Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1886-02-04
ENeLLsh L~EeIsLAToRs.
sorac old Members of the House OF
Commons Who Failed of Re
election.

The frst person whose fdcdnt sea- TIT
old members of the house will look &c
when parliament meets, says The Pei
Mall Gazette, is probably that Of Mr.,
Wartons. The house takes kindly
to its oddities, even when they
are n~uisances; and the frenzy Of political
| disappointment which men like Mr..
Warrior excite outside the house OF
| commons has no echo within its walls,
| save from a minority. Mr..
| Warrior was the most punctual OFFS al
the members Of the house in attendance,
and he showed an amount of physical
endurance that was really remarkable.
He was at prayers every evening, and
he took his prayers as he did every
thing else-with a seriousness that had
some grotesqueness and some afiecta-
ton. Though audible responses and
the fervent REPETITION of the Lords
prayer occasionally interrupt the
chaplain, and remind the house that
this portion of its proceedings is not all
absurd, Mr.. Warton was alone in going
on his knees on his seat in the ardor of
his devotion. His daily task in parlia-
ment was lowly-to block bills, to
speak in season, to stop legislation by
all the small devices that the imperfect
machinery of the house permits. He
was supposed to be working for a
county court judgeship; let it be hoped
that Lord Salisbury will not be turned
out till he throws this bone to his indie
fatigable though humble servitOr.
Mr.. Briggs was another of the JoRS
eRfaRtS of the house-fat, CHEEKY, good
natured, a little grotesque. He came
down one night, in the portentouSness
of evening dress: to propose a motion
against the erection of the Napoleonic
statue in Westminster abbey, and made
a speech of laundering good nature that
c~onvulsed the house. At last. when he
asked, ''Is there not some eminent En-
glishman who might more fifty take a
place in the national abbey?" the house
roared III N voice; Briggs! Briggs"
His effort upon this occasion seemed to
have quite satisfied Mr.. Briggs, 1t was
the last speech he made in the parlia-
mcnt of lS80-J. In Mr.. st. John Ackers
the house has been deprived of Il men,
Der that promised abundant amusement.
His first speech ~convulsed the house as
few maiden speeches have ever done.
1t was introduced a propos de bottles,
and was one of those essays on the
difficulties of the empire generally
which are the production of men with
more leisure than capacity. He had a
great voice, which beloved forth his
inanitieS so that no one could fail to
hear; and he showed leanings toward
that little knot of fair-traders who
threatened to become the bore of par
Lament. Col. Barne was another of
the inanities. He figured some
what largely in the early
struggles between the Parnellsites
and liberals on coercion, and made some
proposals, such as the shooting Of priests
or personal reprisals on the member for
Cork and his followers, or something of
the kind. The folly Of his proposals
was set off by an extremely acuOu
smile; but after awhile the house ceased
to be amused. He was nicknamed
1.-The empty Barne," and so subsidized.
Gen. Alexander was one of the favor
ties and the trials ofparliament. He had
a tremendous voice, which, without
much difficulty could be heard outside
in Palace yard. When he got excited
his voice rose to the proportions of a
thunder-clap. and when Mr.. Gladstone
would regard him with a look first of
amusement, Gen. Alexander would
glare back with an affection of fierce
wrath. In truth he was a very mild,
gentle, and courteous gentleman;
thought the army vas going to the
dogs; fused a good deal about the want
Of promotion for non-commissioned Oili-
cecs and of pensions for the police, and
that kind of thing, and generally was
altogether there very much liked and
roI pected-if for no other reason than
that service in the Crimea left him
permanently disabled; he could only
walk laboriously with the aid of a couple
Of sticks.
Lord Percy atone time gave a slight
adhesion tc the fouth party, but he soon
cut himself loose, probably owing to the
smallness of appreciation for his pc
culiar rhetoric which the house exhibit
ed. This descendant OF the Hotspurs
was a thin, frail, waShed-out young
man, with a very weak and shrill voice
and a of considerable preten-
sion. Often in the early days of con-
sentative obstruction he would set out
on an apparently bold and lengthy talk
against time, and with hands ostenta-
tiously in his pockets give the idea of an
aspiring and self-confident nature. But
opposite to him was the ''ox-eycd'' pre-
mier watching this phenomenon with
cOntemptuous interest over his glasses,
and the house generally would get i'm
patient, and Lord Percy's mighty en-
prise would be brought t 0 a premature
and inglOrious conclusion. Mr.. w. II
Gladstone's n speech in the last par
Lament was on a private bill, and no.
body paid much attention to it. The
eldest son of the greatest parliamenta-
Tian of England is a miId-mannered
young man, apparently with c~onsidera-
BILE physical strength and a nature not
so much shy as retiring. In the house
he sought with great industry the dark
est recesses under the gallery, and effac-
ed himself with as much labor as other
bestow on seli-advertisment. 1t
was said that he always left the house
the moment his father rose to max
speech. Mr.. Darlington was the J II
Sa6reur of the liberal party, but L. was
not much else. He ros once or twice
to the height of a question about South
affairs, and in committee on
the army estimates he struggled to his
feet, but he left no mark, and most of
his speeches took the terse form of in
terruptions, of which the recording an
gel Of Hansard keeps no count.
Two U~;+;-r