The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1876-02-24
ENGLAND'S NOBILITY.
How the stock of British Hue Blood j,
KPnf

How the stock Of British blue Blood is
Kept Up:
The parliament of the United King
dom of Great Britain and Ireland is
composed Of four constituent elements
the king or queen, and. the three estates
of the realm, viz, the lords spiritual,
the lords temporal, and the commons.
These several powers collectively make
the laws that are binding upon the sub
jects of the British Empire. The lords
spiritual and temporal constitute the
house of lords-the former consisting
of the archbishOps of Canterbury and
York and twenty-fOur bishops of the
ing of /, the prince of Wales, dukes of
the blood royal, 81 dukes, IS marqUises
Ill earls, 24 viscOunts, 245 baTOns, l6
representative peers of Scotland, % rep
resentatiVe peers of ireland, or 46S in all
There are also ladies who are peeresses
in their own right. The house of COM
mons consists of sos members, viz, 1913
returned by English and Welsh, go by
Scotch, and 105 by Irish constituencies
The members of the house of commons
though they varied in the past, have re-
mained stationary at the mystical num-
Der of 65S since the union with ireland
at the close of the last century, and this
statiOnarinesS has survived nOtwithstand-
ing the numerous, and almost funda-
mental, alterations which have been
made in the distribution of the elccto-
raj franchise by the several reform acts
which have been passed during the CEN
tury. There is no reason why 65S
should be selected rather than any other
fancy number. Thirty or forty fewer
members of parliament would not make
any perceptible difference either in the
quality or quantity Of the legislative or
deliberative acts performed by this body.
But the whole distribution of political
power in this country is full of curiOsi-
ties and anomalies, grown out of tradi-
ton or compromise, and fOstered by the
conservative instincts of slowly moving
population. Probably Cos is rs good as
any other fancy number, and does its
work with sort of clumsy method that
suits the genius or the people. The
numbers of the house of lords are not
restricted. Peerages become dormant
from time to time, or die out, but the
gaps made by these natural processes are
more than filled up by new creations
and promotions. from lower to a higher
rank. During the reign of Queen Vic
toria no fewer than 146 creations or pro-
motions in the house of lords have been
made. Each prime minister seems to
feel bound to tap the fountain Of honor
in favor of his supporters at the begin
ming, in the middle, or at the end of his
tenure of Office. When Lord Melbourne
was prime minister, at the commence
ment Of the queens reign, couple Of
dozen peerages were authorized. Sir
Robert Peel, between 1912 and 1916, was
satisfied with four. Lord Russell, be
tween 1917 and 1851, and again in 1866,
created twenty; Lord PalmerstOn, four
teen Lord Derby, ten. Mr.. Gladstone,
feeling the weakness of his party in the
upper house, advised the creation Of no
les; than forty peers in six years, and
Mr. Disraeli, not to be OUtdOne, has, in
the brief periods of his two reigns in
1863 and 1915, created seventeen, and
within the last few days he has promoted
three of his supporters and elevated four
mOre-giving him a round total of four
and-twenty in three years, or an average
of eight a year. But among his four
and-twenty there are no less than three
dukes, and no prime minister except Mr..
Disraeh has ever managed more than
two. Few, indeed, have ventured to
aspire above a plurality of viscoUnts.
New creations are ineligible enough
to any British-bOrn subject. IN a country
in which position IN society Is 50 highly
valued as it Is in this country, entrance
into and acceptance by the old hereditary
nobility of Great Britain are obvious OBJ
iects of ambition. What men desire, and
still more what women desire, when they
have acquired the necessities and com
forts of life, is consideration from and
power over others. 4 title, even the
humblest kind Of title, say a knighthOOd,
i-a stepping-stOne towards the realization
of their desires But knighthOOd is a
poor thing after all. 1t cOnfers the title
''lady" upon your wife or widow, but 1T
does not help your children. As soon,
therefore. as a man Is made knight ne
| aspires, if he has a family, to become a
! haronet, and then the title descends to
| his eldest son. and 50 on through the gen
| erations which succeed him. But this,
| through a hereditary title, does not bring
| him within the hereditary Pecrage. \
! baronetcy does not give him a seat In
! Parliament, and it does very little for his
Younger children. 1t gives them a sort
| of shadOwy precedence at a dinneT-table
among a lot of commOners, and this
| shadOwv precedence the sons and daUgh.
| ters of barOnets are not slow to exact
1 But 1t does not give them power or con
.idcration. 4 barony is a very different
/ thing. A baron Is an august being. HC
| Is an hereditary peer Of the realm, who's
| blood Is ennobled and whose dignities car
| be lost only by attainder or taken away
/ by act of Parliament. he cannot sit II
the House Of Commons, but he has n sea-
| in the House Of Lords, which descend
to his eldest son. He has precedenc,
over all commoners and baronets anC
knights and privy counsellors who ar
not ennobIed. He is, by virtue of nj
dignity, one Of the kings councillors
and an hereditary member of the highes
judicial body in the country. His wifi
shares his titles and hOnors with him
and their sons and daughters are distin
guished from the herd whom their parent
have left behind by cOurtesy-titles O
" Honorable " added TO their name
Their descendants, however, do not II
main in the ranks of the nobility, as the
| do abroad. They fall back into the gre