The Portland daily press., 1893-09-16

exhaust the silver men, but it is ex-
tremely improbable that it can be done.
Were it not for the existence ofzthe
House of Lords the English government
would be today to all intents and pur-
poses democratic government. 1t has
a queen, to be sure, and royal family
But the queen is mere figure head,
spectacle, without any real power. She
calls Mr.. Gladstone or Lord Salisburyzto
form the ministry according as the peo-
pie dictate, and her personal views and
feelings have to be laid aside. In some
respects an administration in England
is nearer the people, more completely
under their control, than an administra-
ton in the United States. Here the Presi-
dent and the heads of departments hold
on for four years in face of an adverse
majority in the House of Representa-
tives. In England whenever ministry
encounters an adverse vote in the House
of Commons on an important measure,
it either resigns or dissolves Parliament
and appeals to the people. A change
in public sentiment much more
quickly affects the political character of
the government in England than in the
United States. The existence of the
House of Lords alone prevents the govern
ment from being essentially as democrat
ic as the. government of the United
States. Being an hereditary body the
people have no direct control over its
membership, though even here the
ministry which is created by the people
may on occasions control it by the crea-
ton of new peers. The great majority of
this body are men of very little capacity,
who seldom take interest enough in
legislation to be present in their Seats
While there are more than five hundred
peers who are entitled to sit, it rarely
happens that more than fifty are in ac-
tual attendance. These fifty represent
probably the full number of them that
have any capacity or.taste for legislation.
The rest of them are never seen in the
House unless a great measure which
is likely to take away some of their
hereditary privileges or further democrat
ize the government is on hand. Then
they muster in large numbers to VOTE
When the division came on the Homerule
bill some 40 of them were present and
the spectacle they made of themselves
appears to have been SO ridiculous as to
set all England laughing. But to this,,feel-
ing of amusement seems to be succeeding
Tow feeling of anger and disgust that
these 44O sons of their fathers" in no way
responsible to the people, should have
the power of defeating the peoples will
as reflected by the vote in the popular
branch of the government This feeling
has been very much intensified by the
manner in which they did what they
did. There .wasssa contemptuous and
scornful method about their performance
which has proved very exasperating al
ready and will become more so as time
goes on The bill was hardly debated
at ALL It was voted down without con-
sideration with shouts of derisive laugh
ter. Their action commands no respect
because it was purely the result of preju-
dice and an arrogant disregard of the
opinions of the people. Probably the
method of the act arouses more hostility
than the act itself. On the subject of
Homerule there is pretty nearly an equal
division of opinion among the voters of
English constituencies, but there is an
overwhelming preponderance of opinion
among them that any act that majority
of the people favor is deserving of the
respectful consideration of the upper
house. They are nearly allspretty thor
oughly imbued with democratic ideas.
They are ready to submit to the decis-
ion of the majority themselves, and they
are likely to have little patience with an
hereditary body which sets aside the de-
cision of thatsbody with sneers and loud
laughter. The Lords on several previous
occasions have been reminded that it was
exceedingly dangerous for them to I'M
dertake to thwart the will of the people
even in decorous and dignifed way.
The reminder will be likely to be much
more forcible now that they have accom-
panied their act with insult and sur
rounded it with scenic effects expressive
of their contempt for the opinion of the