The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-12-30
Lords mud Commons.

ABour one half of the editorial space OF all our
English exchanges for the past month has
been filed up with comments on the recent
Parliamentary election and the new Liberal
Cabinet. While these comments in the main
are inspired by the political bias OF the par
tioular journal we find in some OF the Liberal
organs frank and manly assaults on the Eug-
lish governmental system as whole. The PaH
Mall Gazette oonfesses that "Eugland is in
many respects one of the worst governed coun-
tries in Europe" but consoles itself immedi-
ately after with the reflection that these ''sre
by no means the most important respects, and
in some cases their very defects are the result
of an exaggerated adherence to principles in
themselves sound"
Among the more noticeable points which
we encounter is an undisguised contempt
for the hereditary nobility of the United
Kingdom. The power and influence of this
class are slowly waning, although they still
maintain the possibility of exercising con-
trolling influence in the Government by
making bold stand in the House OF Lords.
In the Parliament which has jdst expired,
the Lords not emily constituted one OF the
coordinate branches, but, as class, returned
one-third of the House Of Commons in the
persons Of their sons, nephews, sons-iu-law,
and other relatives who had been returned
through family influence while the untitled
country squires, who delight to hang about
the skirts of the titled sristocracy, swelled the
direct numerical influence Of the latter in the
lower house to near one-half. The last
Reform bill upset number OF
the rotten bOroughs, and swelled the ranks OF
the electors considerably in the sound ones;
but the result of the recent elections, as shown
by q canvass of the new House Of Commons, Is
but slight dimnution OF the strength of the
Lords. The House of Commons now consists
of $50 members. OF these full 210-only
round dozen less than in the last House-sre
the near relatives of peers, constituting, as
the London Spectator remarks, ''almost third
of the House supposed to have been reformed
and past all question the most powerful single
interest within it," On this subject the Specta.
tor further says:-
mo doubt all or nearly all, these men are
freely elected by the people, cases like Suta or.
lancashire and Calne becoming more rare as the
Reformers move steady to their end; but that
only makes the power OF the peers more
markable, and so to speak, more real. Lord
g. Hamilton Is twice as important In Middle-
he would be if he were seated by his
fathers tenants; for though 1T Is pOssiule, as
Dumfriesshire has shown, TO defeat coercion, IL
is not possible for any law or regulation to dis
spate the popular reverence for rank"
The term "people' in this connection must
be taken with qualification. Although the
recent Reform bill swept away many abuses
and placed ths franchise in hands which had
not welded it BEFORE suffrage is still a special
privilege Of the few as distinguished from the
masses. In addition to this there is gross
inequality in the comparative sizes of the
constituencies, many of them still ranking as
thoroughly "rotten boroughs." The largest
borough constituency is that of Glasgow,
whose Al, 900 electors have three members in
the House of Commons. But the case of
Hackney gives still larger number of cleo
tors to each member, the latter numbering
two only, while the former run up to 40, 600.
From this preportion-one member to 20, 600
electors--there is to be found almost every
conceivable degree down to the next thing to
nothing, which is represented by the borough
of PortarliDgton, whose 1l9 electors returned
q Tory member the other day by majority
of II. Until this state of affairs is remedisd,
all attempts 'to dissipate the popular rever-
epcs for rank" are likely to prove futile.
Mr.. Glsdstone's Cabinet is made up OF ff-
teen members, only eight of whom are Com
mOners, six being peers and one the eldest son
Of q peer. This last is Lord Harrington, the
new Postmaster General, and as he failed to
secure a seat in the House of Commons, it will
be necessary to make him peer in his own
right, if he is to be retained in the Cabinet,
unless some obliging second.rate Liberal who
sits for an uncontested borough shall see fit to
retire into private life to give him an entrance
into the Commons. According to all reports,
the noble side Of the new Cabinet is the weak
est in point OF ability, as well as in that of
numbers. Yet the bsst men among the Libe-
raj peers were selected, not because there were
no Commoners more capable, but because
the Lords still refuse to repeal certain statutes
which ensure them legal right to two of the
Secretaryships of State and other responsible
positions, without any regard to their qualif-
cations of head and heart, and because it is
indispensable that Mr.. Gladstone should have
somebody to fight the battles OF the Liberal
Ministry in the Tory House Of Lords.
Yet the great Liberal triumph at the polls
was decided victory in behalf of impartial
liberty and true equality, and if the revOlu-
ton does not take a sudden backward turn
the time will soon arrive when the respective
influence of Lords and COmmons-of high and
low-will be regulated, not by hereditary
rioht but by comparative numbers and com