absurd. It is this, that no person who holds any office created since
the twenty-fifth of October, 1705, shall be a member of the House of
Commons. Nothing can be more unreasonable or more inconvenient. In
1705, there were two Secretaries of State and two Under Secretaries.
Consequently, to this day, only two Secretaries of State and two Under
Secretaries can sit among us. Suppose that the Home Secretary and the
Colonial Secretary are members of this House, and that the office of
Foreign Secretary becomes vacant. In that case, no member of this House,
whatever may be his qualifications, his fame in diplomacy, his knowledge
of all the politics of the Courts of Europe, can be appointed. Her
Majesty must give the Admiralty to the commoner who is, of all her
subjects, fittest for the Foreign Office, and the seals of the Foreign
Office to some peer who would perhaps be fitter for the Admiralty.
Again, the Postmaster General cannot sit in this House. Yet why not? He
always comes in and goes out with the Government: he is often a member
of the Cabinet; and I believe that he is, of all public functionaries,
the Chancellor of the Exchequer alone excepted, the one whom it would be
most convenient to have here. I earnestly hope that, before long,
this whole subject will be taken into serious consideration. As to the
judges, the rule which I should wish to see laid down is very simple.
I would admit into this House any judge whom the people might elect,
unless there were some special reason against admitting him. There is a
special reason against admitting any Irish or Scotch judge. Such a judge
cannot attend this House without ceasing to attend his court. There is a
special reason against admitting the Judges of the Queen's Bench and of
the Common Pleas, and the Barons of the Exchequer. They are summoned to
the House of Lords; and they sit there: their assistance is absolutely
necessary to enable that House to discharge its functions as the highest
court of appeal; and it would manifestly be both inconvenient and
derogatory to our dignity that members of our body should be at the beck
and call of the peers. I see no special reason for excluding the Master
of the Rolls; and I would, therefore, leave our door open to him. I
would open it to the Judge of the Admiralty, who has been most unwisely
excluded. I would open it to other great judicial officers who are
now excluded solely because their offices did not exist in 1705,
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