Lynchburg Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1829-185?, 1835-11-19

European Correspondence efths Portland id-
eerfiser.
HOUSE Or COMMONS.


HOUSE Or COMMONS
Juty, lS35-l felt great desire TO get into the
House of Commons, for two reasons the one 10
see the prominent men whose names reach Us, and
hear thor speeches and the other To contrast them
with our prominent men in Congress As it mol
an easy thing tn get into tho House Of Commons
II being part Of the English system 10 throw as
many obstacles as possible AT the door of every
thing to be visited, selected wha, thought
would be the best night and the easiest WY
which was to buy in, giving the door keeper the
Zee oftwo sH'lllng> and si>penccahout sixty cents.
The Irish Bill, or rather the bill to d, idc the
surplus of the funds of 'he established church IN
Ireland among the people jor TIC purpose OF edn-
caring, was Ia he upon the table, and Sir Robert
Peel was 10 bring in the debates as the lea
der Of the opposition ! went to the entrance OF
the Commons Hail. u, three O'Clock. p. NJ so as
90 have peep at the prcliminari,s. About this
time, and little later, scores OF members came
riding to the door; many on horseback with their
servants 10 take care oi their horses, and many in
carriages, with servants in rich lNcrics About
four o'clock, stand aside, " stand aside" was
cried on all sidcs,--and there came along not "A
very tall man, with his head and hall III, shoulders
covered over with wiz. and a whole posse of off,
GERS in his tram. This wgecd gentleman thus
escorted, waS-,he speaker of tho House. Then
lntTc was rUsl Tor the stars OF the gallery and
these were filled, bn, the door was not yet
opened. When II WAS opened, when the doorkccp
"r had received hls fee, pass from some mem
bcr only one OF which bc is allowed TO give | be-
Gcvc,--wc were ushcred before the House Of Com,
mons saw not yer, large hall, not much
larger than the Hall of the GonptcS Library
not 50 large as the Halls OF very many Of our
State LcGislatnres--with seats running length
ways on both sides, oblone in the middle,
fronting which on the RIGHT OF the Speaker, were
the ministerial benches, where the wings sit. aud
ON ms lett the opposition, where the tories SIT
Just before the Speaker, near a not very large
DESK which We should call the clerk, desk, but not
AT this desk, were the Minisr, MIR Spring Rice
the Chancellor of the E,cl,Uncr, Lord John
Russell and Others and directly opposite, no,
ten feet Off, front the other side, Of the desk ,
we're Sir Robert Peel and the focus of the OPPOSE
non. The Speaker, pcrched in a low chair, back
OF the clerks desk looked very much like an owl
his face pecrcd out the thick wig. Not a table
to write upon, was before any Of the members.
tho Ministry, or Sir Robert Peel; nor was IA table
To be seen but AT the further end of the hall, and
this was small narro", and quite inaccessible.
The seats for the members were in ranges. and
they were crowded th,ckly together. ! saw some
few members writing notes on their knees, and Mr.
Spring Rice and other orators thus took all their
notes.
There was no Pacc-a ht,lc fellow such as we
have, 10 hand up iiions to the Speaker, Tor a
" Tins TO bring more porter but EVERY mem
Der handed up ms own petitions and did his own
crrands. saw Sir Robert Peel carry up whole
arm full of parchment, petionng against the
Chuch Bill of the Ministry.
After some prcliminaries, such as the settlement
of divorce case, which must be very sorry case
bv the way, if not in the love list, in the costs OF
the s't--tor every private bill in Parliament costs
about $500 dolars,--and after an odd looking figure
had come in from the Lords bowing and tripping
most graciously, with the famous black rod"
in his hand then backing out, and making three
more gracious bows, with his face to the Commons
las the Lords To turn their backs upon
the Commons,) requesting the Speaker to 90 10 the
House Of Lords To receive the royal assent by
proxy 20 some certain bills after this display o.
form and folly, at Which laughed much and much
to the horror too OF some good loyal sub ccis
near me, Lord Morpcth got up from the Min
is'crial Bench, and moved the order of the day.
Soon Sir Robert Peel was his feet, and on
his arn,s-his arms ] say, for his cxordium
more than halt pronounced while he was lazly
leaning The Clerk desk. with his lees crossed
and this too, all visible, standing as he did in
the open area when every syllable Of the hih
crto turbulent House was hnshcd, and all was
that the orator utterlnc. Anon there WAS
tremendous outory of "hrar,"" hear" begin
ming in whispers, and then mounting to scrcanls,-
first slow and distinct, and then booming forth in
one unnlc rupted below and all this was
over some not very remarkable things that lie said,
but rather over what he threatened to say, as he
stretched out hi, white panialo med legs, and
iloutcd the tail of his frock coat, while throwing his
arms in the air, bctokening spasm Of oratory IN
embryo. The enthusiastic cry Of so many vol
ces warmed up the orator, and for a while he stood
upon both legs, and sp hi like other men.
Sir Robert Peel spoke for some five or six hours,
most splendid speech he ever made in his life.
In truth it was most adroit and skfu speech,
IN which he made most ingenious argument to
prove that the Protestant Church of Ireland
ccvina all tthes though making but small part
of the Irish people, yet had no surplus funds to
give to Catholics or other Procstants for other
purposes | did not feel the force Of hi. argu-
mcnt but saw its ingenuity, and that amused
me much. We have such speaker as Sir Rob-
crt Pecl-none of his class from Maine 10 Louisi-
ana, that ! have ever met with Indeed his man
ncr would not be tolerated with us, not that
it is bad, but that it is affected, 10
theatrical. much the oratory that the coll
lege boy brings from the school. Ills enun-
citation is very slow and distinct. In his Ian
guage he seldom attempted any oratorical flights.
In his manner he attempting II all the time,
and though he met with constant cheers from his
side of the House, yet such cheers, in many
ses, only displayed either their party feeling or