THE TWO HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT 131

supremacy during the xyth century, by the end of which the
Sovereignty of Parliament was established beyond doubt.

Thus far, however, it was only a Parliament for England and
Wales. Scotland and Ireland, though under the same Crown as
England, possessed Parliaments of their own, the Irish entirely
subject to that of England, the Scottish an independent body,
though somewhat overshadowed by the Kirk Assembly which
was the real voice of Scotland. In 1707 the English and Scottish
Parliaments became a united Parliament of Great Britain, and
in 1801 the British and Irish Parliaments were united. Heavy
bribery of Scottish and Irish M.P.s was necessary to secure the
passage of these Acts. The willingness of the English to treat
the Scots as equal partners has preserved the Parliamentary
union of Great Britain; but. the neglect and mis-government of
Ireland led to a vigorous Home Rule movement, and after many
years of conflict and tragedy the Irish Free State1 was established
as a Dominion with a Parliament of its own, in 1923. The six
counties of Northern Ireland, not included in the Free State,
have also a separate Parliament, but it is subject to that at
.Westminster.

The Parliament of the United Kingdom in 1801 was supreme,
but it by no means represented the people. Boroughs which had,
centuries before, been given the right of sending two Members
to Parliament, continued to do so even if they wefe well-nigh
depopulated and the Members no more than the nominees of a
landlord; large and growing towns, the products of the Industrial
Resolution, were unrepresented; the' fact that there was no
secret ballot opened the door to bribery and intimidation. The
qualifications for a voter were various and confusing and the
result was a Parliament in which the trading and manufacturing
rjodddle-class was under-represented and working class not
represented at all. The unfitness of such an assembly to govern
I9th century Britain nearly led to revolution, but a series of
Reform Acts improved the position. The Great Reform Act of

1 Now known as Eire. See Ch. XXII.