Carte Blanche

cart-blansh', literally a white card; hence a blank paper, and then an official document duly signed, but left to be filled out at the discretion of the officer or person to whom it is intrusted. The term is now used to designate full authority to act. In 1832, for instance, a memorable contest was on between the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The Tory lords refused twice to pass a reasonable house bill designed to extend suffrage to small householders and to reapportion representation in Parliament. The prime minister struggled with King William to secure the appointment of enough new lords to carry the bill through the upper house. Finally, the minister wrote on a scrap of paper which the king signed, "The king grants permission to Earl Gray . . . to create such a number of new peers as will ensure the passage of the Reform Bill." This bit of paper, now preserved in the British Museum, conferred authority which it was not necessary to use. The Tory lords stayed away when the bill was next put upon its passage, and it became a law. Disraeli wrote, "Lord Grey was armed with carte blanche."