Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1889-09-26
PRIVILEGES OF PEERS
Modern NoblemeD Have More Privileges
in Theory Than In Reality.

III Ahc"y AhoA Ia NCAhAys
Theoretically peer has many priv
ileges; practically he has very few.
The word peer must be understood to
include Dukes. Marquises, Earls. Wis
counts and Barons; though it is gen.
orally understood to include all per-
sons entitled to the prefix of Duke or
Lord. In common parlance. these are
the two prefxes of English nobility.
The title of the present Prime Minis
ter is the Marquis of Salisbury, but
nine times out of ten he is referred to
as Lord Salisbury. That nobleman's
old rival, the Earl OF Derby. is gen.
orally spoken of as Lord Derby, and
for every man who speaks of Viscount
Wolseley there are at least a score
who apply to the hero of Tel ell
Keber the shorter and more popular
prefix Lord" Lord Tennyson is FREE
Quently spoken of, but the poet laureate
is really a Baron and his correct title,
to be punctiiiously accurate is Alfred,
Baron Tennyson. In other words, al
most every peer with lower prestige
than Duke is Familiarity spoken of
as Lord, a striking evidence of the
growing carelessness of the public as
to titles; and it is needless to add that
peers themselves are much too Jealous
of their privileges and titles to be
guilty of such disregard of discrim-
ination.
The only persons who, to be strictly
according to Burke. should be adj
dressed as Lord" are the younger sons
Of peers who are entitled to the prefix
before both Christian and sur
name Thus, by courtesy, a young
er 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
" valued was the right OF a peer of
the realm to demand a trial by a 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. It 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 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.
Among the other privileges of the
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 very rare occurrence.
But it was different in the old i'm
prisonment-for-debt days, when the
privilege 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.
ii 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 q 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
ofTense TO criticize or malign a peer.
But the old scdndalun. nadqnatunl, de-
scribed by Blackstone, is partially
dead letter, and it is now good form
for peer 10 treat his traducers with
silent contempt American visitors
often express establishment 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 Marl-
boroughs for example, draw PEN
sions as result of nations graft.