, 1860-08-06


Mr.. E. c. Bsndict, in his " Run through Eu
rope" which is now in course Of publication
by the Applctons, thus speaks Of the two
Houses Of Parliament:
The Two Houses of parliament-1 speak Of
the rooms in which they neet-ara fine rooms
for their respective purposes, the character, aud
constitution, and idiosy ucracy ofthe &Ho bodies
being considered. 1t is well known that The
members sit On benches-sEort parallel bench
es on each side Of the chamber-rissng one
above the other, from ! lr1ad passage, in the
centre Of which, Ut the hea Of the room, IS the
Speakers chair, and the tables of The clerks,
eic. The seats are we'll cushioned, and the
whole room well fitted up. There is also gal
lery. which is sometimes, pethaps always, oc1u-
pied by members.
What struck ME as exceedingly singular was
thr fact that while the House consists Of SIX
hundred members, there are keats, taking gnl
lety and all, for only about four hundred. or
possibly, with great crowdng, !our hundred
und iif'y, it being suppostd that about two hum
dred # Ill be absent The Administra ion party
sit on the rirl. of the Speaker, aud The Opposi-
ton on the lett, the Ministry occupying the
bench lowest aud ncArest tue chair. All sit with
their hats On. Sp, ctaturs are not allowed to
wear Their hats. They hare no tables or deaks,
and seem very nonchalant and c:sy. The
Speaker Of the House does not Wear his Eat,
gown, conyerses freely with thuse VIM are near
him, and joins in the laugh it any thing amusn:,
occurs. All the clerks OF the House also wear
wjgs. The members are in their ual dress.
The house opens puuc:ualfy at the tins ap-
pointed At the sfrlke Of tue clock tue Speaker
leaves his room. preceded By the officer bearing
the massive gilt mace, the in ,ignla OF the Speak
er's office. Tic tram OF the speakers gown Is
borne by rain-benrers, aud hc marches rapidly
in, aud l5 folloIeu bJ The members who are
there. The doors are CLOSED, psalm is reat,
and q short and appropriate service Of pray ers
is performed, at which none but members are
allowed to be present. That being finished, the
House pyncseds to business, il there be forty
members present, rather small quorum, We
should think, for House OF six hundred mcn.
bers. Petitions and o'her formal business are
gone through with, and then comes on the more
important business, which proceeds as with ns.
Members riss and speak in their places, with
their hats of, many often rising at the same
time. and tbs Speaker assigning the 4oor to
whomsoevcr be sees FIRST.
:some one hss sad lhat England has been
EoEcrncd lY rival factions for the last hundred
years. THIS is 50, and tue effects OF it are con-
stantiy apparent, This arranging the numbers
according to party, on opposite sides OF the
chamber, is one OF them; another, flowing nat
ural:y ftom this, il tha. after saying Mr.
Speaker, the member takes no further notice of
the presiding officer, but faces 10 Tue opposite
side OF the chamoeT, and addresses his political
adyersares seated there, una usually speaks to
them in the second person. This would be con-
s,dered, with us, as d great violation Of parlia-
tend to make 1egiAatio1 4 matter of party tri-
uupt; and without my such aids, it tends ra-
piaiv enough in that direction. / think tue
3enute Of the United States has greatly degen.
Grated sicce the two parties bare arranged
themselves on opposite rides of the CHAMBER
hrr fnarr NIL a fba IF n 1n-
gtu-racy. Tlere are ot:'er causes enough.
The practice Of cheering or discouraginE q
member on the floor, as he says anything nc
| ceptAble CT othe'w,se, is striking, and should
| think tended greatly to promote the earnest.
ness aud ability Of the deb 4ter. The cheers OF
approval are Hear, hear, hear him;" good
ua3ured aud disappearing surprise or ridicnle.
"Uh, !" Of ,npatience. dissatisfaction and
wea.iuess, f" Divide, divide" to our
call Of question-that IL, 'Let us take tae vote, u
| which apparently On all disputed questions is
taken by division Of The House. The cheers
| are often auinlsted, numerous and distinct, but
| not noisy OF voctteTouF.
heard was when Bu4wer aud D'Israeli rose tt
sneak, when the cheers from their partg, tht
opposition, were general and loud. In full
Ii :use and ann ed debate, the effect Of thu
cheers was to me very amusing, from the noyel
| ty-the call tor the question was especially 50
seeming to be repeated about ten times IN dis
t,nct, clear monotone, rot loud, but rupld, " di
| ride, d,vide, divide, divide, dlridc, divide
divide, divide" and running oFer one side o
the House every few minutes. Finally, whe,
no one else rises to speak, the speaker rises ne
says, "Ssrungers will withdraw" when all with
draw except those in the strangers gallery
The meabing Of the order beng that all thos
who are wllhin the bar Of the House shall With
draw.
Three times in the course Of the evening th
ceremony Of clearing the house for divlsio,
was performed, bu: before the division com
msnced, member rose to speak, and th
"straugers" were again admitted. Finally th
division came. The House vas cleared, aad
bell WAS ruug through the magnificent vaulte
corridors of the Ia lament Hnuse, the library
the rereshment rooms, and the lobby, to Civ
notice to the members who we're out to com
within the bar to rote on division and in III
atragglers came, aad the chamber was filled.
They do not cali the ayes and noes ss We de-
nor take question by rising. but the ayes al
pass by him in procession, through q passa2
behind his chRir, then wheel and pass c.es
round tue outside Of the chamber, where the1
is passage for the purpose, at lho corner {
which is one Of the clerks with division list
the members, en- which he checks every one
be passes through bar, admitting but one at
time.
!: They then pass into The chamber at the usu
entrance in front Of the Speaker, where the
pass through another bar and IRE checked
uuoihcr clerk. In the meantime the noes ha,
pasted out Of the usual entrance, in front Of II
/ Speaker, in similar procession, have bee
checked there By one Of tie clerks, hare passs
: have again been checked there, and enter Il
chamber at the upper end on the left Of Il
, Speaker, as The syes enter at the lower en-
aud all 20 to their seats. They thus uey
3 meet, and there is no confusion. but waste
e time which We could never endure. The lii
0 are compared by the clerks, aud the result d
: c1zred. 1t takes quite half IN hour to d1yl
{ the House.
-, The NIormons JutIlant,
| nrl. r 4S.n ,J.T