New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-02-25
A Tilt FIFTH The LORDS.

Mr. GladstOne'S cOuntcrstrOke 10 tH' pdVh-
handed thrust of the Lords cannot be easily
parried. He has given notice OF motion de-
caring that any inquiry into the working Oh
the Land Act will be injurious to the interests
of good government i'll Ireland. The pro-
longed cheering with which the announcement
was received is an unerrIng indication oil the
spirit and unanimity with which the Commons
will resent the senscless intervention OF the
Timer House in Irish affairs The Earl OF
Donoughmore's resolution providing Tor an IN
yestgation was at once GROWING act OF ma
levolence and folly and direct menace to rhe
nonular Chamber The malevOlence lay Ill the
fact that it was deliberate attempt to harass
the Premier by breaking down the Land Court
and prejudicing the tenant class against 1he
Government. The folly lay in the fact that 1t
was an INSCRIPTIONS device for rendering IN
lucrative measure which the titled land
owners had been equally powerlcss to defeat by
their votes and by their amendments. The
menace lay in the insidousness with which a
controversy which had been closed most effect
lively was sullenly reopened and the will Of
the Commons deliberately defied.
1t is Lord Salisbury who skulks behind the
Earl of DOnoughmore in this desperate effort
TO paralvze the action of the Land bill Ills at
titude is as ambiguous now as it was last
August, when, denouncing the measure as a
glaring act of spoiation and coniiscatlon, he
ostentatiously washed his hands of it and called
down wrath upon the heads of the Commons,
and then busted himself in amending and Grip
ping all its vital principles. Now that the bill
has become law and rents are coming down
with rushfn all quarters of Ireland, ana the
disaifected population is gradually taking adj
vantage of the generous provisions made Tor us
welfare, he interrupts the progress of paclllca-
ton by ordering an investigation which VIII
embarrass the Land Court and create suspicion
throughout the island. In doing this he Is not
so much leader of the landed ariStOcracy rs
polItical partisan. He must know that the
middle classes with their masses of accumu =
lated capital are the dominant force in public
life. and that the titled landowners lost con-
troll over the popular Chamber when the centres
of population were accorded adequate repre-
sentation and nomination bOIoughs were abOl-
ished. lie is not so confused by the c0mpll-
Gated system of checks and balances known as
the English Constitution as to make any mis-
take respecting the real centre OF political force.
He cannot be ignorant that it lies in the Com
mons, and that the aristOcracy having once
been overpOwered, can never be reinylgorated.
1t is not as the champion of class that he
enters the lists against the greatest ComnOner.
It is because he is the blindest of partlsans,
swayed by the narrOwcst and most selfish con
siderations of party policy, tnat he favors tins
ill-timed and mischievous investigation,
screening himself behind the coordinate privi-
leges of the Houses of Parliament.
1t is matter of the gravcst moment that the
leadership of the English Peers should have
deyolved upon one who has so little discern
ment, so little discretion. Half a century ago
Lord Macaulay spoke cOntemptuonsy OF the
institution of the peerage as dying natural
death If its survival has been characterized
by signs of unexpected vigor, it is because its
leaders have been wise in adapting themselves
to circumstances. They have uniformly re-
sisted popular reforms, but they have halted
when they found that their opposition WAS
exasperating the Commons. Lord Salisbury
does not seem to have the practical sagacity OF
his class. AS for Mr.. Gladstone, he has re-
peatedly resented unwarrantable resistance OF
the Lords to the will Of the Commons. The
abolition of army purchase and the repeal OF
the paper duties have been conspicuous in
stances of his infexibilIty of purpose when
there has been marked divergence of views
between the Houses. At the same time he has
frequently made concessions in behalf of the
Commons, for he appreciates the full force of
the fact that English history is made up of
social and political compromises Always pa
triotic, he is never partisan. He would prob
ably assent to Lord Derby's idea that the
Chambers are like respectable families i'll
which quarrels are rare and settled without
appeal to the divorce court" In matters of
detail, he would always be conciliatory, but on
questions of fundamental right and political
precedence he would be the intleXiblc champion
of the English middle classes.
MR. TILDEN TAKES TIE FIELD.
NVa ovfond our CON n atoms N tnp Demo-