10 The Conservative.
CURIOUS CUSTOMS IN THE BRITISH
HOUSE OF COMMONS.
When a new member makes his ap-
penrauco at the house of commons , he
is escorted to the table to take the oath
by two other members of parliament.
This is one of the immemorial usages of
the house. It originated in a far re
mote past , when it was really necessary ,
in order to prevent personation , that
two members of the house should
identify the claimant of a seat as the
pei-sou named in the writ of the retum-
ing officer. The precaution is no longer
necessary. But , so great is the reluct
ance of the house of commons to part
with any of its antique ceremonies , that
it is still retained ; and , although a rep
resentative may come to the bar of the
house as the unanimous choice of a con
stituency of many thousand electors ,
and produce his credentials , he will not
be permitted to take his seat , unless ho
can get two members to act as his
sponsors. To this rule there has been a
single exception. Dr. Kenealy , the
counsel for the notorious Tichborne
claimant , Artlmr Or ton , after his elec
tion for Stokc-upoii-Treut , in 1875 , ap
peared at what is known as the "bar" of
the house , unattended by even one
member ; and , as he could not get any
body to accompanj- him to the table ,
after the speaker had informed him of
the usual procedure , ho was obliged to
leave the chamber. His inability to se
cure any sponsors was duo to the fact
that he had been disbarred for unpro
fessional conduct. Eventually , by a
special resolution of the house , moved by
Mr. Disraeli , its leader at the time , Dr.
Kenealy was allowed to take his seat
without complying with the usual
practice.
When men assemble in a bxiilding , as
at a meeting or a theatre , the ordinary
custom is to uncover their heads while
they are seated , and to put on their hats
as they leave thebiiildiug. In the house
of commons that custom is reversed.
Members can wear their hats only when
they ore seated on the benches. As
they walk to their seats or rise to
leave the house , they must remove their
hats. This custom is a source of much
confusion and embarrassment to new
members , for the house seldom fails to
show its resentment of a breach of its
etiquette , however slight. It willwith-
out distinction of party , unanimously
roar with indignation at a new member
who , ignorant or unmindful of parlia
mentary custom , wears his hat as he
walks down the floor of the chamber.
About six years ago , an offending mem
ber , startled by the shout which greeted
him as he was leaving his seat , with his
hat on his head , instead of in his hand ,
paused in the middle of the floor and
looked around with a mingled expres
sion of perplexity and astonishment.
"Hat ! hat ! " shouted the members.
This only embarrassed him the more.
He felt his vest pockets and his coat
tails in an apparent search for the of
fending article. Ho oven looked at his
feet , to see if he wore wearing a hat in
; ) lace of what the English call "boots , "
and it is impossible to conjecture what
might have happened , had not an Irish
member walked up to him , and , amid
he laughter of the house , having re
moved his hat for him , then handed it
to him with a courtly bow. The
int plays many important parts in
English parliamentary customs. It also
seems to contribute to the gaiety of life
m the hoiise of commons. No incident
is greeted with more hearty laughter
: han the spectacle of a member , after a
magnificent peroration , sitting down on
his silk hat on the bench behind him.
The bashful and awkward member
generally figures in these accidents ; but
: he misfortune has befallen an old and
cool "parliamentary hand , " like Sir
William Harcourt , and has somewhat
marred the immediate effect of at least
one of his most eloquent speeches. A
certain Mr. Webster , when a newly-
elected member for a division of London
( St. Paucras ) , after his maiden speech
in 1896 , sat down , on a new silk hat
which ho had provided in honor of the
auspicious occasion ; and , as he was rue
fully surveying his battered headgear , to
the amusement of the unfeeling specta
tors , an Irish ropresentativewhpse name
I think it desirable to omit , arose and
gravely said : "Mr. Speaker , sir , permit
me to congratulate the honorable mem
ber on the happy circumstance , that
when he sat upon his hat , his head was
not in it. ' ' The call of ' 'Order ! order ! ' '
from the speaker , was drowned by the
sounds of laxighter.
In probably eveiy other legislative
chamber in the world , each member has
a special seat assigned to him. But , al
though there are now some 670 members
of the house of commons , the chamber ,
strange to say , was built to accommo
date little over half that number ; and
the only members who are certain of
seats , are ministers and ex-ministers ,
the occupants respectively of the so-
called treasury bench and the first op
position bench. The result is that , on
occasions of great interest , there is al
ways a scramble for seats. A large
crowd of members gathered at West
minister during the early hours of the
day on which Mr. Gladstone was to in
troduce the Irish Home Rule bill of
1892 , and when , after hours of waiting ,
the doors giving immediate entrance to
the chamber , were opened at 7 a. m. , so
great was the rush for good seats , that
several members wore slightly hurt.
On important occasions , a member se
cures a seat for the evening by leaving
his hat upon it. But it must be his own
every-day hat. If he brings with him a
second hat and leaves the precincts of
the house , wearing his workaday head
gear , he forfeits all right to his seat.
Those ancient , but unwritten regula
tions were the subject of definite and
specific rulings by the speaker four or
five years ago. After the split in the
Irish party , when the personal relations
between the rival sections were decidedly
strained , one Irish member took posses
sion of the seat upon which another
Irish member had placed his hat in the
usual way. On the aggrieved member
bringing the matter publicly , under the
notice of the house , the speaker ruled
that he had on unquestionable right and
title to theseat. . Again , in connection
with the fight for places on the occasion
of the introduction of the Home Rule
Bill in 1892 , the house was informed
that Dr. Tanner brought with him to
Westminster , that morning , about a
dozen soft hats , and with them secured
twelve seats for colleagues , who did not
visit the house till the ordinary hour of
meeting in the afternoon ( four o'clock ) ;
and , 'again , the speaker ruled that the
only hat which could secure a seat is
the real bonafide headgear of the mem
ber , and not any "colorable substitute"
for it. During the influenza epidemic
of 1895 , the speaker , in mercy for the
hatless wanderers in the lobbies , went so
far as to recognize a card left on the
bench , as a substitute for a hat.
It is almost unnecessary to say that
members are not allowed to refer to each
other by name during debates. The
only member who may bo addressed by
name , is the chairman who presides
over the deliberations of the house in
committee. On a member , rising to
speak in committee of the whole house ,
he begins with the words , "Mr. Court
ney , " and not with "Mr. Chairman , " as
at public meetings. When the speaker
is in the chair , the formula is , "Mr.
Speaker , sir. " In debate a member is
distinguished by the office he holds , as
"the right honorable gentleman , the
secretary for the colonies ; " or "the
honorable gentleman , the member for
Leeds. ' ' Some speakers make use of the
terms , "my right honorable friend" and
"my honorable friend. " The rule is
that the word "honorable" must be used ,
and it is a rule that has led to some
curious results. In the year 1894 , two
members were expelled from the house
after their conviction for serious offences ;
and yet , in the discussion that took
place prior to the expulsion of these of
fenders ( who had previously been con
victed ) , they were still punctiliously de
scribed as "honorable gentlemen. "
Lawyers and the house contains many
of them are styled "honorable and
learned , " and officers of the army and
navy "honorable and gallant. " The
late Mr. W. H. Smith , who was not a
lawyer , was once referred to in a speech
as "the right honorable and learned
gentleman. " "No , no , " exclaimed the
modest old man , declining the distinc
tion , amid the merriment of the house ,