The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1878-03-17
THE BRITISH HOrSE or CoMyov.

oUSy matter To WISH inc House Of tlufp.,.
mission is 10 be had only by card fr,n W.
Der, and even the magic card itself is far @r-a,
insurng your admission for enough ,o.9an
are often issued to I'll their diminu,ivo 80.
gers gallery six times over and tickets. me-
oycr are good only for the day named thor.rn'
A ticket simply means this: that you may i,s
the House of Commons on certain day pro.
vded thore happens to be room.
In spite of a seeming difficulty In obtaining
these tickets. they. nevertheless. often come in
strangely crooked ways. The everlasting fee.
or tip. 10 officials Is very potent in England.
and shilling or two will often readily do what
an infinite amount Of square work utterly fails
to accomplish. few days ago Il friend saidto
me that If | wished to 20 with him to the House
Of Commons he could furnish me with card.
lie had not the cards then, he added. hut should
get them on the following evening by meeting
an indefinite third party. at n certain place. at
exactly twenty minutes before seven o'clock.
At the appointed hour. and prompt to the min
ute. as we waited in the fickcring light Of n SOL
itary gas lamp. near the Houses Of Parliament.
"a minor official met u.s. and handed over two
tickets duly signed by members. two shilling
piece slipped into his hand settled our dobt-at
least in its commercial bearing. He is employed
about the House. and members doubtless write
out tickets at his request. and he. thereupon.
speculates in a small way upon them. Had wo
applied to the members directly we should
have been less likely to obtain cards OF admis-
sion than by this Intermediary process which
we employed. Then we took our places in tho
entrance room. in line. and waited our turn.
After waiting an hour we were admittcd-sove-
raj who were but n little in advance Of us had
been waiting three hours before their turns
came.
The hall Of the House OF Commons is clab-
orntely finished. but is small in comparison
with the halls of our Congress. II looks to mo
like n good-sized bandbox. The length IL IS
feet width. As feet; and height. II feet. Tho
strangers gallery. which is at one end seats
rather less than eighty persons and the diplo-
matte gallery Just in front of it, rather less than
than fifty. The eighty seats mentioned IRE all
that are available by members tickets. il WAS
evidently never intended that the general pub
| lie should largely visit the House Of Commons.
| The members seats are long, cushioned
| lounges. all facing the centre, and without
| desks-a very unhandy arrangement for egis-
| lativc purposes. should say. The part Of tho
| room to the right of the Speaker is occupied by
tho ministerial members and the front scat.
near the Speaker. by the Ministers themselves.
| To the left Of the Speaker IRE the Opposition
members. and the leaders Of tho Opposition
| occupy the front seat on that side. Here sat tho
| Marquis of Harrington and John Bright on Tat
evening. large part Of the members kept
| their hats on; the Ministers present all wora
their hats in the room. The size of the hall Of
| the House does not make II necessary thatmem-
bers should speak in n loud tone OF voice. and
hence the habit Of speaking in n merely con-
versational tone II very general. The room Is
| lii with gas but no fame Is visible. The light
| comes in from above and might almost be sup
| posed to be sunlight.
One feature connected with the House Of
Commons is so utterly ridiculous that IT do
| serves only to be laughed at. When had been
in the room some fifteen minutes. my compan-
ion asked me whether saw any ladies present.
] said no; but he informed me that thirty or
forty ladies' were nevertheless listening 10 the
debate that was then going on. He then called
| my attention to II cOntryancc at tho opposite
end which he termed " the cage" and in which
were quite n number Of ladies' That end Of tho
room. just above the reporters gallery has u
number If windows. and these are filed with
| a kind of network Of iron. and back Of these il
| the ladies gallery. They are distinctly outside
the hall itself, and can only look in through this
iron grating. Exceptions may sometimes bo
made IN the casc of ladies of title. but. gone
rully speaking. no ladies are admitted while thu
House is in session. OF course. no good reason
can bee urged In favor of this urrnng mont.
Possibly the British lion IS afraid io roar shake
his manc. and show his tecth In ihc ,-.Ni1
presence If the hlie-; or. uorhn'- aaalu. hn
may deem 1t imnolit' f. do SEQ. Sow and fNDl
propO sitiou- have been made 10 away wiz
the " aridir.u." u- u b. cciio4uruly calrl. i'm,
the English r.orlo are not naturally disposed
tod.-fdrh existing cu. tom. all iAe srdlr.n'
still remains intact.
In broad contrast with iAe custom 81 our
Amer an Congress are thr t.m,- 81 iho hrein-
nin- and CLOSE II the annual -, -iui.s % lallil-
ment and of the daily meetings Of the tw)
Houses. The Parliament is usually called to-
gether early in February, and sits until ahout
Aug, H. The daily meetings If the House q
Lords begin al . L. NJ, and usually last hut
about two hours the lious" OF Commons meets
at H. W., and usually sits till past midnight
The rulNs ol tl" House seem To- assume that ~
mempcf can Wllluily or unreasouahly oi0iru
IL business or misuse It's rules ami any iurm-
Der who chooses may olstru"t the business 10 =
degree 'lA' would not uc tolerated IN any oih'c
deApelailVe assembly Tie previous plos-
u"h Is form noi used h> TIE liou-roi COM