New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1870-03-11
GREAT BRITAIN.
THE LEADERSHIP OF THE LoRDs-MR' AUbEHoiS
uERRERT's ELECTION AND MIR. oD'EkS
DrTEAT-AN ARIsTRoCRATIC RADICAL.

say the prayers of all good people are invite" " w
half of the House of Lords. 1t wants leader Inc |
Liberal fraction of it has leader in Lord Granville
Bnt the real House of Lords consists OF the great |
Conservative majority, and though there are about
200 Tory Peers the one essential person to supply
brans and fact 10 the rest is wanting. Mr. Carlyle
has remarked as other writers had before him, on
tho eager desire which seizes upon every group OF
human beings to elect of their number to be
captain over them. His very latest publication
asserted the natural fitness of the existing English
arstocracy to be the rulers the English people
Yet they cannot agree among themselves Their
strong point is modesty. There are able men among
the Conservative Lords, but each thinks-or the
friends Of each think-that some other is more ut
than he to conduct the deliberations of thai august
assembly While the late Lord Derby lived, there
was no question about leading or following lie
was the rcSiduary legatee of the Duke OF
Wellington. who governed the Lords III Ills
time as no other ever governed thcm'
before or since Lord Derby was followed from
instinct and led from impulse. The Lords followed
without a murmur when he took his famous Leap in
the Dark in 1867. They followed him to the very
brink of a more dangerous precipce last year. 1t Is
not quite certain that even Lord Derby meant to 20
over but it so happened that the restraining hand
which checked their mad career not the hand OF
I.ord Derby but of Lord Cairns. Nor again was
Lord Cairns anything more than the agent OF Mr.
Disraeli in that celebrated conference with Lord
Granville which resulted in the surrender of the
Lords on the Irish Church bill From that moment
Lord Derby, who had already thrown off much of
the routine work of his position ceased to be the
leader in any sense and Mr. Disrae who had long
controlled Lord Derby in fact. installed Lord Cairns
Us his successor But Lord Cairns, though his abil-
itics are undsputed has never been popular as a
leader The great families don't like TO be under
man on whom they look down a parvenue; as
owing his place in the Lords to his own ability. III
stead of to the accident of birth. Then Lord Cairns
is too serious. 1t is difficult for him to make jokes,
or 10 treat gave questions lightly. lie has not the
traditions which make it possible for the descendant
OF a dozen Dukes to go believing that the Lords
may safely resist the will of the country They were
not coutentcd with Lord Cairns, and Lord
Cairns was not contented with them. A change
was inevitable. Before the session it was much
discussed, but no agreement could be come to
about Lord Carns's successor There are but two
men who have any real title to such post. One is
the present Lord Derby the other is the Marquis of
Salisbury.
1t was known that Lord Derby was extremely
averse to assuming the place which his father had so
long filed His temperament and his opinions alike
unfit him for it, while, on the other hand, his rank
wealth. and great talents point him out the proper
man. In kind of despair that came to a crisis with
Lord Cairnss determination to set out for MentOne
the Conservative Lords resolved to have Lord Derby
for a leader whether he would or They suddenly
held meeting at the Carlton Lord Cairns pre-
siding the Dukes attending the lesser Lords assist
ing They formally rendered to Lord Derby the
leadership and it was believed soipublic Offer
companed by private pressure OF kind difficult to
resist would force him to yield. But they have
failed. Lord Derby is, of all men in England, the
one less likely to yield to sentimental considerations
His refusal positive though, of course, courteous,
seems to leave his party choice but Lord Salisbury
the open, irreconcilable personal enemy of Mr. Dis
Tael. Could the btterest opponents of the Tories
have wished to put them in more embarrassing di-
lemma.
Mr.. Auberon Herbert's election at Nottingham yes
terday may fairly be set OFF against Mr. Odgers de-
feat in Southwark. 1t would be difficult 10 find two
more unlike in position and education than Mr.
Odger and Mr.. Herbert, vet there is a substantial
political sympathy between them. By birth Mr.. Her
bert is an aristOcrat of the aristOcrats, being a
younger brother of Earl CarnarvOn. He is gradu-
ate of Oxford and resigned his Fellowship, worth.
suppose, two or three thousand dollars year the
ground that he had conscientious scTuples against
Fellowsbips in general. His family is Tory, fact
which makes his own Liberalism the more conspicu-
GUS lie is not only Liberal but Radical and radical
on social as well political questions. For some
time past Mr. Herbert has been known as one of the
small band of University Radicals, whose University |
neutrality-suspicious. you will be good enough TO
recognize q merit i'll it for Once-taught them TO
think outside of the limits which are conf
monty set to English ideas. This is the
point where he and Air. Odger. starting
from opposite ends of the social scale. have met Mr.
Herbert has shown himself champion of the rights
of the workingmen not less ardent than Mr. Odger
himself His success is for that cause.
though far less valuable than Mr. Odger's would
have been 1t is good deal to have the brother of
Tory Earl sitting the Liberal side of the House of
Commons. and sitting below the gangway because
the Liberal chiefs are not Liberal enough. That
will be Mr.. Herbert's position and since he has both
talents and courage he will certainly be heard FROM
Nottingham is rioting town. Yesterdays election
was quieter than usual The military does not seem
to have been needed, and a considerable portion of
the windows in the town remain unbroken. 1t is
one OF those places where a candidate puts himself IN
some peril merely by being candidate, and no mat
ter on which side. Mr.. Digby Seymour, who stood
against Mr. Herbert is noisy barrister, bent on get
ting into Parliament and completely indifferent as
to the side of the House on which he shall sit At
the last general election he Radical In Noting
ham he presented himself as independently e0nser-
vatiye and in the absence Of any better Tory, the
Tories voted for Mr. Seymour, and came within about
200 votes of electIng him. don't know whether Mr.
Seymour is theoretically an advocate of woman's
rights but practically he assigns the other sex a con-
siderable share in political life. His two daughters
canvassed the town for him with great energy, and
electors received charming little notes in which
Miss Seymour solieits your vote in behalf of her
father
As to Mr.. Odger's defeat / am told by one of his
hest friends