The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1894-09-05
Great Britain,s Peril.


leading powers of Europe and in the
United States is strengthening, in Great
Britain nationality is threatened with
dissolution into its primal elements.
That country is tending toward revolu
ton, and the drift in that direction is
marked by the demand now frequently
and imperiously made for the abolition
of the house of lords or its reconstruc-
ton on a representative basis. The
perils of British politics and the prob
lens that confront British statesmen
are the subjects of frequent discussion
in the newspapers and periodicals of
both continents as well as in the par
lament of England.
Goodwin Smith, in the North Amer
icdn Review, shows how imminent the
British crisis is, discusses some of the
plans for reconstructing the existing
parliamentary system and explains how
difficult, without revolution, it will be
to effect the change to the accomplish
ment of which all the signs, social and
political, are pointing In this impend-
ing crisis, the writer says, British con-
servatives, to whom the American re-
public has hitherto been a bugbear,
"are looking with wistful eyes to the
American senate, to the presidents
veto, to the supreme court, to the clause
of the constitution forbidding legisla-
ton against the faith of contracts, and
generally to the security against revolu-
tionary change which the written con-
stitution affords" Republican America
is believed to be more conservative than
monarchical and aristocratic England.
The reason why, DIR. Smith-who, it
must be remembered, is AN English
man-fnds in the fact that the Ameri-
can statesmen, in framing their consti-
tuition, looked democracy in the face
and provided such checks and restraints
as their wisdom and experience sug-
gested. England never looked democ-
racy in the face, in organizing her gov
eminent, and never provided safeguards
for democracy. The reliance of Eng
land has been on her hereditary mon
archy and aristocratic house of lords
but monarchy has practically ceased to
exist as political force and the house
of lords has ceased to be, what in the
DRY it is, coordinate branch of the
legislature. Its chief function is to
veto the liberal measures passed by the
house of commons, for which it is pas
sionately denounced and threatened
with extinction.
Since the passage of the reform bill
in 1882, and the more recent extensions
of the suffrage, great changes have been
wrought in the house of commons.
With every enlargement of the fran
chise, that body has been growing more
and more democratic. The majority
has become not only radical but revolu-
tionary. The impress of the hand of
the wage-earners is seen in the class of
the bills introduced. They aim to give
full effect to the ascendency of num-
bers. Legislation has become social
istic. The eight-hours bill, the en-
ployer's liability bill, embodying an alb
rogation of the liberty of contract, are
cited as illustrations of the socialistc
tendency of the majority of the house
of commons. The next measure, it is
averred, is to be a grant, out of the
taxes, for pensions to aged laborers.
The aim of the revolutionary party is
to strip the house of lords of all author
ity, leaving it only nominal existence,
and thus make the house of commons
the sole and supreme power in the ma
ton. The aim of enlightened conserv-
atives is to make the upper branch of
the legislature, like the United States
senate, a restraint upon the excuses of
the house and barrier against revolu-
ton. This, says the writer, is the great
issue of the hour in Great Britain. The
conservative side of the issue involves
the necessity of divesting the house of
lords, entirely or in part, of its hereditary
character and the organization of a new
house on new basis of representation.
The doctor finds a great difficulty in de-
vising "a scheme for constituting this
new upper chamber, as no such geo.
graphical divisions as the American
states exist in Great Britain. He
sketches plan, butts confronted by the
difficulty of getting it, or any similar
plan, adopted. The tory section of the
house of lords, including Salisbury, its
leader, cling to hereditary privileges
and will do all it can to stave off this
reform. In their opposition they will
have unnatural allies in the revolution
lists of the house of commons, who do
not desire any curb upon their actions
and would seek any pretext for wreck
ing the measure in its passage through
Al