The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1910-11-27

| opposite side of the House, and MS OPEN
ing words were TO pay compliment TO
this strong son of the soil" and 10
express the interest with which the whole
House had listened to his remarks This
called forth cheers and cries OF Hear
| Hear" from all parts of the great cham
! Der
There was a moments surprise and
| hesitation on the part Of the South Afri-
can miner. and then the wideawake hat,
large and strange enough 10 bring Mr..
Gladstone out OF his grave, was dotted
| I'm acknowledgment Of the friendly wei
/ come which he had received at the hands
| OF his fellow-leglsatOrs.
! On the other hand a lawyer, renowned
for his forensic successes at the bar. some
pOmpous municipal big-wig or county
magnate or else the prize orator OF one
Of the great universities. in the debating
| societies OF which he carried all before
him. will experience the utmost difficulty
/ in securing a hearing. To-day probably
the most brilliant public speaker In Eng
| land is the Earl of ROsebery. Yet in the
opinion Of many il is just because Of his
! gifts Of elOquence that the bulk of the
English people are so little inclined 10
accord to him their political confidence.
Object ia Science.
Another thing to which the members
| Of both Houses Of Parliament object is
omnissenee. Thus. when on the very
! first night of the late Sir George Camp
bells appearance in Parliament-he was
a very brilliant man and wonderfully
clever speaker-he found something 10
say about crops In India, about wine In
France, about land tenure in Ireland, and
about roads and bridges in Scotland; he
was then and there forever damned, and
unable to make any position for himself
| in Parliament or TO put his great abili-
ties to any public use.
/ have referred just now to the silk
hats OF the members of Parliament. So
far as / am aware IL is the only national
assembly, either in the Old World or in
the New. where the members sit with
their hats on But while the member
may wear 1t sitting, he must carry it
when he walks He must not move d
yard along a bench without removing IL
or some stickler for parliamentary de-
corum will raise shouts of order!
Order."
Always Raises Hat.
When he is alluded TO in a speech. he
will raise his nat from his head in ac-
acknowledgement. When he formally SUBJ
mits g motion. he raises il again. IN
deed, the hat is an integral part OF
Great Britain's legislative machinery.
There are times when without il the
workings Of the English constitution
would come TO a stsndstill. When a Ill
vison has been called and a member de-
sires to address the chair, not only must
ne speak seated, but he must have his
aH-r h. s-.uf1~ fse
the Commons endeavor that the raiser
OF point OF order should be unable TO
find his hat.
a point of order on a division is a
serious matter. but the house is some
times reduced to commissions of laughter,
when, with a silk hat borrowed in haste,
which comes down over his ears, and
] would extinguish his head entirely II he
! did not hold 1t up with his hands, a MEM
her, with the gravest countenance, sub
mi;s a point OF order 10 the decision Il
Mr. Speaker II was on one such occa-
sion that Gladstone was subjected 10
the unique experience OF exposing him
self &c ridicule.
He had very large head. and had left
his hat IN the premier's rOOm-he was
in Office. He wished TO address the Chair
in d hurry on point OF order, and quick
Z
handed 10 him. 1t was many sizes TOO
small for him. Yet there he sat, address
ing the Speaker. balancing the insig-
nificant little hat on his Olympian head.
for all the world like an acrobat balan-
cling a glass of water on his forehead,
and even his greatest admirers were COM
PEELED TO admit that for once the Grand
Old Man looked excruciatiTgly absurd.
Usually Sits on Ii.
OF course. when the member rises to
speak. he invariably doffs his hat. gen
orally putting il on his seat behind him.
and it is by no means infrequent espe-
cially with new members, that after
finishing their speech with a glowing
peroFation, they Will sit down on their
hat. and then regard the wreck with a
rueful countenance. This is one Of the
quickest ways of attracting parliamentary
attention Ii is also cheap for a silk
hat servieeable for the purpose may be
obtained for S. Sitting on his own hat
renders a member at once popular. He
is hailed as a humorist. Everybody wants
To know his name. and talks about him.
He will be pointed out to visitors IN the
lobby. Possibly there will even be a pie
ture of the event in one of the Illus
trated papers
Another one of the unWritten laws of
Parliament is that the reading of news
papers is forbidden while the house Is IN
session member can talk. he can
sprawl. he can perch his toes on the back
of the bench in front, he may sleep, and
he may snore. But he must not read
newspaper OF course books are toler-
ated For it may be assumed that they
ffa,ts eflfa Quf
whether a monthly magazine would be
permitted
No one is permitted 10 speak. no matter
how important the communication which
he may have TO make. without having
caught that most Vagrant Of optics.
namely, the Speaker's eye. The power of
that eye. and the rights which it pos
sesses, are not based on any written law,
but long-established custom and trad-
ton. Very often several members rise in
their places at one and the same time
endeavoring to arrest the eye OF the
Speaker. and il is then free to that august
functionary to make his selection, and to
indicate the member who has his permits
sion to speak This he does by address,
ing the lucky one as THE Member for
So-and-so." This practice has prevailed
since the days of Sir John Trevor. Prior
To his time look was sufficient But Sir
John Trever (who, by the way, was the
only Speaker ever expelled from the House
for bribery squinted so terribly that no
one could feel sure that he had caught
the Speakers eye until orally assured by
the Speaker of the fact.
In the House of Commons IL is always
the Speaker who must be addressed. and
never the house; whereas in the Lords
the contrary is the case. since. strictly
l.