The islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1891-1899, 1895-08-22
PARLIAMENT OPENED
Ex.Speaker Crisp's Views on
English Methods.
EXTREMELY STRANGE

From What the American Saw, He
rrefers the Way Our Own Con-
gress Is Conducted.
London, August 14.-One of the
most interested spectators of the OPEN
ing of the house of commons today was
Charles E. Crisp. Mr.. Crisp was
present in the speakers gallery at the
special invitation of William Court
Gully, who was reelected speaker of
the house of commons today. Mr..
Crisp, in conversation, after the house
of commons adjourned, said:
Before the house met Mr.. Gully
showed me the paintings representing
the former speakers of the house of
commons, and the comments which he
made upon each of them were most in
teresting. Mr.. Gully also showed me
the statues of great statesmen Of the
past, and particularly called my at
tentiOn to the fact that Pitt and Fox
faced each other. l took great delight
in studying the portraits of the de-
ceased British statement, for l have
spent many hours studying the lives
of Pitt and Fox"
1t is probable that a mutual friend
will arrange a meeting between Mr..
Crisp and Mr.. Gladstone, ON the for
mer's return to London from his visit
to Paris.
Mr.. Crisp wrote the following ac-
count of his impressions formed at the
opening of the house of commons to-
day:
1.-The opening of parliament today
proved a great treat to me. Naturally
| am interested in English forms and
methods of legislation. One of the
most striking differences between our
methods and those in use here is that
the speaker is nonpartisan. The men,
bers of parliament are certainly fine
looking body of men. To an Ameri-
can, however, it looked very odd to see
the members of the house sitting with
their hats on.
''After the adjournment, [ called
upon the speaker, and was escorted by
him to his official residence. I found
the speaker most agreeable gentle
man. l also met Mr.. Balfour, the
conservative leader, and found him to
be a spendid type of the English
gentleman. When | was leaving the
parliament house, Mr.. Balfour accom-
panied me to the gate, where large
crowd was collected. When they saw
the conservative leader, they cheered
him most enthusiastically. AS there
was no other business outside OF the
election of speaker, l was unable to
learn much other Legislative methods. L
am satisfied, however, from what l
did see, that / prefer the methods OF
our congress.
AFTER adjournment, Mr.. Gully had
me escorted to the floor of the house
and introduced me to the members. L
afterwards found myself i'll an ex-
tremely handsome room, which l sup
posed part of the lobby of the house,
but Mr. Gully said it was the private
dining-room of his official residence.
There we were joined by Senator Ca
bot Lodge and Henry White, ex-secre-
tary of the United States embassy.
We were escorted to the public dining
room of the speaker, in which we were
introduced to his wife. Mrs. Gully
is most affable lady. The room was
crowded with ladies, who were wait
ing to personally congratulate Mr..
Gully upon his reelection.
"After leaving the speakers resi-
dence, M. White took Senator Lodge
and myself to the house of commons,
where he introduced us to many OF the
leaders. We were next taken to the
room of Mr.. BalfOur and introduced to
him. He is man of much personal
magnetism, and impresses one immed1-
ately as striking intellectually. Al
though he did not appear to be SO, l
knew he was hurried, and so did not
think it the proper place or time to
breach the subject of bimetallsm.
"As Mr.. Gully had not been re-
elected when l first saw him, he was
not in official dress. l made remark
on this subject, and he said that TO-
morrow he would only be in half-dress
and wear half wig as his election
would then only be half approved.
Wednesday, however, his election will
have been fully approved, and ne Will
wear his full official attire. All this
strikes me as extremely strange"