The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1893-06-07
TIE lsLs OF nAN.
Curious Features Of Tho Is-andi
Government
TIE Go-c-no- gflsreases g. us,ice IN Person
and P-.sidrs over tiic Courts OF
Law Queer Ancient
Customs

T..e Gs-c-nor Dizpeases Ius,iee IN Persoi
and P-..idrs over tilc Courts OF
Law queer Ancient
Customs
The Isle Of Nan Is a museum Of con
stitutiouai antiquities Usages which
peonic associate with the political his
1orr 81 I-neiara in TIE seventeenth
the Gfteenth and even the Thirteenth
century are there 10 be fornd side by
side with the raast modern expert
mems. says tile A1w York Evening
Post IS Ia tho great neighborine
island in tie early years OF William
H.. fhare IS SIN no cabinet and tht
rorer-or has a real power Of veto; az
there under Elizabcth. political parties
stilI have no existence; as was largely
the case IN England IN the later Mid
de Ares. the revenue Is derived froI
permanent customs duties and the
legislature .'cannoi stop the machinery
Of government by Withholding sup
plies" The house Of keys has not YET
what the house Of Commons acquired
under Henry ". The exclusive right
OF originating money bills: and il may
east so,ne light on the stiil uncertain
question whether the two Engllsn
houses we're ever united TO learn that
when the tvnwald the Manx legis-
lature, meets for financial purposes
the two branches st together We
nav 90 even behind the period when
parliament was forming itself TO the
period when ROYAL courts Of justice
were FIRST making their appearance:
for in Man. the governor still dispenses
Justice in person. and presides, like
Henry H.. over the courts Of law. And
finally. the open-air meeting Of the
tvnwald on 81 Johns day for the
promulgat.on OF the statutes passed
during the year has an aspect SC
archaic tha- even courts Of law seem
modern In comparison
The annals Of the island. in Ike man
ner. read like an epitome of British
history. though with the sequence Of
movements strangely distorted The
struggle between the sanity Bishop
Wilson and the governors In the early
years Of the eighteenth century over
ecclesiastical discipline involved the
same principles. and even touched some
Of the precise questions that had been
At issue in the contest between Beckett
and Henry IL: ard the words Of Gov.
Horne maintaining that the right
honorable the lord Of this isle'-the
earl Of Derby-was chief Of the holy
church Of this island, sound like an
echo Of Henry Wis great act Of su-
premacv. The Maux act Of settle
meut1 il 1905. converting a whole na-
tion Of leaseholders into perpetual ten
ants at low quit-rent," presents an
Obvious parallel 10 recent Irish legis-
lation. The refusal Of the English
government in 1885 to allow the estab-
lishmeut Of an elected chamber, and
its subsequent change OF attitude. may
almost be regarded as a mere reflection
Of the course Of contemporary British
colonial policy. To the statesmen of
Downing street the case Of Canada and
the case Of Man presented features o.
similarity.
A country Ike this had an obvious
claim upon a governor who was also .
historian Of repute, and the presen;
volume shows that Spencer Walpole
has not been deaf 70 its appeal II
could be wished that he had not rieldel
to the temptation TO give his book az
attractive title. It IS. Of course, Z
striking thing that here. almost IN the
geographical center Of the British
isles. an island not so large as an av-
erage English county should have re
tanned its own legislature. while Scot
land and Ireland, incompara bly, more
powerful, should have lost theirs Il
Is interesting TO know that the ten
dency during the last fifty years has
been toward greater autonomy; that
when the house Of keys was reformed
in 1869 tynwald was intrusted with
larger financial powers, and that
there Is an increasing indispositi0n
on the part of the tynwald 10 allow the
English parliament to legislate~ Ion
them. The feellg of nationality.
even when il asserts itself in q very
small field, is the same feeling at bot
tom as that which we admire in the
case of Germany or Italy, and always
needs to be taken into account But
there are two considerations which
prevent even those who sympathize
with the demand for Irish home rule
from drawing any lessons from the
constitution Of Man. The first Is the
character Of that constitution itself
The house Of keys. though it has been
allowed voice in the disposition Of q
certain part Of the public revenue. Is
very far indeed from controlling the
purse-strings; the upper house, or
council. possesses coordinate authority
with It, and seven out Of the eight
members Of the council are nominated
by the crown. while the governor. q
nominee Of the English ministry. pos
sesses q right of veto which he would
not hesitate TO use. And. In the sec
ond place, the population numbers
only some fiftv-four thousand. In
spite, therefore, Of its separate history
and curious constitution. its political
interests cannot help being on very
much the same scale as those which
find expression in an English munici
pal or county council