, 1893-10-04

the dOuSe OF LORDS mas no teITOIb AoI tuo
Peers. it has plenty of terrors for the
Commons. There is nothing which that
body would dislike SO much, either individual
ly or collectively. 1t is, indeed. the one
matter on which allIparties and sections agree.
The reason is plain. The abolition of the
House of Lords means, in plain language, the
letting loose of some three hundred OF the
most formidable competitors for seats in the
Commons that it is possible to conceive.
Every Member feels it --even Mr.. Gladstone.
Does any one suppose that Mr.. Gladstone
would he sitting for Midlothian il there were
no House of Peers ? Without question it
would be Lord Rosebery who would occupy
the seat. Again, it would not be Mr.. Chan.
ming who would be representing Nortl amp
tonshire, but Lord Spencer. Lord Ripon, too,
would be in the place of some one or other Of
the gentlemen who now boast safe seats in
Yorkshire. The list might be indefinitely
prolonged. and should include, of course,
quite as many or, rather, many more
names on the Unionist side of the House.
Nor is this all. Cole lively, the Commons
would be as much Disguised at the abolition
of the Lords. as we have pointed out they
would be individually. The Commons know
that if the lords we're abolished the country
would demand that a reformed Second House
should be put in their place. The late sup
preston of debate in the Common makes
such a demand a certainty. No one would
submit to legislation by q single chamber
which might pass laws without a word OF
elaboration. But if a new Upper House is to
be constructed on democratic lines, 1T Will
have to be endowed with a great deal more
power than is now possessed by the Lords.
No new body could remain respectable with
out definite and real powers. But as LORD
Salisbury once pointed out, there Is only a
certain amount of power available IN any
political system. What, therefore, you give
to the Upper House, you must take from the
Lower. But the Commons, who instinotively
realise this fact to the full, have no sort Of
intention of giving up any of their power.
Hence it happens hat they are quite deter
mined that the House Of Lords shall not be
abolished.
The feeling among the GladstonianS that
they could not, and would not, abolish the
Lords when it came to the point, is we'll IL
Illustrated by the fotcible-feeble character Of
the. threats used by the Gladstonlan Press.
HeYe is the Stars lattempt at coercion, il
very ineffective one, in spite of It's eXaggera-
ton. ''WhO,' it asks of The Lords, "are they
that they should bow down to them p? What
is the image which the Tories have set up?
It's body is madeof gold, its face is made of
brass, and it's feet are made of clay. Gold,
greed, and landgrabbing are it's constituent
parts. Why should the representatives of
a conquering democracy speak to these ana
chronisms with bated breath and whispering
humbleness g Why, indeed ? Tbs Sto1
goes on to tell Lord Spencer that he ought to
have flung the Bill ON the table, and told
the Lords that if they destroyed the Bill of
the people, the Bill Of the people would aes-
troy them" He should not have "deigned to
argue in the face of men whose hearts ave set
on insulting the people again, as they have
insulted them a thousand times before
Finally. it declares that the House Of Lords
is already dead. 1T is only q ,coIpse which
the wisdom Of our ancestors and the toleyat1on
of ourselves have left unburied until it stinks
in the ~nostrils Of the nation. Why hack it
and hew it? Il it not dead enough? Let
the Lords enjoy their little space OF imaginary
power" eThey have started says this We
hement if somewhat vague exponent of Radi-
oallsm, "a struggle of which no one can fore
see the end, it is certain that the Lords will
come out of the fight without weapons, and
that never again will the declared desire Of
the nation be thwarted by a handful of here
ditary brigands.'" tits not a little amusing
to note how the Star leader-writer sheers of
into banalrties AMI generalitieB the moment
he gets neal the question OF abolition 1t Is
ciear that he is not at all easy on that point.
1.-The Lords must be made TO Yield, must be