Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1889-09-25

OF peers VINO are on%lIiou TO the prefix
before both Christian and sur
name. Thus, by courtesy, a young
err brother OF the present Duke OF
Marlborough is known as Lord Ran
dolph Churchill, and the son of the
Duke of Devonshire who was muir
dered in Phoenix Park. was Lord
Frederick Cavendish. The personal
privilege which used to be most high
ly valued was the right of peer OF
the realm to demand trial by jury
of his peers if charged with treason or
felony. Such trials. however, are of
very rare occurrence and the privilege
amounts to very little. 1t is largely
responsible for the ancient saying
about there being one law for the rich
and another for the poor, especially as
in times gone by a peer had to be
wealthy, and was even dispossessed OF
his title if his fortune fell below what
was considered the nobleman's mini
mum.
individual is freedom from arrest in
civil actions and the exemption of the
person from attachment. To-day this
does not amount to much, as arrest in
civil suits is a very rare occurrence.
But it was different in the old i'm
prisonment-for-deb days, when the
rivilege was often extremely con-
venient. 1t is quite commonly sup
posed that a peer can not be arrested
by the police for a criminal offense,
but this is an error, and of late years
several noblemen have been run in"
for misdemeanors. Exemption from
jury service is often more
valuable privilege, and peer
has also the right to sit in any
court of justice with his hat on, right.
it is needless to add that few noble
men are caddish or idiotic enough to
take advantage of. The Barons of
Kingsdale possess, in addition, the
right in perpetuity of sitting in the
presence of royalty with their heads
covered. In an American novel there
is an amusing reference to nobleman
who was granted the right to sit in the
presence of the King, and it is to be
presumed the author had the Kings
dale privilege in his mind when he
penned his little satire
There are few other privileges pos
sessed by peers They may, under
certain circumstances, decline to be
sworn, pledging their honor instead of
their oath, and it is still, according to
the statute books, most serious
offense to criticize or malign peer.
But the old scandalum na"snotuna, de-
scribed by Blackstone, is partially
dead letter. and it is now good form
for a peer to treat his traducers with
silent contempt. American visitors
often express astonishm at the bar
renness of the honor of peerage, and
possibly some readers may imagine
that nobleman is in receipt of some
kind of remuneration. Such is not
the case. There are many sinecure
offices connected with politics which
are always, or nearly always. given TO
peers, but the salary often fails to
come up to the expenses. Even the
granting of a peerage does not involve
a royal or national grant. Some peers
owe their titles to the immortality of
certain female ancestors. and still
draw pensions in part payment
for their great great grandmoth-
ers shame; others. the MARI
boroughs for example, draw pen
sions as a result of nations graft
tude to a successful General. But,
speaking generally, q peerage is a
source Of expense and not of revenue
No man will accept peerage unless he
is comparatively wealthy. Hence,
peer is often a peer because he or his
ancestors were blessed with plenty of
this worlds goods, but it is to confuse
cause and effect to imagine thata peer.
age involves wealth. 1t is often just
the other way.-St. Louis Globe-Dem-