The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1838-10-31

puted 10 Ile sucn construcuou. Dut bos in-
deed, il was, an ordinary proceeding, an or
derby proceeding within the puryiew Of the
British lsr parliamenta,Ia
i AT length we gained admittance. We had
not, however, remained half hour before
the speaker gave the word, "strangers win
draw and out bawled the door-keepers again,
Ego on strangers, go out strangers" IN the
same hurried and alarming tones thar we nrst
heard, and as soon rs possible, all visitors
rushed from the hall This was repeated
/. some three or four times IN the course OF the
sixty or seventy minutes that We remained |;
and n 4 done as ollen as the House divides
on any question; all the strangers retire, and
then the members on the negative side Of the
| proposition leave the Hall and congregate in
an adjoining lobby, while those on the afirma-
tive side remain in the Hall. and in this con-
diiion they are respectively counted.
This whole proceeding, SO antiquated, SO
clumsy, so little in keeping with the refinement
ofthe age, carried my mind back Involuntary
from the strong analogy Of the thing, to the
days Of ignorance and barlarism when men
had not learned to count numbers except by
touching and bending down their fingers in
succession - to the days when every thing
was performed by the most crcuitous applica-
ton Of manual and bodily labor; to the days
when the OK was tied to work by his tail, and
the husbandinan went to mill with big rock
slung in one end Of his bag to balance the
grain deposited in the other while thrown
across his trembling shoulder. have often
thought that our own process Of dividing the
House Of Representatives in the U. States,
by tellers, requiring the whole body Of mem
bers to start in commotion, was rude enough
and sufficiently Objectionable but il has the
redeeming grace Of not requiring every body
besides members to be turned out OF doors,
and the whole assembly Of strangers, as well
as members to be thrown into confusion per-
haps half dozen times in the progress Of
single debate, rs is the case in the House Of
Commons
In fact, English writer's, and English ira
vellers, may boast as they will Of their own
country-of its manners, customs and insti-
tutions--and Of many points in each they may
Justly be proud Of /; and they may on the other
hand deride America in all these matters--ne-
vertheless, it is most true, that the English
are characterized bymore marks OF Anticipated
stupidity, and rude imperfection, and display
more destitution Of that sort Of knowledge
which enables men, collectively and indivi-
dually to transact business, public and private,
with ease, accuracy, dignity and despatch, than
can be found among Americans, young as they
are, and uproariously democratic as they have
been represented on this side of the Atlantic.
What for instance, can be more supremely
ridiculous, and behind the character ofthe age,
than the huge grey wigs, and long, black,
monkish looking robesf that the Speaker, and
the Clerks Of the House of Commons, and the
judges and practising attorneys or Barristers
OF the Courts of Justice are required to put
on, here, before entering in any way upon their
respective duties These huge and ugly look
ing badges serve, it is true, to distinguish the
wearers from the intoxicating citizen, and APP
prize the multitude that these official person.
ages are to be respected in their stations. But
even this apology implies, that men here are
still in a semi-barbarous state, and incapable
Of sufficient discernment to know their own
government officers and to treat them with be-
coming respect, without the aid of monstrous
" car marks"-or, have not refinement to do
so, without being oyerawed by pompous dis
plays Of insignia Of power Now am dis
posed to reject at once both of these inferences
-as being no longer applicable to the English
nation. And this being done, the folly is more
SidtmSs VI shCh prescribing tHcsc oiu dnu SIuuc
forms so long after the reasons that once ex-
listed to give rise to them, have ceased altoge-
Their. The Americans, allow we to say to John
Bull, act with greater wisdom and common
sense. When the reason of thing, or Gus
tom, ceases to exist, they at once discontinue
that thing Or custom as unworthy of them, and
of the age. They send it to the tomb of the
Capuleis. In fact, among the earliest lessons
impaired to American youths by the school
master abroad, is to be found the whole phi
losophy of the common law maxim of England,
which, l regret to say, seems never to have
associated itself with the practical common
sense maxims of her actions, viz ): That when
the name Of a law or custom ceases, the law
as within itself ceases with it.
. One OF the primary courts under the British Go
vernment derives its name from similarly anti
quaed process Of discharging its functions although
the progress of intellect has superseded the process
itself. mean the Court of The ErcAequer, so called
from the ehequered cloth which covers the table be-
fore the judges OF barons and on which accounts
were formerly scored and kept by means of counters.
THE Judges Of the Superior Court oflhe United
States, put on black robes while in session, quite
genteel, however, compared with the English robes.
They are, nevertheless, ridiculous in the eyes of the
people, and when these judges travel among the peo-
pie 10 hold circuit courts especially in the New En-
gland States, these robes subjects of scoing and
merriment among our common sense and rejecting
citizens. Ii these Judges would consult the taste OF
the people, they would abandon such useless pagean-
try. 49,
TREASURY NOTES.
TREASURY DEPARTMENT,
| -... October 20, 1888.
Notice is hereby given, that all the outstanding
| Treasury Notes. which bear date on before the