The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-06-19
TIE PEERS sUCCUMB.

THF discussion in the House of Lords of the
hill for the disestablishment of the Irish
Church was resumed last evening, and con-
tinued during the night until 8 o'clock this
morning. when, as announced by a cable
despatch received this morning. the House
divided, with the following result-In favor
of passing the bill to the second reading,
179; against Lit, LAG; giving a majority Of 33
in favor.
Considerable excitement attended the clos
ing discussion of the measure, the galleries
being crowded as well as the benches of the
House. But there was no new point developed
by the opponents of disestablishment, their
speeches being made up simply of reiterations
of the stereotyped arguments with which the
world is already familiar, with an occasional
impugning of the motives of Mr. Gladstone,
the Prime Minister, and father of the bill.
When the vote was taken 325 peers as shown
above, we're present. The entire number en-
titled to seats in the House is about 465, but
there are scores of peers who habitually
neglect the exercise of their hereditary privi-
leges as legislators, being more attached to
the excitements of the turf and the joys of
the wassail than to the strifes of party. Even
when all the interests involved in the
question are considered, the vote was an
extraordinarily full one, and the majority,
small as it was, ensures the final triumph of
the project of disestablishment. The bill will
now undergo the process of q careful con-
sideration i'm detail. Attempts will be made
by the ultra T1ries to break its back with
burden of amendments; but the chances are
that none will be saddled upon it that will not
receive the sanction of the House of Com
MONS The conservative peers and English
bishops who have spoken in favor of permit
ting the bill to be read second time, have all
declared their purpose Of insisting upon
amendments which will modify materially the
more Objectionable clauses o. the measure;
and unless they should carry this purpose to
the extreme and impair the vitality of the
bill, in all probability the House of Commons
will be found as ready to make some conces-
sions as the more sensible of the peers and
bishops have been.
When the bill first came before the House
of Lords, there was every indication that it
would be defeated by a majority of seventy OF
eighty votes, probability which was appa-
rently increased by the action of the recent
Conservative caucus But the announcement
of the result of this consultation developed an
outburst of popular indignation that virtually
decreed the destruction of the system of he
reditary legislation. Wiser counsels have pre-
vailed, in response to the voice of the nation,
and by its action this morning the House of
Lords has received a new and probably an
indefinite lease of nominal power. The fact,
however, that the bill has passed to second
reading by "a majority of thirty-three votes,
in the face of an unquestioned majority OF
fully twice that number against it, shows that
the House of Lords is now and henceforth
more ornamental than useful, as far as legis.
lative purposes are concerned. 1t is merely
the gilded fgure-head of the ship of state; al
institution possessing high-sounding name
yet lacking all but the mere semblance Of
power.