Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1882-06-13
THE PRosREss or DEmocRACY In

The House of Lords and the whole aristo
cratic system have long been steadily losipl
their hold upon the English popular mind
The equalizing tendency of education, anG
the whole turn and current OF modern
thought and feeling are in favor of the rule
of the people, by the people and for the peo'
pie, 10 the exclusion of title and of privilege
unearned. If proof of these facts is asked
for, it is seen in the House of Commons as il
exists to-day. In 1882, after a near approach
10 revolution, the excessive aristocratic
power in that House was reduced, and
the harsh, driving, dictatorial 1oryism
that had been rampant there was stripped
of its unconstitutional predominanoe. Ever
since that change the House of Com
mons has increased in authority and
influence, so much so that an indignant peer
asked one day not long ago, whether the
House of Lords was TO become a mere place
in which to register such laws as the House of
Commons chose to pass? To some extent it has
become just that, for when a measure has
strong public approval, and the House of
Commons pass it by a large majority, the
House of Lords cannot refuse to pass it but
Thus the old attitude is reversed, and it is
now the Commons, not the Lords, that possess
the greatest weight of legislative power.
That the aristocrstIc portion of English So
ciety regard the change with modification
and bitter hate is natural and we find that
hate seeking vent in that prominent organ
of the Tory party, BIackaOOods Magazine. The
number for May has article on "The De-
cline of the House of Commons" The writer
shows how the arjstocraiic body fears the
power of the reformed Parliament, and yet
how impotent it feels itself TO withstand,
much less destroy, that power. The Black.
GOOD article Acknowledges that "the House of
Commons is dominant-the crown is ex-
tremely restricted as to power, and the House
OF Lords by no means enjoying robust exist
ence, is carped at, threatened, proph-
esied against and condemned" Could
Tory despair, could the change that has
taken place as to the seat of English rule be
more strikiDgly expressed than in these
words? OF course in the eyes of the aristo-
crat this predominance of popular power is
regarded as danger to be guarded against,
and as an evil to be remedied, for the House
of Commons by this attainment of might
and vigor, strangely enough, sis hurrying on
to decrepitude and possibly to the end Of
long and glorious career. Time was" the
writer recalls almost with pathos, "when the
House OF Commons was content to have its
business prescribed for It," and that happy
time when the monarch bullied it, and when
the lords dictated its proceedings, the genu-
Inc Tory would love to resuscltated. As
1t is, he cxclaims, in the words of the article
we quote from: "The House of Commons
seems to have outlived its usefulness" That
is, of course, outlived its slavish subserxience
= to t'ho 1aonarch aud tbs mobiles; as to the
people, what are they that their interests
should be considered as predominant? And
who are the proper parties to correct this
erring branch of the Kingdoms legislature?
Tnis question is evidently hard one for the
Btdel7OoOd writer to answer, for he acknowl-
edges that "the House stands in awe of no
other institution" Still he says: eff we
were asked where to find the restraining
power without first destroying or violating
the constitution, we reply that there il such a
power, although we little think it will be
made available" These concluding words
show encouragement, but another sentence
says: "If it could be that an adroit course,
taken by the crown or by the Lords, could re-
store equilibrium, it lie possible that the low
er house might once more aim at
being useful rather than autocratic" Ad-
ded to this adroitness there is "another
chance, the House of Lords may, in some
emergency where legislation is urgently
needed, take the lead and do the work; if
the Commons may endeavor to compass the
overthrow or humiliation of the Lords, the
Lords, by parity of reasoning may,
should the opportu nifty demand it,
exercise some controlling power over
the Commons. The Lords might
obtain influence sufficient to be able to adjust
the constitution. 1t is too much, however,
to anticipate that events will ever favor such
action of the Lords" That a throne fast
sinking to decay can do anything in this
desperate case the writer does net venture to
urge. The idea that the Lords in their imbe-
Gle condition, legislatorially, have power to
call the robust, powerful, strong-willed
House of Commons up tor discipline would
be laughable did not the evident distress of
the writer at its impossibility make it almost
pathetic. 1t is the devotee of dying faith
mourning over the fanes, now marked for
ruin, of an extinct worship. Under these |
circumstances the Tory writer gives the |
Commons up, and says eve must face the !
prospect of the lower house becoming less |
and less capable of bearing the whole weight |
of leOislatiou and until so,,o
outside power, probably military, shall crush
out It's attenuated lie" To us it appears to
be very serious chronic disease, raising
anxious thoughts of change. The case is
the worse that 1t is not confined to the mere
dispositions of the individual members,
its roots stretch wider and strike deeper,
"for," says the reviewer, eve believe
that the failure of the House of Commons is
to be attributed to the character of the time"
As we read these utteranceswe are reminded
of the characters in Warerlty, and other
stories of Scott, who years after the absent
Stuarts, and long that "the king may hae
his ain again." but are cast down and hope
less under the sway of Cromwell or of the |
house of Hanover, as the case may be. What |
the English nobility and their party, the |
Tories, dread and foresee is plainly set forth |
in the above quotations, and it is impossible'
10 avoid seeing how the ideas that the. troops |
of George III and the mobiles of his time |
endeavored to crush on the battle-felds of |
the American revolution are to-day upsetting |
and destroying, on English ground, senti-
ments that that revolution triumphed over |
and institutions il defied
STRIKES AND PROTECTION
The existing strife between workmen and |
employers about wages is bringing out some |