0838. Congress Journal, 20:469.

Ibid., 20:545-48; 26 May 1781. Madison’s negative is recorded at 547.

Virginia’s first resolution approving the cession of the Northwest Territory was transmitted by Gov. Thomas Jefferson to the Continental Congress on 2 Janu­ary 1781. Founders Online, National Archives, last modified 28 December 2016; last retrieved 31 January 2017. http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/ 01-04-02-0481.

2 February 1781; Session Laws of Maryland, c. XL, 265-69. Maryland did not ‘not relinquish... any right or interest she hath with the other United or Con­federated States to the back country’. The legislature further declared that ‘no article in the said confederation can... guarantee any exclusive claim of any particular state to the soil of the said back lands’.

2 Stat. 56; Act of April 28, 1800.

Congress Journal, 5:763.

Ibid., 15:1226-30; 30 October 1779.

Burnett, Congress, 351-52; Lossing, Field-Book, 349-352.

Hatsell, Members/Speaker, 171-172.

Ibid., 41 n. 1.

Cobbett’s, Parliamentary History, 18:417. ‘Debate on a Motion for a Bill to enable Members of Parliament to vacate their Seats’, 15 March 1775.

Burnett, Congress, 501.

22 Geo. 3 c. 46, Section I.

Commons Journal, 39:113.

Ibid., 239-240.

Ibid., 240.

Cobbett’s, Parliamentary History, 23:503; 21 February 1783. ‘Debate on Lord John Cavendish’s Resolutions of Censure on the Terms of Peace’.

Ibid., at 500.

Cobbett’s, Parliamentary History, 21:278-85; 13 March 1780.

Ibid.

Ibid.

Commons Journal, 37:918, 22 June 1780.

Burke, Works, 2:267 at 271; Speech Presenting... A Plan for the... Economical Reformation of the Civil and other Establishments (1780).

Burke, Works, 1:435 at 530; Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents (1770).

Burke, Works, 2:89 at 95; Speech to the Bristol Electors [on being... duly elected] (1774).

Holdsworth, History, X:520-26. Holdsworth lists 12 in his discussion at this location. Cross-checking the Chronological Table of Statutes (TSO 2005) and other sources yielded five more. The author’s count of statutes in the Burkean reform effort begins with 20 Geo. 3 c. 54 and ends with 27 Geo. 3 c. 35. As discussed in the text, 20 Geo. 3 c. 54 [Commissioners to audit Public Accounts] was inspired by Burke but pushed through by North as a preemptive strike.

45 See text at 62.

46 Bromwich, Burke, 351.

47 Hatsell, Members/Speaker, 55 n. 1.

48 Word count by author from text of Hatsell, Members/Speaker.

49 A discussion of this pathway (as framed around Bills of Supply) appears at 10-13.

50 Hatsell, Members/Speaker, 13.

51 !bi'd., 80.

52 Ibid., 39; 22 June 1742. 18; Cobbett’s, Parliamentary History, 51-52; Com­mons Journal, 35:16; 6 December 1774. Hatsell, Members/Speaker, 172 n. 1; 6 August 1625.

53 Hatsell, Members/Speaker, 263; 9 May 1679.

54 Hatsell, Conference/Impeachment, 4. If ‘the Lords had disagreed to their amend­ments, then the Lords should have demanded the Conference, to assign the rea­sons for their disagreement’.

55 Hatsell, Members/Speaker, 133-152.

56 Hatsell, Members/Speaker, 135.

57 See text at 110-13.

58 Congress Journal, 20:476-82; Rules Adopted 4 May 1781.

59 Ibid., 20:477-78.

60 Ibid., 14:77, 10 December 1702; Hatsell, Members/Speaker, 134.

61 Hatsell, Members/Speaker, 187-88.

62 Burke, Works, 2:367 at 409-10; Speech at the Guildhall in Bristol [previous to the late election] (1780).

63 Burke, Works, 1:435 at 503.

64 Ibzd., 1:502.

65 Ibid., 1:503.

66 Ibid., 1:502.

67 Ibid.

68 Burke, Works, 2:367 at 409-10.

69 Burke, Works, 1:435 at 533-534.

70 Moritz, Travels, 55.