Evening star., 1924-01-02
BY THE MARaUIsE DE FoNTENoY

BY THE MARQUISE DE FONTENOY.
England's house of lords. at West
minister, is generally assumed, not
only abroad, but even in England it
self, to be composed of men who owe
their seats and their votes IN the up
per house Of the national legislature
either to inheritance or to the be-
stowal of peerages by the crown. 1t
also comprises some twenty-six dio-
cesan prelates of the State Church of
England, who also are indebted for
their appointment TO their arch
bishoprics and bishoprics by the SOW
ereign. But in addition to these, there
are a certain number of members of
the house Of lords whose presence
there is due to election and who rep
resent at Westminster the peerage of
Scotland. Their election takes place
in the Royal Palace of Holyrood, at
Edinburgh, on the occasion of each
general parliamentary election, a
royal proclamation being formally
read out by royal heralds from the
Market Cross, in Edinburgh, ordering
them to meet for the election within
ten days.
The election is presided over by the
lord clerk register of Scotland, the
highest judicial dignitary of Scotland,
and who happens to be the Duke Of
Montrose. The peers present vote for
their nominees, while proxies are ac-
cepted from those who are absent.
and then the duke makes his return
to the clerk of the crown in chancery,
then through him to the clerk Of the
house of lords.
At these elections at Holyrood, the
great rofl of the peers of Scotland is
read out, each peer present, either in
person or proxy, answering his name
and recording his vote. The great roll
of the peers of Scotland bears the
date of 1907, since which time no new
Scotch peerage has been created, the
additions which have been made
thereto consisting exclusively of re-
viyaI of peerages created previous to
that date, which had become tempo
rarily dormant through the non-ap-
pearance of claimants, or which, hav-
ing been attained by parliament on
charges of treason in the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries, had had
their attainder repealed by parlia-
NJ ent.
The great roll contains 112 names.
six peers of Scotland in existence,
many honors having become extinct
since the time of the union between
England and Scotland at the begin
ming of the eighteenth century. Never
theless, they cannot be struck off the
roll, and the names of the Marquis
of Annadale, of the Earls of Hynd-
ford, of Portmore, of Marchmont and
Findlater, etc, will continue to be
called at each election at Holyrood as
long as the Scotch peerage lasts.
4 X X 4
There is no one at these elections
who has authority to challenge on
behalf of the crown. the right to the
peerage which he claims or holds, or
to question his identity. That some
such check is necessary in the latter
respect was shown by the case or the
late Earl of Seafield, who was born ana
spent his entire youth in New Zea-
land and who on the occasion OF ms
first visit to Scotland was utterly
unknown, even by sight, to his fel-
nothing whatever to have preventeo
some imposter from attending lne
election at Holyrood Palace and Whel,
the name of the late Earl of SeaLieIu
was called, from voting under ina.
designation. Nor has this been py
any means the only instance where
the question of identity had to De
taken on trust by the remainder u
the Scottish peers voting.
Nor is there anything to prevent
the claimant of some Scottish peer
age that figures on the great roll, out
which is now dormant, from ansWel
ing when the name is called and from
recording his vote as such. true, II
two or more peers present nle d pIo
test against the pretensions of the
claimant, the lord clerk register who
presides mHst report the fact to the
house of 10 3 at Westminster wnicn