Omaha daily bee., 1895-08-18
SPEAKER or THE HOUSE OF COMMONS.

SPEAKER or THE HOUSE OF COMMONS.
speaker of the House of Commons
should cause even ripple of comment
and it was only because there was dan
ger of breaking down an old and ac-
cepted precedent that the reelection of
Mr.. Gully to the speakership was at all
worthy of more than passing notice.
For more than a century and half it
has been customary to re-elect the
speaker of the last house, regardless of
his political persuasion, unless he vOlun-
tarily withdraws. 1t had been rumOred
that Mr.. BalfOur was determined to
have Mr.. Gully turned down and elect
to the speakership Il member of his
own party. When speaker of the
House of Commons retires from his
Office he is raised to the peerage. The
program was to make Mr.. Gully a lord
and thus effectually bar him from the
speakershp. But the opposition which
this provoked among the liberal leaders
induced the cabinet to abandon the
thought of any such action.
it is to the spirited canvas and the hot
and often protracted campaign for the
office of speaker of the house of repre-
sentatives, the election of Il member of
the party in control of the house seems
the most natural thing in the world.
But to the English mind the election of
n partisan speaker would seem almost
-.
speaker is, of course, member of a
party, indeed, Mr.. Brand. elected in
1874, had been a party whip, but on his
| way to the chair he is supposed to drop
all party ties and affiliations and be
perfectly fair and impartial to each and
every member. But, strange as it
may seem, the English speaker was once
a most partisan officer and in the United
States the speaker was less than a cen
tury ago. at least in theory, an unbiased
and impartial officer. The present
status of the speakership in both coun-
tries is the result of their own peculiar
political growth and development.
| In the days of the Tudors and the
Stuarts the British speaker was mere
creature and spy of the king. Again
and again members of the House were
sent to the star chamber and to the
| tower at his instance. 1t was no un-
usual thing for this officer, whose duty
it was to enforce the rules of the House,
to be charged with violating them most
outrageously. This was in the days of
the absolute monarchy, The respect
due to the king, who ruled as he pleased
''by the grace of Cod and to his tool,
the speaker, was fast waning. On the
rolls of the House of Commons we find
that on one occasion the speaker COM
planned THAT Sir Edw. Herbert chal-
Ilenged him on the Stairs; that he popped
his Mouth with his Finger in Scorn, -
or again THAT Mr.. T. II. in a loud and
violent Manner and contrary to the
usage of Parliament, standing near the
Speakers Chair, cried 'Bawr in the
Speakers Ear. to the great Terror and
Affrightment of the Speaker and of the
Members of the House" Even as late
as the end of the seventeenth century
the character of the British speakershiI
had not changed. In 1854 Sir John
Trevor, speaker of the House of Com
mons, was adjudged guilty of higl
crime and misdemcanor for accepting q
bribe of 1000. The speaker of the
time of the absolute monarchy was by
no means an impartial or nonpartisaT
officer. Although apparently elected
by the House no was practically ap
pointed by the crown and was the crea
ture of the king and the tool of the
royalist party.
With the rise of Parliamentary gov
ernment there was also Il change in tn,
character of the speaker. The raising
of the speakership to its present plan,
of dignity and honor is due almost en-
tirely to Arthur Onslow, speaker from