The Sun.
London, England, 1869-06-23 00:00:00

VIE SIM LONDON,

of the eisetrsions, wboerer is nominally addressing
the base is pointedly addressing him as " Sir," or
" Mr. Speaker." In striking contrast to all this, the

Lord High Chancellor of England is only by a figure
of speech, as one may say, the Chairman or Speaker
of the House of Lords. It is by little better than a
fiction that he presides over its proceedings. As
though it were from the fact of his having no chair
to sit in as head of the house, he is absolutely without
any of the authority usually accorded to the chairman
of every great public meeting. The noble lords who
are addressing the House are really addressing
the House—not the Chancellor. Throughout
their remarks they are continually saying, " My
Lords" not "My Lord." The Chancellor is there on
the Woolsack arrayed in hii black silk robe and his
full-bottomed wig ; but, he sits there as one may say
tnumchance. Unless, when, in the exercise of a
right not accorded to the Speaker of the House of
Commons—an official, so called, upon the locus a
non lucendo principle—he, literally, at these excep-
tional intervals, of his own choosing, steps aside from
the Woolsack, still arrayed in his robe and flowing
wig, when he himself, we say, takes part in their
lordships' discussion. That privilege, the privilege of
speech, he certainly possesses. But, as to any autho-
rity he might be supposed to have for maintain-
ing order in their Lordships' House, or in regulating
its proceedings, he has, to all intents and purposes,
none. Yesterday this clearly unsatisfactory state of
things in regard to the conduct of public business in
the House of Lords, was brought under the
consideration.of that branch of the Legislature
by the noble and learned Lord, the Master of the
Rolls. Lord ROMILLY'S reason for doing so was, in
itself, sufficiently notorious—the occasion, in fact,
arising out of the unseemly and most disorderly
manifestations of applause which have, more than
once of late, proceeded from the occupants of the
Strangers' Gallery. Daring the late noble debate
on the Irish Church Bill in the House of Lords,
we have ourselves heard proceeding from that
Strangers' Gallery—not merely loud cries of " Hear,
hear," technically called "Cheers," when either voci-
ferous or long sustained, but the stamping of feet and
the clapping of hands, and now and then, even, or
we are very greatly mistaken, what is termed among
Orangemen the Kentish Fire ! Now, applause of
any kind would be at all times simply dis-
grew ;lid, proceeding from that particular portion
of the House of Lords set apart for the accommoda-
tion of Strangers. But applause so impassioned, so
noisy, and so wholly unrestrained in it; character,
was nothing less than outrageous. It certainly ap-
pears most desirable that the nominal hra.l of
die House, the Lord High Chancellor, should
')e empowere 1 by their lordships to prevent the re-
currence of any such disorderly manifestations. It
is no doubt perfectly true, as was observed last even -
ing by the noble and learned lord now the occupant
)f the Wools ick, that there are three remark-
tide distinctions between the Spea'car of the
Rouse of Commons an 1 that so•called Speaker

)f the House of Lords, the Lord Chancel-
!or. Namely, First of all that the Speaker is
:hosen by those who wish to select him for the
office; secondly,...that he is chosen from among,
members distinguished by their long acquaintance
with the business of the House, and to whose deci-
sions on piuts of order or calls to order implicit de-
ference is therefore paid ; an", thirdly, that ho cannot

')e a partisan, has no opportunity of speaking except
in camtnittee, and is generally suppusA to be a person
free fro:n the trammels of play. The Lard Chau-
being—not a doubt of it—at a very
;real disadvantage in every one of these particulars !

gevertheless, for all that, we cannot but think that
noble an'l learned lord the occupant of the Wool-
sack, should have placel in his hands at I.st the
onwr.r of ko.,nina nraer—fnr. as tin. Nifty Luis?. of SALTS..
!IljitY well s last evening, if there should chance to
ne a tyranii:cal Lord Chancellor, tha House could
')ut take away from hilt' the authority which it is
flow proposed should be confided to the o,:capant of
the Woolsack in his c spa ity as first Peer of the

realm.

1808-0 will be a sadly-memorable year for the
working classes. The same twelvemonth which has
seen them enfranchised for the first time, has seen
them also flying from the country in thousands,
because it is impossible for them to earn a livelihood
in it. To give a man a vote at the very time that
you declare your incapability to give him work,
is painfully suggestive of the stone which was
offered in reply to the prayer for bread.
What are politics to a man who has not
a subsistence ? Of what avail is it to
him that he has a twenty-thousandth part in the
selection of a six-hundred-and-fifty-eighth portion
of one House of the Legislature, when no legislator
is able to tell him how he is to keep body and soul
together ? •Three or four years ago he might have
cared to stand before the hustings on nomination
day, and to announce his vote to the clerks on
polling-day. Yet now it is not to the hustings but the
workhouse whither he wends his steps, it is not the
poll-clerk but the relieving-officer with whom he
has to make acquaintance. It is a sad termination
to the political enthusiasm of the last few years.
The Whitechapel stone-yard is a miserable anti-
climax to the Hyde Park demonstration. Can
nothing be done for him ? Has he become an elector
only to lose his new inheritance by becoming a
pauper ? Cannot the wisdom of that body which
he and his fellows have helped to constitute, devise
some means to redeem him from the sore bondage
of poverty, to supply the honest man with
all that he wants work for willing hands
that are idle through no fault of theirs ?
Such questions as these are being asked on all sides
by our labouring class. They cannot safely remain
unanswered. It was such questions which led to the
French revolution of 1848, and to the brief, but
bloody, reign of Red Republicanism. Red
Republicanism is not dead, it sleeps only, if indeed
it do sleep. Of that we feel by no means certain
when we read the reports of the International
Working Men's Congresses. At any rate, no Govern-
ment can afford to ignore such a condition of things
as exists among our working-men at the present

time.
It is under these circumstances that the Poor-law
Board has at last promised to deal with the pauperism
of London. The deputation which waited upon Mr.
GoscHEN on Monday obtained from him a distinct
proposal that a central committee should be formed
out of the various metropolitan boards of guardians,
for the express purpose of forwarding emigra-
tion to the colonies. This committee will obtain
information from the colonial Governments as
to the openings which there are for
emigrants, and will, perhaps, be able to persuade
those Governments to make a grant to assist
emigration. The boards of guardians on their part
will be at liberty to grant relief out of supplementary
funds to persons who are not actually on the rates,
but who, if
country,elea rth they do not leave the
at a fecwomie)emtlicpisonspetthite
inraetoens.veyilntg ias
probable pauper out of the country will save a
good many pounds spent in supporting him
here. Formerly, under the old vicious law
of settlement, a board of guardians did not hesitate
to spend a considerable sum of money in deporting a
pauper from one end of England to the other. The
only effect was to save the rates of the parish which
did this. The pauperism was not cured ;it was
simply shifted from Cornwall to Northumberland,
from Norfolk to Cork. Neither the country nor the
pauper was benefited. But by transporting a
pauper to Canada or Australia a parish will not
only relieve its rates, but convert a pauper into a