The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-10-18
THE HOUSE OF LORDS.
A Notable Speech by the Lord Chief-J astice
of England.

Albany Law Journal.
In responding at the Cutlers Feast to toast
to the House of Lords, Lord Coleridge said
among other things: II have not disguised
why should disguise?-that | am of opinion,
with thirteen years experience of its working,
and of the renewed flow of things that goes on
all around us, that it cannot be expected that
the House of Lords, any more than any other
institution in this country, should be saved for
ever from change and reconstruction. But will
be equally frank, and would saw that | do hope
that it will be dealt with in the
way of change and reconstruction.
and not by the way of abolition. In
every free country belleve--I am sure in most
1T Is found necessary, or it is believed to be
necessary, to have second chamber in the
legislative machinery of the state and am GER
tain that in the English House of Lords there is
the most admirable material for the reconstruc-
ton of the chamber. The English House of
Lords never did want, and it does not now
want, grand, commanding ability. A de-
bate in which - to go no further than
four names - a debate in which the Duke
of Argyll, Lord Salisbury and Lord Selbourne,
and the Bishop Of Peterborough mingled,
is thing, let me tell you worth a mans
while to go many miles to listen to; and we
find that still to great men of all Sorts to great
contractors, to great brewers, to great bankers
to great men of commerce. to great soldiers and
sailors. and, NAV say, excluding myself great
LAWYERS, not only to men who are remarkable for
nothing but the number of acres and the quality
OI SLOCh OF COuSOIS LueV may own, bn0 POSITION
of seat in the House of Lords is still an object
Of ambition, and l would undertake to say,
speaking with all reverence in presence of some
of the foremost men in the House of Commons,
that man might now take up fifty men out of
the House of Lords who man for man, would be
the equals in ability. with perhaps one enormous
exception that will occur to every one.
whichever side of politics he NAV sit,
absolute equals of any fifty men in
the House of Commons 1t is not in eloquence,
it is not in learning and ability, it is not in
knowledge, it is not in high character and noble
ambition, nay, it is not in q certain sense in eur
rency with affairs that the House of Lords Is de-
fieient The House of Lords has lost its weight
in the country, if it has lost it, from other
causes. because, unfortunately a vast majority
of the peers never come near the House of
Lords at all, and never take any part in its bust
ness; because those who do take part come there
because they choose to come, and are RESPONSE
BILE to no one but themselves, and it is impossi-
BILE, with all their ability. that they should not,
to some extent, lose touch of the people, and get
out of harmony with the times. But let this be
altered. Let men sit in the House of Lords be-
cause some one thinks them fit to sit there; let
them be sent there by some system of choice.
some mode of elecnon-I do not saw necessarily
directly from the people, but speaking roughly
and oHhand, and / pray you remember after
dinner, by some such system as is so successful
In the American Senate and | will venture to
say that the English Honse of Lords would not
be only the most ancient, the most venerable,
the most iliustrious body. but of the most
powerful and most popular legislative assemblies
which the world has seen. But do abolish
the House law court. in which regard it is of
no credit to itself and no use to anybody else.