The Irish standard., 1897-01-30

the formal oath of allegiance to him
He has then to sign his name in the
book which contains the roll of mem
bership-this he does usually with ner-
| vous and trembling fingers. Then he
goes up to the Speakers chair and the
Speaker shakes hands with him and bids
! him be welcome.
Then he is a member of the House
| OF Commons full-fedged, and as good
as any other member, and he goes and
! finds seat some where and receives
| all manner of kindly congratulations.
, My own impression is that the SEN
| sation of being introduced for the first
time to the House Of Commons can
never be renewed in a life. 1t is like
a marriage-like a first marriage-the
same sensations cannot come up again
Life has exhausted that.
have taken my seat on reelection
! in the House of Commons many times
| but those first sensations have never
been renewed. A man to enjoy them
! thoroughly must come in at a by-elec-
ton. Then he has the field all to HIM
self. He engrosses for that one ner-
vous, shivery, febrile moment all the
attention of the House of Commons
He fancies himself great man for the
moment. Later on the House knocks
that nonsense out of him, but for the
ecstatic moment he really believes that
| he stands on the threshold of grand
career.
But now let us take the case of a
general election. I presume that my
American readers or most of them
know what general election means in
England. The Parliament of Great
Britain and Ireland cannot sit for more
| than seven years. When that time
elapses the old Parliament has come to
a close and a new Parliament has to
be elected.
! But, as matter of fact, no Parlia-
ment runs out it's full legal stretch of
years. Something intervenes-the Gov
| ernment is defeated by majority in
| the House of Commons on some pro-
! posal of vital importance-and then
! the Government can, If 1t will, obtain
from the sovereign the permission to
appeal to the country-that is, to dis
Dow ~; ION nd hovp
new Parliament returned at a "ge-
eral election
In that case the method of introduce
J ing members of the new Parliament
! must be different from that which pre-
walls when members are returned at a
! byy-election. The two members who In
! troduce the newcomer do SO on the as
! sumption that they, already members
OF the House of Commons, give their
! personal assurance that the newly
elected member is really the preson
| whom he processes to be, and is not
some audacious imposter passing off
! for something which he is not.
I remember an amusing Illustration
Of the meaning of the whole perform
ance. Several years ago certain DR..
Kenealy got elected as member for an
English constituency. Dr. Kenealy was
| a lawyer an author, very clever and
| well-educated man. But he was ter
rible crank" who had put most people
! against him by his evccentricities and
his audaciously proclaimed cynicism.
He had especially made himself obi
! GUS by his action as the advocate in de-
| fence of the once famous person
known as 1.-The Tichborne claimant, y
! when that most extraordinary impos-
ter came to be tried for his imposture
| on criminal charge. Kenealy had
| made himself odious by his conduct of
that defence, but he had made himself
favorite with certain classes of the
community, and he got elected to the
House of Commons as an opponent of
all existing systems.
So he was man much Stunned by
the members, and the question came
up, who was to introduce him to the
House of Commons? 1t seemed impos-
sible that he could find any two men
to undertake the task, and therefore
the fearless Kenealy, whor ather en-
the fearless Kenea1y, who rather en-
| joyed the awkward position, announced
Now, this idea at by-election
seemed an outrage upon all conven-
| tionalities and traditions and proprie-
ties. Therefore, when the appointed
| day came, and Kenealy stood below the
| bar waiting to be introduced when
| called on by the Speaker, and was
known to be determined to persist in
introducing himself, John Bright, the
greatest orator in the House, and a
stickler for forms and proprieties, rose
| and offered to introduce the new men,
ber himself and to get some friend to
! join in the introduction rather than al
low the established rules Of the House
| to be broken through.
Thereupon up rose Mr.. Disraeli, who
in his finest sarcastic form appealed to
| the Speaker to allow the rules for once