Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1900-10-17

Olerk OF lne House OF LOTuS. l0ey
are, therefore, not summoned by writ,
and differ in this way from the repre-
sentative peers of Ireland.
The latter, moreover, hold their
seats in the House of Lords, not mere
ly for the duration of the Parliament,
as is the case with the Scottish repre-
sentative peers, but for life. They are
elected as follows: The Lord High
Chancellor of England, who is the
presiding officer of the House of Lords,
on receiving a certificate from two
temporal peers certifying the decease
of a representative peer OF Ireland,
directs a writ under the Great Seal to
be issued to the Lord Chancellor of
Ireland. The Clerk of the Crown and
Hanaper at Dublin then causes writs
to be issued to every peer of Ireland,
calling upon him to send to the Crown
Office of Ireland his vote for a repre-
sentative peer. 1t is on the strength
OF these votes that the election is de-
! cldsd and the Irish peers do not as
semble for the purpose. The votes are
in duplicate; one part is retained by
the Crown Ofica in ireland, while the
ether is certified to the Clerk of the
| House OF Lords.
JUDGES SIT IN HOUSE OF LORDS.
Few persons outside the Judiciary
| and Parliament, even in England, are
aware that the Judges of the High
Court of Justice, who are neither ord-
nary peers nor life peers, receive sum-
mons by writ to the House of Lords,
and occupy a seat in the upper cham
Der of the National Legislature. They
are there merely in an advisory capac-
ity, have no votes, and take their
places on ''woolsacks" more remote
from the throne than that occupied by
the Lord High Chancellor as president
of the House For, contrary to the
general belief. there are several So
called "woolsacks" in the House of
Lords. The Judges are compelled to
81, bareheaded until the Lord Chancel-
lcr signifies to them the permission of
the Lords to be covered.
Although Judging by recent proce-
dure, it is probably that the new Par
Lament will meet on the day appoint
ed-namely, November 1-for the pur-
pose of electlng the Speaker of the
House Of Commons and swearing in
the members yet this is not indispen-
sable, ard it is possible that, inasmuch
as the victory Of the present Unlonist
Government is assured, a further roy
al proclamation may be issued within
The next week or so, postponing the
meeting of the new Parliament until
January or February oBhext year.
The number Of electors entitled to
vote at the general election, which has
been in progress in the last week, is
G,6GO, ,2S3, The total population of the
United Kingdom and Ireland being
about i0,00O,OO0. This means that
each member CT the House of Com
mons represents an average of 10000
electors and Of 10000 of his fellow cit
izens, The average cost of hic cleo
tiCn to himself in expenses that are ie-
gitimate from a statutory point of
view is about $4,000. OF course, this
sum by no means covers what may be
described as the unauthorized expens-
es of Parliamentary candidates, ex-
penses which have been justly describ-
ed as blackmail, and which comprise
demands for subscriptions to every
conceivable enterprise and movement
in the constituency.
Parliament has done all IN its pow
er by statutory means to put a stop to
this species of imposition But while
the legislation bearing upon the sub
Ject has served to reduce the cost OF
a general election by at least rs per
cent, as compared with the expendi-
ture entailed by an appeal to the coun-
try thirty or forty years ago, it has
proved inadequate to arrest the con-
slant demands that are being made
upon the purses of the candidates.
who, apprehensive on the one hand of
invalidating their election by some
infractlon of the anti-bribery laws,
and on the other fearing to impair
their chances Of success by incurrlng
the i'll will of the electors, find them
selves, so TO speak, between the devil