Evening star., 1923-04-11
House of Lords Not Disturbed
BY Ne,vt0n's Plea for Reform
.IariOus Schemes Haze Been Advanced
to Change Character and Functions
of British Upper Chamber.

his own daughter from a usurer. offer
ing to lend her quarter Of million
dollars in bank notes unbeknown to
her parents.
To see the peers of the realm at
their very best is during the prayer
with which the proceedings in the
house of lords are opened every
afternoon when parliament is in ses-
sion, and I do not believe that a more
curious and characteristic spectacle
than that which they present on these
occasions can be witnessed in any
other legislative chamber in the
world. During the prayers. which
are recited by the junior Of the spirit
ual lords of parliament present. ar
arrayed in in it's full cononicals as a
bishop, with lawn sleeves, rochet,
hood, etc. every one of the temporal
peers kneels-some of them on the
floor of tn house, others on the
benches, the lord chancellor against
the woolsack, presenting much of the
aspect of a lot of baldheaded and
gray bearded children performing
1t is only the spiritual lords of parlia-
ment-that is to say. the two pri-
mates and the bishops. who do not
think it worth while to kueel to the
Almighty. The ArChbishops of Can
terbury and York. as well as their
their ecclesiastical vestments, with
out which they may not enter the
house, remain seated. and content
themselves with merely inclining
their heads and looking very pious.
The public never has a glimpse Of
this. Strangers and the representa-
tlVeS of the press are excluded from
the galleries of the house until after
the last amen" hasbeen pronounced
and it was merely by a piece Of over
sight and official negligence that an
opportunity was afforded to me Of
witnessing this well-nigh unique
spectacle.
After having thus paid a we'll de-
served tribute to the piety of the
hereditary legislators OF Great Brit
ain-a piety which is responsible for
the objections which they manifested
| to have, professed atheist such as the
late Marquis of Queensberry from TAX
| ing scat among them-a word may be
said on the subject of their public
spirit. People on this side of the At
| lantac, as a general rule, have a small
conception Of the role which this form
| or patriotism plays in the old world.
In America 1t is seldom that a man
deVotes himself to politics unless he
mas an ak of one Kind or another to
| grind. Sometimes the loaves and
social preferment, while in other in
! stances it is as a means of livelihood
legislators not only receiving large
| salaries, but having, moreover, unri-
money. There is but little sense
here of disinterested civic obligation.
| In the house of lords, on the other
| hand, the attendance, no matter
whether great or small, is composed
IN the main of men who have abso-
| lutely nothing whatever to gain from
devoting any Of their time to public
affairs.
The great orders of knighthood are
not given as reward for merit or
of recognition of territorial infu-
ence and have for centuries been
distributed in such a manner that
they have come to be looked upon
houses of the nobility. Many Of the
| members of the house Of lords are
Indifferent to promotion in the peer
age. especially IL their title happens
to De an old one; preferring to be
counts. rather than at the tail end
OF the marqufseS and earls. Many
or them possess sufficient wealth to
render them indifferent to the emolu-
! ments Of office and to the oppor-
tunities Of political corruption.
X x X X
What else than a sense of public
duty, for instance. could have i'm
PEELED that most indolent and per-
petually bored Of men, the late Duke
of Devonshire, whose only pleasure
in life was horse racing, to devote
himself to politics and to saddle him.
self throughout the greater part of
his life with the cares and obliga-
tions Of office? 1t is the same with
his successor. the present Duke Of
Devonshire. who, after serving the
crown during the great war as gov
ernor general Of Canada, is now sec
Lord Derby Is head of the historic
house of Stanley--one of the so-called
four catskin earls of the realm in
joint precedence over all others by
reason Of the antiquity of their peer
age-an earl whose grandfather re-
ceived and spurned the offer Of the
throne of Greece some seventy years
ago-a peer possessed of colossal
wealth. Yet, at the sacrifice OF his
tastes, of his landed interests and of
his comfort, he has devoted himself
to public service as secretary Of state
for war and as ambassador to France
Then, too, the members of the Brit
ish house of lords, unlike their fell
low legislators dn the lower chamber
of parliament; unlike the members
of the senate In France and of the
Senate or upper house of Congress
at Washington, neither ask nor re-
ceive any pay from the nation for
the performance of their duty to their
fellow citizens.
X X :; X
Another matter OF which people, both
at home and abroad. appear to lose
sight in connection with the house Of
lords is that 1t is to the peers that Great
Britain, and In a more or less degree,
all other civilized countries Of the
world are indebted for the recognition
Of popular rights and the origin of
parliamentary government. 1t was the
| barons in the time of King John who
wrested from that most disreputable
! and cowardly Of English sovereigns what
Is known as Magma Charta-that is to
| say. the basis of the British constitu-