The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1908-10-12

/ nersons who take part in them.
Among the most notable performan-
ces in the upper house are the opening
of parliment, it's propagation or closing,
| the admission OF new peers, and the
reading of bills passed by both houses,
and which in the house of lords, re-
/ ceives the royal assent.
! Those who are In a position to-
know declare that King Edward him
self will not oppose a reorganization
! of the house of lords on modern lines
realizing. as he does, that the perpet-
uity of the monarchy depends upon
concessions to the rapidly growing
sentiment of democracy.
| Certainly, if the time given to the
! transaction of business or the ability
| displayed by members is criterion,
the upper house is far inferior to the
! commons On an average, sitting OF
! the house of lords does not last more
| than half an hour. The house is sup
posed to "sit" at Ais; and it always
"rises" for the day in time to allow
the lards to get home and dress for
! 8 o'clock dinner. On many occasions
the sittings of the house of lords do
not last mora than Is to 20 minutes.
ONLY rarely-when rejecting some big
| bill sent up by the commentators
| the house prolong it's sittings past the
| dinner hour
The art of oratory has been almost
| wholly lost in the house of lords. The
speeches are made in a drawing, at
fected tone. which is highly polite. No
peer is ever supposed to show excite
rnent. Even a display of more than
the barest interest is not encouraged
| Some of the lords indulge in what is
known as the upper house lisp.
| Others prefer the drawl, which is
| supposed to be more soothing.
| 1t is no unusual sight to see dignified
peers fast asleep on the great bedlike
lounges, misnamed benches.
| Although the length of the sessions
has been reduced to the minimum,
there is rarely anything resembling
| full attendance of those entitled TO s,r
| in the upper house Such complete
assembly if it ever occurred, would
be composed of three princes of the
blood royal. two archbishops, twenty
two dukes, twenty three marquesses,
1
-four bishops, 316 barons, 16 Scot
| fish and twenty eight Irish repre-
sentative peers-making a total of 500.
! Such an assembly, however, seldom
| takes place. The usual composition
does not average more than thirty
five. Three members can form a
house and transact business; but if
a division" is called fOr-that is, Op-
posing sides to be counted-and it
appears that thirty members are not
in the house, the question is declared
undecided.
More generally hated, perhaps than
the temporal peers are the spiritual
lords these being the bishops and
archbishops Of the Church of England.
There are two archbishops and twen-
/ ty-four bishops. They wear long black
robes, with white lawn sleeves, and
their attire is a striking contrast to
the dress of the peers on ordinary oc-
casions.
British nOnconfOrmists and Catholics
hate these lords spiritual with all the
cordially that so often exists between
persons of different religious scots,
and at times their hatred has appeared
to have been justified. The anti-cleri-
cal demonstrations at the time of the
recent Eucharist congress of Catholic
have by many been attributed, whether
rightly of wrongly. to these lords spir-
itula of the upper house. Certainly the
legislative record of the lords spirit
! ual shows them to be reactiOnary. as
they have voted against nearly every
| measure of popular reform. They
voted solidly against the famous re-
form bill giving the people the right
to the franchise.
When from time to time bills were
brought in to abolish capital punish
ment for many of the minor offenses
on the statute books, the lords spirit
ual have voted invariably in favor of
the death penalty. When it is stated
that at the beginning of this century
there were 223 offenses in England
punishable with death. this will be
seen to be no small matter.
In all the measures brought forward
| in England for the emancipation of
Roman Catholics, and members of
other denominations, the lords spirit
ual have been very vigorous in at
tempting to keep, the yokes on the
necks of the opseessed: All the great
bills for reform and liberty have had
to be passed in spite of the opposition
of the lords spiritual, who have
fought every measure from free ed
ucatiOn to abolition of capital punish
ment
| The spiritual lords form an import
ant part Of obstruction machinery of
the British parliament