The morning call., 1893-09-17
The Prime Minister and
the Commons.
FLOOD AND SPRING TIDES,
The Liberty BelI-How Jackson Came
to Be Nicknamed Stone
wall.

came Prime Minister as leader of the
Conservative party in succession TO
Beaconsfeld. Neither be nor any other
peer can sit or vote in the House of Com
mons. He cannot even make a statement
in the House Of Commons, or put or an
swer aauestion. His position as Premier
carries no rights or privileges In the Com
mons. Nor can any peer. as Cabinet
Minister or otherwise, divest himself Of
his rank and stand as a representative of
a constituency. He must be peer and
nothing else. Most peers If ability would
prefer to De in the Commons, but the law
is bar TO the exercise of theic preference
Before he succeeded to the family title Sails
bury was member of the Commons. Imme-
diately a peer dies the title passes to the
eldest son or next in succession, and that
person, if in the Commons, vacates his
seat and goes to the Lords. The Queen
may select her Prime Minister as she
pleases, but is by constitutional practice
guided by the advice OF the outgoing
Prime Minister as to whom she shall in
trust with the formation of a Ministry.
The outgoing Minister names, as a rule,
the leader OF the opposition party, which
has turned the Ministerialists out by
hostile vote. Thus the question of choice
- nGIlOht duu bulN WucD pal kltS are
divided is there hesitation. Technically
the Queen could choose anv one, bCt hos
tile vote in the House of Commons would
leave an unpopular Premier within a week
without support, and he could not carry on
the Government He would fail to get
WORKING CaDlnet and would nave no FOL
lowers. With Parliament behind him in
the Commons, the Prime Minister
is the real administrator of the
country in all essentials of power,
but has only relatively small amount of
patronage in the highest Offices. The
smallest postal carrier or customs alter
may snap his fingers at him. II is not an
advantage TO be peer when holding the
Premiership. The Lords sit very little
and do very little, ,tmosty mischief for self
iSh ends. The ear OF the country Is in the
Commons. Peers are debarred from TAX
ing any open part in elections. 1t is
breach of privilege if they do. But they
exert an influence sometimes potent, new
ertheless, but not invariably. The Duke
of Argyll cannot get his son, the Marquis
of Lorue, who is married 10 one of the
Queens daughters, returned 10 Parlia-
ment for ArgyllshlIe, his own proprl eto-
rial domain, and the Marquis has not got
into the Commons a [ all of late. Although
a marquis his title is only one of courtesy.
He is not peer but commoner.
"SToNEwALL" JACKSON = T. j. NJ,
City. General T. j. jackson got his nick
name of S.onewall at the battle of Bull
Run. The Confederate troops were in
disorder and danger imminent that they
would be routed. General Johnstone was
hurryng up troops 10 support bis left.
,iacksOu's brigade was the first 10 get into
position. and cnecked the progress of the
national forces. Victory turned toward
the Confederates, and in the crisis of the
fight General Bee. in ralying his men,
cried out: "See! There is Jackson
standing ike a stone wall. Rally on the
Vrgiuians" Bee fell few minutes
after. but the name he had given jackson
clung to him ever after.
CO-CHoRD-A correspondent of THE
CALL writes: II have always understood
that co-chord is the chord of the compile
ment of an arc. Davies Legendre, ed. of
1871. Analyt. Trig.. p. "a, says: The
term CO. in com binatiOn. is equivalent to
complement Of; thus. the c0Sine OF an
are is the same as the sine of the compile
ment OF that arc; the cOtangent Is the
same as the tangent of the complement,
and so on"
FLOOD AND SPRING TIDEs-Old Sub
scriber. City. Flood tide or high water,
occurs about every u hours and % min
utes. or nearly twice daily. The times
OF flood tide vary from day to day, the
average time of retardatiOn being about
fifty minutes Spring tide occurs twice in
each month. on the days after full and new
moons.
COMMERCIAL NIGHT SCHOOL "A S.,
City. The late of the Commercial Night
School seems still problematic. The School
Directors little scrapping match of Tues
day night last has not seemed 10 clear up
tho uncertainty hnt IN Ia TrOh ho hla OF ba
school will be reopened at some future
date.
LIBERTY BELLE. w. L.. City. The
old Liberty bell was not melted and re-
cast before being taken TO Chicago. The
new Liberty bell was cast from metal
obtained by melting down old national
souvenirs. Both bells are now on exhibi-
tion at Chicago.
To CHANGE A NAME-J. M. NJ, City.
You can only change your name by special
act OF Legislature. You would undoubt-
edly need lawyers services in procuring
such act.
On A CIRCULAR TRACK-Subscriber,
City. The match race run between Dom
inO and Dobbins at Sheepshead Bay Au-
gust 81, 1898. was run on circular track.
DAB1 hUIH-J. M. Olty. DaOy hQtl
was not born during President Cleveland's
first Term, but in the interregnum. The
event occurred on October 8, 1891.
THE FIsKE-SToKEs TRAGEDY-C. S.,
City. James Fiske was shot bv Edward
Stokes at the Grand Central Hotel, New
York. January 7. 1872.
LINCOLN MEMORIAL VOLUME L. S.,
City. Write TO the Librarian of Congress,
who can give you all the inform alton you
desire about the book.
Nor CITRUS FAIR-W. W, City.
The last fair at Mechanics Pavilion was a
mixed fair. although there was a very
large citrus exhibit.
He Is AN AMERICAN-E. H., City.
child born OF American parents while the
parents are travelling in foreign country
Is an Anne erican.
MUST HAVE A LICENsE-A. G. B.,
City. You must have license to sell beer
III San Francisco.