New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-10-16
WESTMINSTER.
THE PEERS AND THEIR GILDED CHAMBER
LORD CARDIGAN'S FAMOUS TRIAL

| This is housekeeping time at Westminster. Not
| political housekeeping; that job was done some
| time ago, when the general election turned Lord
Salisbury OF Office and let Mr.. Gladstone in, and
there was quickly made clean sweep of all Office
holders not protected by the Civil Service law
The name Of the latter, however is legion, and
the actual changes in office that made or can
he mace by new government are comparatively
Jew. new Postmstcr-Gcncral comes in, for en-
ample but the old Permanent Clerk remains,
the real director of the great institution in st
Martin lie Grand. And so it is all the way through
the British Government Permanent clerks make
up the rank and file of the service. and look with
utter unconcern upon the rise and fall Of Minis
tries. Premicrs may come ard Premiers may go,
but they hold forever
But it is housekeeping time a. Westminster, real
literal houscclcaning, executed with mop and
broom, and Lantbrush and thread and needle.
Advantage is being taken of the absence OF Parlia
ment to give the great palace thorough over
hauling, such as it has not had for years The
House OF Lords, indeed, has not been renovated
for nearly half century. That is to say. the
chamber in which the House meets As for the
House itself, it has never been wholly renovated,
and probably never will be until it is abolished
altogether, in accordance with the Radicals desire
The House OF Commons, meaning the architectural,
not the personal House, has not been so neglected
Almost every year it gets or less overhaulng.
Yet there is much now TO do with it, and indeed
the changes there are to he more sweeping than in
the Lords. The various rooms about tho hall
opening upon the Hobbies are being altogether re-
arranged, scarcely one being left to its former use
WHIP rooms, postoflicc, rcfrcshmcnt bar and many
others. are being transferred from place to place,
so that when Parliament reasScmbcs the Members
will need guide books and maps to find their way
around y hydraulic elevator hos been put in.
| TO carry visitors to the Ladies' Gallery The beams
and other woodwork Of the ceiling have been
| covered with sheet lead to protect it from fire.
from which one might infer that uncommonly
heated debates are expected for next session
The most interesting work, nevertheless is in
the House of Lords. That used to be called the
" Gildcd Chamber not with reference to its oc-
cupants but to the profusion of gold leaf on its
walls and ceiling In late years this title has
| seldom been applied because the gold has become
dull and obscured with dust and dirt There has
been widely prevalent idea that the gliding itself
has persisted, destroyed by the sulphurous fumes Of
the gas with which il is lighted. Now. for the
first time since the hall was opened in 1874 a
careful examination has been made liberal use
| Of soap ard water has removed the accretions OF
forty-fve years, and the gilt beneath is revealed
new. The paint, too, is unfaded and unniured
The woolsack and the benches are being covered
with new red morocco. and every part Of the
stately chamber is being put in the best Of repair
The gaslghts will be used no more. Indeed the
fixtures have been removed. md in their places are
ten electric chandeliers, each bearing thirty-SiN
powerful lamps. Amid all this rcvampcd splcndor
the Peers will fight their great fight with the Com
mons, fight, as many think, the result of which
may largely determine the future Of the Upper
House.
LORD Salisbury himself admits that IL Is entirely
Legitimate and constitutional 20 discuss the re-
form, even the abolition, Of tho House OF Lords
| in view Of which the Radicals Of the Commons
| are not likely 20 hesitate so TO do. Yet In dis
cussing the Constitution Of the Lords the Lower
| House will be dealing with its own author, for
| before the Commons were the Peers were. and in
deed, the Commons came into existence a. an OIL
| shoot from the Peers. The House of Lords was at
| first known as the Great Council, and was COM
posed of all mobiles who, for military service had
| received laEGs directly from the Crown These
| men termed the Kings Barons, and were
pected 10 attend his court certain days of coun
Gil. With them, on equal terms, met also the Splr
tual Lords, 10 wit, the heads Of the great ahbcys
| Such the British Parliament down to the time
| Of King john and such gathering Of bar ms was
| IL that wrung the Magma Charta from unwilling
| hands In that historic document the separation
OF the Parliament into two Houses first rccog
nizcd and provided for The greater peers were TO
continue thor assemblies at the word OF the King
himself while the lesser peers 20 be convened
| by the shcrfs. ave shall cause, says the King,
in chapter ID of the Charter, the Archbshops
Bishops, Abbots, Earls and Greater Barons 10 be
separately summoned by our letters And we shall
cIo No nd Iai No
| all those who hold of Us in chief" The lesser
barons did not all care To go 10 court il being an
expensive task, and they presently began choos
Ing certain Of their number 10 represent the whole
Then the large citic. and boroughs began choosing
representatives. in like And the House
| OF Commons had its origin.
The House Of Lords was at first small in num-
bers, the spiritual peers forming the majority The
temporal peers were only such a. had fcuda tenure
| of baronics But Edward | inaugurated a new
| system Of creating peers by royal writ, ana
| Richard IT went further and created them
by letters patent. AZ the outbreak of the Wars of
the Roses the temporal peers a ina orty there
bcirg ftythrec Of them, against orty-seveu bish-
| ops and mitred abbots. The wars reduced their
| number so that Henry VII only called
twenty-nne together 10 his first Parliament lie
soon created more, but at no time in his reign
were 'hcre Hioie 'hih MY ht tn" tInic OF III"
Reformation, undcr Henry VlII an important
change occurred The monastcrics were abol-
ishcd and the abbots were Withdrawn from the
House Of PEERS leaving only the two arcbbishops
and twenty four bishops Even then the spirit
ual peers composed Onc-third OF the House, while
now they form less than fifteenth. their number
having remained unchanged, while that Of the tenn
poral peers has been largely increased.
The next important change came in 1907. On
the union with Scotland it was stipulated that
Scottish peers should not as n body, he admitted,
| but only certain representatives chosen by them.
Thus the principle Of election was INTRODUCED and
it was enlarged a century later when, tho
| ur;on with Ireland similar Irish renrosontatiyc