The Northwestern standard., 1886-04-03
THE EXPENSE: Of ROYALTY.
A Disposition 10 Antagonize the IN
reasonable Charges Of the
Royal Household.
BURDENS or THE BRITISH PUBLIC
Marked Increase Of the Radical Element
in the British House Of
Commons.

I LE.Sl5jIlttEiIU VI UuS SitlCOSS ASteA4S AiS'~f
| in a recent letter TO that paper DIS
cusse8 inteliigently the enormous cost
| of royalty and the great change that
has taken place in late years. respect
| ing the freedom with which members
Of the British house Of commons can
criticize the royal family, without being
| deprived Of their liberty on account OF
alleged reasonable utter Iances. Wei
present extracts from Mr.. Days letter,
and recommend them to the attention
| OF the readers of the STANDARD:
The remarkable growth of demo-
cratic feeling in the house OF commons
! is shown by the debates on MI La
b9uchere's motion against the house OF
| lords, and his proposal to reduce the
vote for the royal palaces in the civil
| service estimates. Mr.. Labouchere IS
one of the most curious figures IN par
/ lament. He is a little man with a
| stolid face and habit OF standing
with his hands in his pockets white he
enunciates the most revolutionary SEN
timents. He is the proprietor OF a.
/ journal which gives all the tlttle-taJtle
/ of aristocratic society, but merclles6ly
exposes abuses and scandals III high
places. Mr.. Labouchere is q man OF
/ business and he knows that there Is
money to be made out OF the native
| British curiosity about lords and la
dies but with perfect consistency ne
! objects to the anomaly Of making
| Young nobleman, who has probably
spent all his time with Durlesque act
resses and jockeys, q legislator simply
| because his father sat IN the house OF
| lords before him. We are gradually ap-
preaching the time when this absurdity
will be reformed, and the increase OF
I the radical element in the house OF COM
mons shows that the democracy is
making up its mind to bring the con-
stitution Of the house of lords into ac-
cord With common sense.
. But the most striking thing Of all
| is the confidence with which member
of parliament can now critlclse the
royal family. Time was when Ar.
I.abouchere would have been received
with indignant howIs when he ven
tured to find fault with the expenditure
of royal households. But the other
night the house listened without muir
mur while he complained OF the charge
for the royal kitchen gardens, and
asked what became OF the vegetables.
The duke Of Edinburgh has ,000 a
i year and a house rent free, and yet he
is not ashamed to make the country
pay for his Goals. Not long ago parlia-
ment was asked to meet a little bill OF
e75 for broken windows at Mari
/ borough house 1t is not a royal amuse-
/ nent to break windows. That occupa-
/ tion is left TO the socialists but as no.
body could show that Marlborough
lbouse had suffered from a riot it was
iuconceiyable that the prince of Wales
should have been obliged to spend this
sum on gIaziers. For no apparent rea-
son the water charges for Windsor
castle have been tripled. There is no
ground for the belief that the Queens
household has suddenly been converted
10 total abstinence What, then. has
been done with this intolerable guam
tity Of water These are matters on
! which MIR. Labouchere discourses with
out a trace of that Difference 20 the
crown which was once supposed TO be
the chief attribute Of good citizen.
He cannot even see why the queen
] should have so many palaces (Which
/ are maintained at the cost of the eeun-
try). though she rarely lives in them.
/ Why are they not sold or lett? says
he. and the high old Tories listen in si-
lent disgust. knowing that it is not OF
the slightest use TO denounce this
stolid-faced littlt man with his hands in
/ his pockets. Then the minister whose
| duty it is to explain the estimates, and
who is very advanced radical looks
/ Tery much embarrassed, and offers Of
] fetal explanations which are no e1-
| plantations at all. Then it is suggested
/ that one OF the ex-ministers should
I threw some light on the subject. and up
rises a bald old gentleman, who pro-
| tests that there were 80 many files Of
| documents In his office when he was in
+ power that he cannot carry them all on
| his head All this means that we have
t not vet rdaehed the point of insisting
| that the royal accounts shall be strictly
t supervised like The rest. Successive
ministries evade this question as if it
we're high treason to require an explain
alton OF the Increased water rate of
! Windsor castle. The duke of Edin-
hurgh goes on charging us or hiscoaIs.
quite unconscious of the fact that there
is not an artisan or an agricultural
| laoorer who would not be ashamed of
i such meanHess. But the prince who
| decks strange goddesses with his wlfe's
Jewels cannot. be expected TO hare a