Respectfully yours,
N.R.
MORRISTOWN, N.J.

DEAR FRIEND:

The House of Peers (or House of Lords) is composed of all the peers of
the United Kingdom, the representative Scottish peers, the Irish
representative peers, and the lords spiritual.

A peer is the holder of one of the five degrees of nobility,--duke,
marquis, earl, viscount, or baron. These men have their seats in the
House of Lords by right of birth, and take possession of them when they
come of age.

The House of Peers takes its origin from the body of lords and barons
who were summoned to the king's councils in olden times. Besides the
peers who sit in the House of Lords by right, and who are distinguished
as the lords temporal, there are twenty-six other lords who also form a
part of this body, and who are known as the lords spiritual. These are
the two English archbishops and twenty-four bishops.

The House of Commons is composed entirely of men who are elected by the
vote of the people.

There are no restrictions whatever of birth, education, or religion. Any
freeman who is elected can sit in the House. At one time an endeavor was
made to exclude a man who had been elected because he refused to take
the oath which is administered to all members of Parliament before they
can take their seats. This was Charles Bradlaugh. He said he did not
believe in an oath, but offered to affirm, or give his word instead. The
House of Commons refused to accept this, and Mr. Bradlaugh was not
allowed to take his seat. He afterward stated that he was willing to
take the oath as a matter of form, but this was again objected to. For
six years he struggled for his seat, and at last was allowed to take it,
after going through the form of the oath.

A cobbler has sat in the House of Commons and helped make laws for the
people, and the members of Parliament are of all ranks and ages.

In England, however, men of fortune and family take more interest in the
affairs of the nation than they do with us, and the majority of the
members of the House of Commons are wealthy land-owners, baronets, and
knights, who have large interests at stake, and young men of good family
who have been educated with the express idea of going into Parliament as
soon as they were able to find an opening.

EDITOR.

DEAR EDITOR:

I am one of your subscribers, an