Evening star., 1923-10-12
BY THE MARaUIsE DE roNTENoY

| BY THE MARQUlSE DE FONIENo1
! OF all the statesmen who have
| been called upon to direct the des-
| TIMES Of the vast British Empire from
| Downing street. the most typically
English in appearance character, in
! principle, prejudice, manner and mind
| in undoubtedly the present premier
Stanley Baldwin. To those who know
| him it is difficult to conceive of any
I thing foreign in his composition or
ancestry. Yet we now find the Ital-
ians who describe him as "Signor
Baldovino" insisting that he is of
| Tuscan origin, that Baldwin is merely
a corruption OF Baldovine, and that
he is descended from an Italian noble
! of, that name who was one of the
principal heroes in Torauato Tasso's
| immortal Jerusalem Delivered"
While Stanley Baldwin's policies
as prime minister have apparently
won the approval of the masses of
+, his fellow countrymen. he seems to
have been less successful in convinc-
| ing the members of his own family.
For his son oliver, who on the oc-
casion of the last general election was
quite active in campaigning and can
vassing votes for him, has now de-
serted the conservative party, of
| which his father is the chief. and,
having Joined the socialists, is deliV-
ering public speeches in behalf OF
! their cause, and has announced his
intention of standing for parliament
under their auspices. AS in the case
of so many younger men whose po-
liticaI ideas have not yet been ripened
! by experience, his views are very
advanced and his public utterances
| have attracted the attention OF the
foreign press, who apparently ignore
his lack of maturity. even SO weighty
and usually well informed a news
paper as the Paris Debats accord
| ing them editorial importance as
| coming from the son of the prime
minister of Great Britain.
Citizens of the Free State of Ireland
still~retain their right Of appealing to
| King George for justice, this right
being specially preserved to them by
section 66 of the treaty between
| Great Britain and the Free State,
| which declares that this right shall
l not De l0pdlEeu hCiC Ao'S oSN--
| quite a lot of angry discussion about
the matter, alike in Ireland and Eng
/ land, based on the erroneous con-
tention that the treaty had deprived
the Free Staters Of the right to ap-
peal from their own courts to the
| privy council. Now, this right has
! never existed, since, contrary to gen.
/ eral belief, the privy council is not
a tribunal of the realm. or Of the
| empire. in consequence Of which no
| iudicial appeal can be made thereto.
| In the case of England. Wales. Scot
land and northern Ireland appeals
| can be made from the decisions of
| their own supreme courts to the
| house of lords, which sits at West
/ minister as the highest tribunal OF
the realm. There is no other judicial
court of ultimate appeal.
The Free State of Ireland, differ
ing from the Ulster, stands. in the
| same position as the self-governing
dominions of Canada and New Zea-
land of the commonwealth of Au-
stralia and of the South African
Union, and Of the Empire Of India.
Appeals from their supreme courts
go, not to any higher tribunal or to
the house of lords, sitting as such, but
direct to the sovereign. whose prerog-
alive it is to see that no injustice is
done to any of his subjects in any
| mart of his empire. This prerogative
depends upon no act Of parliament.
| and is above the law; 1T is. according
! to the constitution, part of the con
ception of his Office" and may be said
! to be derived from that old Roman
| system of Jurisprudence upon which
| all medieval and modern law is based.
I The sovereign refers these appeals
made to his throne to a committee OF
This privy council, composed of the
most eminent judges and jurists of
his empire, a committee which in
ciudes several colonial and even ma
| tive Indian members. They investi-
gate the appeal to the crown, give
earrings and make their recommenda-
lfions to the sovereign. 1t was at one
J of s.sthese hearings that James NJ.
t