The Sun.
London, England, 1870-05-27 00:00:00

METROPOLITAN GOSSIP-THURSDAY.

Mr. Craufurd is a Radical ; yet I suppose when he
moved the exclusion of strangers from the House he had
no arriere pensee, no subtle purpose to serve, and that his
sole object was to prevent the publication of a debate
which he thought not fit to be printed. NevertheleEis the
effect of his motion will in all probability be the abolition
of the power which he used so indiscreetly.
Mr. Gilpin, the Quaker M.P. for Northampton, has
given notice of a resolution, " that in the opinion of this
House it is undesirable that it should continue in the
power of any individual member to exclude thepublic and
the Press from the debates in the House by observing
that there are strangers present." There is little
doubt that this motion will be carried, for it
is very strongly felt that so serious a step as the
exclusion of strangers, and still more of reporters ought
not to depend upon the caprice, the squeamishness, or
the ill nature of any one person, or indeed of any number
of persons, but should be left to the leader of the House.
It is exactly 100 years ago since Parliament and the press
entered upon their great conflict as to the right of strangers
to be present during the debates, and as to the
right of journalists to report them. The Parliament
assembled on May 10, 1768, and dissolved June 22, 1774,
commonly called " the unreported Parliament," saw
many a fierce battle on these points, and Wilkes was
foremost in the fray. The exclusion of strangers was en-
forced with more than usual rigiuity in this the worst
of modern Parliaments. Burke, describing the position
of an Opposition member at this time, wrote,
" In the House he votes for ever in a dispirited minority;
if he speaks the doors are locked." Sir Erskine May
mentions that Lord Chatham's repeated motions, im-
pugning the proceedings of the Commons upon the
Middlesex (Wilkes's) election, were naturally distasteful to
Ministers and to the majority of the House of Lords. These,
being unable to repress his imperious eloquence determined
that at least it should not be heard beyond their walls.
Accordingly, on the 14th May, 1770, on his motion for a
dissolution of Parliament, the Lords ordered the exclu-
sion of all but members of the House of Commons and the
sons of peers ; and no reports of the debate reached the
public. A little later even members of the House of
Commons were excluded from the Upper House, and the
Commons retaliated by excluding the Lords from the
Lower. But this only made matters worse.
The question of reporting then turned up. Mr.
Pulteney objected to reports, on the ground that "it
looks very much like making members accountable with-
out doors for what they say within." On March 24, 1771,
occurred the celebrated debate with respect to the impeach-
ment of the six printers for publishing the proceedings of
the Commons. The minority availed themselves of
every device that the forms of the House offered
for preventing a decision. The House sat till
past four in the morning (at that time the sittings com-
menced much earlier than now), and no fewer than twenty-
three divisions took place. Burke said of these proceedings,
" Posterity will bless the pertinaciousness of that day."
In time M.P.'s began to see that their only protection from
gross misrepresenthtion and downright libel was, as Fox
said, to have as much publicity as possible, so that in the
multitude of witnesses the truth might be secured. It was not
however, till the present Houses of Parliament were built
that the presence of the reporters was officially recognised
by the construction of a gallery for their special use. I
believe that the last time which strangers were ex-
cluded, previously to Tuesday, was in 1849. On that
occasion (June 8), the House went into committee on the
Poor Relief (Ireland) Bill, and Mr. John O'Connell
having urged that he had been unfairly reported, observed
that "there are strangers in the gallery." They were
forthwith ordered to withdraw, and the discussion which
occurred in committee was not reported. I may add
that it was Sir John Trelawny's intention to have made
the " observation," but he desisted when he found that the
effect of it would be to exclude the press as well as the
ladies. It is significant of the altered state of public feel-
ing that when the reporters re-entered the House on
Tuesday after their four hours' banishment, they were
loudly cheered by M.P.'s.
Should Mr. Gilpin's motion be carried, the final aboli-
tion of the right of exclusion will be due indirectly to the
women. Before the debate on the Contagious Diseases
Act came on a messenger went to the Ladies' Gallery,
and told the occupants they would have to withdraw.
The pertinacity of a few of them—l believe Mrs. Jacob
Bright was one—induced Mr. Craufurd to make his " ob-
servation," which led to the exclusion of all strangers, both
male and female. For my own part, considering how
deeply women are interested in this question, considering
too, that they have no means of being represented in the
House, I hold that they had a perfect right to be pre-
sent. The fact that they were in a gallery to themselves;
and screened from public view, should have prevented
any embarrassment on the part of the speakers. They
would have much better reason to be embarrassed
at an opera ballet, or, for that matter, at a Bel-
gravian rout. There is only too much room for the
ady's-maid's sarcasm " I am going to undress my lady for
the ball." I find it less easy to defend the fine ladies who
drove over in their carriages to Denham yesterday in the
hope of seeing seven battered corpses lying in a house
bespattered with blood and brains. It would seem as if
they were getting weary of the " tournament of doves"
at Hurlingham, and wanted something more sensational
than the spectacle of murdered pigeons to stimulate their
jaded appetite. But it is rather a long step in advance
from slaughtered birds to murdered babies. Would not
the ladies find a bull-fight sufficient, at all events for a
time ?

M.P.'s are rejoicing in the hope that the Irish Land
Bill will be reported to-night. If it should be, and your
readers will know by the time that they read these lines,
short work will have to be made with the six pages of
amendments which still remain to be disposed of. There
is a rumour that when the third reading is taken on Mon-
day some one will oppose, and even force a division.
The rumour does not seem very probable, for the extreme
Irish party like the bill better than they did when
Mr. Bryan and Captain White led their few followers
into the wilderness, and Conservative M.P.'s, who
then voted for the bill, certainly do not dislike it
more than they did then. Much curiosity is felt
with respect to the amendments to the Education Bil
which Mr. Forster is expected to lay upon the table to-
night. It is rumoured that they will be very much in ac-
cordance with the suggestions made by Dean Hook
about fifteen years ago. Meanwhile Mr. Jacob Bright
has given notice of an amendment, the purport of which
is that the reading of the Scriptures shall not
be excluded in school hours ; that no teacher shall
be allowed to teach any distinctive religious dogma ; that
no expense connected with religious teaching,
shall be defrayed by a school-board, but such board
may sanction the use of the school building,
for religious teaching out of school hours. Of
course, this will not satisfy the supporters of Mr. Forster's
bill.

I am sorry to say that the Duke of Richmond is rather
seriously ill. He has been acting as chairman of the
committee on the Metropolitan District Railway Bill,
but on Monday was so unwell that he had to give up and
the committee was adjourned till to-morrow. This delay
will involve a loss of several thousand pounds to the
persons interested in the bill.
The season being close to its culminating point, and a
royal visitor being over here, our court has, as usual,
adjourned to the Highlands. The King of the Belgians is in
London, but of course Buckingham Palace remains shut.
King Leopold has been moving about well, however, and
possibly the freedom which he enjoys does not make him
regret the loss of royal hospitality. He is to be feasted
at Windsor a month hence. Of course, he will be at the
Derby on Wednesday. By the way, it is not I believe
generally known that an English firm, Waring Brothers,
are carrying out the great works in King Leopold's
capital. _ _

London society will sustain no slight loss by the depar-
ture of Baron Brunnow. Like Baron Bunsen did, he has be-
come one of ourselves, and is very popular. He received
the Queen's commands to go to Windsor in order to
take leave of her Majesty before she set out for the
North.

The Parks are just now looking their loveliest. It is
no cockney illusion, I can assure you, that the air of the
streets and squares is laden with perfume. I never before saw
such a mass of blossom on the hawthorn. The late spring
has been most favourable to the flowers and also
to the fruit trees. In another week Rotten Row will be
all ablaze with rhododendrons and azaleas. Unfortunately
Hyde Park is spoilt this year by the works which are
going on in connection with the cleansing of the
Serpentine. These were to have been finished a month
ago, but grouse shooting will have arrived and town will
be empty before the job is finished. Some hundreds of
men are at work on it, and trains of waggons, full of
black slimy mud, are drawn by locomotives to the