Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1889-07-26
Dignity in Danger.
Important Debate Begun in the
British Parliament.
SMITH OPENS FOR THE ROYALTIES.

He Makes 1t a Question of the Dignity OF
tH Crown and EuIogizes Britain's Econ
"mical Recommendations Doubt
full of the Economy, Thinks the Young
Princes should Wag Along ON Their
| Grandmother's Cash-Gladstone Gets
| Praise from the Tories.
LONDON, July 26-There was an unusually
| large attendance of members in the house of
commons yesterday, and many whose faces
are rarely seen within the chamber took
| pains to grace the occasion with their
! presence. The interest in the debate on the
| part of the outside public was also made
manifest by the crowded condition of the
| galleries, where every available inch of
space was occupied. The great attraction
was, of course, the expected debate on the
subject of the royal grants, which Smith, the
government leader in the house of commons,
announced on Monday would come I'D
| yesterday
What They Wanted to Know.
| When Smith rose in place to move the
adoption Of the report of the special commit
tee on royalty grants every eye was directed
| toward him and every ear strained to catch
his words. When be had formally offered
the governments motion, he was promptly
questioned 10y members of the opposition as
to the present condition of the queens
finances They demonded to know what
| savings the queen had made out of the allow
anoes already made for the support of the
royal family.
| Smith Refuses the Information.
Smith declined to reply to these questions,
which, lac claimed, were entirel V irrelevant
to the subject in hand. 1t was not the duty
OF the sovereign, he said, to provide for the
royal family The government could not
believe that there existed any important
GLASS among the loyal people of the British
| empire who grudged to royalty the very
| moderate provision necessary to maintain its
| dignity, IA dignity which was not alone that of
the royal family, hut Of the empire as we'll
| Ii the systems of other civilized countries
| were examined il would he found that the
| English was 10y all odds the most economical
| furnishing it does at the moderate expense
| which the support of royal family entails
that stability which is so essential to govern
| ment and which obtains for England the re-
spect Of every people of the globe. He could
| not beheve that the people of England were
| prepared to sacrifice for the paltry consider
ations here presented the benefits of a stable
government which they so largely owed to
| the royal family. Nor could he believe that
| for the same considerations the nation was
| prepared t. sacrifice the dignity Of their
rulers AMI the dignity of the great British
empire.
| Labouchere Advocates His Substitute.
| Lahouchere moved his substitute for the
| committees report This substitute is in the
| form of an a liresS to the queen, stating that
in the opinion of the house her ma esty ought
| TO provide Tor her grand children out of her
| present income. Labouchere stated that it
was his opinion, and the opinion of those
who stood with him on this question, that the
sums already granted to the royal family out
OF the public treasury were quite sufficient
| for all proper purposes with which the peo-
| pie had any concern.
| The English system Not Economical.
| He ridiculed the statement that the Eng
| lsh system was the most economical in the
| world, and pointed TO the great nation across
| the water, which paid its president yearly
| salary of tlOO as against the so, 900
| which the queen and her family already cost
| the people of England every year He was
| determined to oppose all further grants to
] junior royalties, and ho spoke not only for
himself, but for many others who acted with
| hun IN support Of this substitute for the
| committees report.
| Wants Those Savings Divided.
| Notwithstanding the refusal OF the honor
able gentleman to reply to the inquiries as to
the queens savings, the government was al
ready on record as admitting that large saw
Ings had been made out of the allowances
heretofore granted the queen for her civil
list These savings, he understood, were
well invested, and, if 1t was true as it had
been stated that the queen had ont of these
savings given various sums to several of her
grandchildren, he had no doubt there was
enough left to provide for the others.
grandchildren Must Saw Wood.
He insisted that the extreme limit which
the nation should put upon its bounty to
royalty WIS reached when a proper provision
was made for the children of the sovereign
To extend the principle of royalty grants be-
yond this limit to treat with injustice
the people from whom the sums for such
purpose must be wrung in taxes. The coun-
try ought not to be asked to submit to the
burden Of support for an inundstion of
grandchildren. If it were found that the
present wasteful extravaganza on the part of
| the royal family would need to be kept in
bounds in the absence of further allowances,
he should hardly consider this calamity
Gladstone and Morley.
any economy which would result in impair
| ing the dignity or the splendor of the crown
At his age he was glad to say he could look
back upon n long career as IA representative
| of that crown with feelings of unaffected
pride
Morley followed Gladstone, and opposed
the government proposals. The extrava-
gance of former regns, ne said, di1 not ex-
| cuse their repetition. He could not support
the substitute of Labouchere, because the
| message which il contemplated sending to
the queen was not such one as, in his opn-
| ion, ought to be sent, and besides he was
DESTROYS of unfolding the good traditions
which cling around the throne. On Mon
| day, however, he would himself offer an
amendment which, he hoped, would bring
the whole ulject, III its broadest light, be-
fore the housa.
Tory Papers Praise Gladstone.
All of the Tory papers exuberant in
| their praise of Gladstone for his speech on
| the grants. The Times says: at gives us
genuine pleasure to acknowledge the ex-
| cellence of his oration which was inspired
| with the best traditions of craftsmanship and
| lighted by the glow of genuine feeling. oc-
casioned perhaps by the reflection of the
golden wedding"
Baifour Makes a Few Remarks.
Chief Secretary Balfour, in speech at
Salisbury yesterday bitterly denounced the
Radicals for opposing the grants. Refer
ring to the tenants defense league he said
that the law would be found fully capable Of
coping with this new invention of it's enc
mics Az TO the articles on "Purnellism and
Crime" he said, thu statements made by The
Times were fully warranted by what Glad
ttone himself had said in some Of his forme: