New-York tribune., 1881-09-17
SIX NEW PEERS.

CAsEs-BARGAINING FOR NoBuITY-How THE
NEW LORDS OBTAINED THEIR TTTLEs-scoTcH-
MEN AND IRsIMEN IN THE BRITISH PEERAGE
-REwARDs FOR PERSONAL AND POLITICAL
MERITS
lPRoM THE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT oP THE rRrnrrSr1
LONDON Aug. 30.-The political unpopularity of
the House of Lo-ds does not much if a all diminish
the social prestige of the Peera9e Ii certainly does
not reduce the number of men who want to be made
Peers. Lord Beaconsfield was thought TO have i'm
paired in some slight degree his popularity among
the untitled magnates of his party by the contemps
with which he treated their claims to promotion
There are always number OF rich men, often men
who are the ar hitec of their own fortunes who
want the stamp of nobility set on them They find
1t easy to get into the House of Commons Their
wealth and their connection with great in
terests, such railways or docks, or
mines, insure them the support of those interests
which themselves always in want of support in
Parliament; and always get it The Southeastern
Railway sends its chairman, Sir Edward Watkin TO
the House OF Commons for Hythe, which includes
Folkestone, terminus of that line where the COM
pany is all powerful. Sr Daniel Gooch sits for the
Great Western Railway which has the
borough of CIichode, including Swindon. one of It's
great depots TO dispose of. These are two examples
among scores. Men of this sort find it almost as
easy TO get the handle to their names which adds
so much to their social strength in their own circles
and enables IN ir wives to put LADY" on their
cards Knghhood is cheap. Baronetces even.
are conferred without too great sirIngency of cri-
cism upon the personal merits of claimants. Both
the men above mentioned are baronets
Sir Daniel Gooch was exalted to that Ambiguous
raIk for his services in respect of the Atlantic Iele-
graph Cables. Sir Edward Watkin, knighted in
1868, became baronet in 1850. under cIrcurr-
stances on which one need not dwell Sir George
Elliott, who got baronetcy in 1874 from the in
coming Conservative Ministry, was one of the dis
appointed aspirants to a Peerage which the same
MINISTRY on It's gong ont, declined to confer on him.
Competition and the failure of a considerable
number OF the competitors enhances the attractions
of the Peerage Those who are already members of
the order manifest il is understood some iealousv
or, more accurately speaking, practise a rigid
scrutiny of the claimants. Pressure of a form able
kind is brought o bear the Prime Minister who is
the real distributor of these rewards of merit
against as well as for particular candidates. II a
Peerage be a reward, The merit rewarded is often
peculiar Ii consists often enough in the pos
session. as / said above, Of great wealth.; wealth
enough 10 support, the phr Sc goes, the dignity
of the title. If this wealth be inherited, so much
the better. If it has been gained In trade unless
the trade be brewing or banking. two clear genera
tions ought TO have elapsed since ITS acquisition
Why brewing and banking should have less of ths
plebean faint on them than iron-making or cotton
spinning, it is hard 10 say; but so il is Should
great wealth have been long in the family, and
great part OF III invested land.
and the family he an old one OF high
position in the county, this accumulation of
merits may constitute almost irresistible tide
to title. But in such it often enough happens
that the pOsseSsor is content with his position and
! not only does not demand ennoblement but refuses
! it when offered.
Electioneering services have been known 10 con-
stitute a claim the gratitude f a Ministry or
party, such nothing but Peerage could satisfy
| IN full These services are of various kinds. They
NAV consist in contesting important constituencies
especially counties where there Is little or no hone
of success but where for party reasons is never
theleSs important there should be a contest They
often involve the spending of much money
Sir Henry Tuition, who now becomes
Baron something other the name is not givenl
has claims Of this sort He stood for East Kent in
1s6S, and in 1874 aud last year challenged the
Lowthers in Westmoreland. where that great family
is all but supreme. In all these cases he failed 10
win seat in the Commons, but three failures TO in
duce constituency give him a temporary seat in
the representative branch of the Legislature have
won him permanent seat in the hereditary branch,
where no constituencies have TO he wooed
Another sort of service performed by Sir
Harcourt Johnstone, another of the new-made
oarons of Hockne : in Yorkshire Sir Harcourt it
is far to say Of good family. The first baronet
wasa TOMBSTONE of Westerhall. do not myself know
precisely what a Johnstone of Westerhall is but
am told il implies blood of a very good degree of
blueneSs. The mother Of the present baronet was a
daughter of Archbishop Harcourt of York and the
HarcourtS. we all know. a family of dist inction
Sir Harcourt Jon stones father was for nearly forty
years Member of Parliament for Yorkshire and az
terward for Scarborough The son has sat for Scar
borough since 1869 Now il befel last year that Mr.
DOdson. president of the Local Government Board.
and Cabinet Minister, who had been elected for
Chester, was unSeated petition; a very awful
thing TO hefal Cabinet Minister He was not hum
self TO blame. wicked agent or, if not wicked
too jealous and not nicely discriminating in tho
heat of a contest between what was legal and
what was Illegal had undone him. 1t was of prime
necessity that seat should be found for Mr. Dod-
son. and seats were, as may be supposed immedi-
ately after general election, extremely scarce
just at this time unexpectedly to his constituents
and for no particular reason that he foand il con-
venient to state to them publicly. Sir Harcourt
Johnstone accepted the Chiltem Hundreds and his
seat which was reckoned a safe one be -ame vacant
Mr.. Dodson presented himself to the electors of
Scarborough as "A candidate and was chosen,
though by majority mnch less than Sir
Harcourt's that the dminution was thought to
indicate certain dissatisfaction among the electors
of that borough.
No good Liberal would at the time have presumed
to say that there a bargain between the Gov
ernment on the one side aud Sir Harcourt Johnstone
on the other in virtue of which Sir Harcourt was to
provide Mr. Dodson with a seat in the Commons.
and the Government to provide Sir Harcourt with a
seat in the Lords. Nor do L suppose there was.
Bargain is awkward and nl-mannered word.
Advancement even would be too strong. and Ishould