with an explanation or apology. All published reports of debate are ignored by Parliament, and what is said in Parliament is supposed to be unknown elsewhere, and cannot be noticed without a breach of privilege.

Another privilege belonging to the Peers, and which is shared by the Commons, is freedom from arrest and molestation during the time of Parliament. This privilege is not claimable for any indictable offence-such as treason, felony, or breach of the peace. No action against a peer need, however, be stayed under pretence of privilege of Parliament, for he may be coerced by every legal process, except the attachment of his person. In cases of treason and felony a peer is tried by his brother peers, but in mere misdemeanours he is tried like a commoner by jury. A peer loses his nobility by attainder or by execution. Should he be condemned to death, as in the case of Earl Ferrers, he has the privilege (I don't know whether it is an advantage) of being hanged with a silken cord instead of a rope of vulgar hemp.* * Now, Gentlemen, I believe you very often have de

* The rights of the Peerage have lately obtained recognition in one important point, for at length it has been finally established that a Peer of the Realm can be made a bankrupt like any ordi

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bates and discussions among yourselves in this room, so that an account of how a debate is conducted among the highest of the land may not be uninteresting to you, and perhaps give you a hint or two. When the Lord Chancellor takes his seat on the Woolsack, business commences. The Speaker of the Lords is generally the Lord Chancellor,* but

nary mortal. The fact is settled by the result of the appeal to the House of Lords in the case of the Duke of Newcastle. More than a hundred years ago, in a case then before Lord Chancellor Hardwicke, the eminent legist held that, "though there may be some particular powers which Commissioners of Bankrupts could not exercise against a Peer, yet, notwithstanding this, he may be liable to a commission of bankruptcy if he will trade; and so may a member of the House of Commons, though, while he continues a member, there are some particular powers of Commissioners that cannot be exercised against him." In all the Bankruptcy statutes since passed, there is nothing to weaken the authority of that dictum; and, by abolishing the distinction between traders and non-traders, the Act of 1861 rendered the Duke liable to that beneficial procedure which distributes the property of an insolvent debtor among his creditors. The only privilege which he can claim is exemption from arrest. It is important to the whole community that attendance on Parliament should be uninterrupted and absolutely free, and upon that ground alone members of the legislature are exempt from certain processes. But there is no constitutional reason for releasing them from making equitable arrangements with their creditors, or for excluding them from the provisions of our Bankruptcy Law.

* "It is a proud thing for the Commons of England to see one of their number, a private individual, elevated from obscurity

should the Chancellor be absent, the Lords may choose their own Speaker to supply his place. And it is a curious fact that the Lord Speaker of the Upper House is not necessarily a member. It has even happened that the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal has officiated for years as Speaker, without having been raised to the Peerage. When the Great Seal is in commission, the Chief Justice of the Court of Queen's Bench or Common Pleas, the Chief Baron of the Exchequer, or the Master of the Rolls, if a peer, is appointed Speaker. Unlike the Speaker of the House of Commons, the Speaker of the Lords is invested with no more authority than any other member, and (if a peer) has to address the House from his own place as a peer, and not from the Woolsack, for the Woolsack is not strictly within the House. The Chairman of the Lords' Committees is the Deputy Speaker.

At the table of the House is the clerk of the Parliaments, attended by the clerk-assistant and the reading-clerk, to take down minutes of all the proceedings.

solely by the force of talent and industry, taking precedence of the Howards, the Talbots, and the Percies-of the pride of Norman ancestry equally with the splendour of royal descent.". GEORGE CANNING,

ETIQUETTE RESPECTING SPEECHES.

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The etiquette of the House directs that every peer as he enters is to give and receive salutations from the rest, and not to sit down till he has made an obeisance to the cloth of estate. During the debate he is to keep his place as much as possible, but when he is obliged to cross the House he is to bow to the cloth of estate, and on no account is he to pass in front of a peer who is addressing their Lordships. He is not to read books or papers for amusement, or for business unconnected with the debate. If he wishes to speak to a peer while the House is sitting, both have to go below the bar, and there converse. Whilst a peer is speaking, he must not be disturbed by hissing, exclamations, or other interruptions. As, however, the use of the Parliamentary expression "Hear, hear" is permitted, and as those words may mean approval, dissent, derision, or contempt, they often prove a very efficacious interruption. Peers, when they speak, address themselves "to the rest of the Lords in general," and not to the Speaker, as do the Commons.

No written speeches are permitted, but a member may refresh his memory by a reference to notes. Extracts from documents may be read, but the Speaker's own language must be delivered bona

fide, in the form of an unwritten composition. When a peer addresses the House, he rises in his place and stands uncovered. Should he be sick or infirm, the indulgence of a seat is frequently allowed him. During a division, however, with closed doors, peers speak sitting and covered; but this practice is confined to questions of order arising out of the division, and does not apply to distinct motions proposed for the adoption of the House. The right of a peer to address their Lordships depends solely upon the will of the House. When two Lords, each supported by a party, rise at the same time, unless one immediately give way, there is no alternative but a division.* If the Lord Chancellor rises from the Woolsack to address the House, it is customary to give him precedence over other peers who may rise at the same time. A peer, when addressing the House, is only entitled to be heard upon the question then under discussion; and whenever he wanders from it, he is

* On June 13, 1870, Lord Stratheden moved a Standing Order, enabling the occupant of the Woolsack to decide which of candidate peers for a speech is to be heard, instead of the decision, as now, resting with the House in general. It was a good deal discussed, and met with some support; but, on the whole, their Lordships preferred to stand on their old ways, and the motion was withdrawn.