The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1894-03-15

the crosn-
The British electors hare only 70 oncs
return . house Of commons pledged W
sbo.ish the house Of lords a. an hereditary
legislature aad the house of lords in iss
present form must cease TO exist. for tie
wlI o. the British people, expressed as the
ballot boz. cannot De set aside The peo-
pie Of England practically amend the Brit
ish constitution when they declare their
will At the balio. boz. The Drks Of Dew
onshire sees the danger Of the house OF
lords today ~ clearly ~ the Duke OF Wei
Hng,on did in 1852 when he blan;Iy told
the house. of lords that when they had ex-
haussed the patience Of tie house Of COM
mons is is high time TO yield to its viii,
unless they we're willing 20 court exsinc-
ton.
TIE present pro.pec. Is that st the NEXT
English election the people will bs called
upon 10 mend or end the house Of lords.
The radical Liberals insist that If the
upper house Is TO possess coordinate
powers Of legislation, like our American
senate, II must b the outcome. direct or
indirect. Of a popular election The con-
sentative Liberals would b content with
q mere curtaiIment Of the functions OF the
hereditary chamber; would reduce their
powers merely to that of elaboration and
. certain amount OF delay in the work of
legislation. These conservative Liberals.
who include. we assume, such men -
Gladstone and Rossbery. contemplate
plan under which the lords would be al
lowed TO send back . bill with amend
msnts TO the commons, but, II these
amendments were rejected by the peoples
representatives, the lords would have to
pass the bill in the original form. II
bill sent up from tho commons were
thrown on. n toto. without amendments,
as was the case with the home rule bill,
then the commons would have the right
Of reafIirming their wishes by q resoiu-
ton, and the bill would thereby become .
vice Of the primo minister being taken for
granted.
This would reduce the lords TO . mere
advisory legal assembly.
Another plan is that in case OF dead
lock recourse shall be made to the referen-
dunn, providing that a certain proportion
OF the electors, say two-dfths or one-third,
petition to that end. Then, should bill
be rejected IA toto by the lords, the voters
might be called upon to say yes" or mo"
to the question whether 1t should become
law. This process probably would DO too
al "a ttsfu he IL
tain that at no far distant date the English
house of lords, like the American or
French senate, must become an elective
representative body or its powers must DO
distinctly subordinate to those Of the COM
mons. The British people, while con-
sentative, are altogether too praticaI,
unitarian and logical in thought to allow
the whole machinery of legislation to be
blocked by an hereditary legislature
owing their existence to the accident Of
birth and really representing nobody but
themselves. Just so long as the house Of
lords remains an hereditary legislature IL
will bs sure to be Overwhelmingly Tory,
and nothing will satisfy the Radical Lab
erals but some mode of making the upper
house composed of persons who owed their
seats not to birth but to the popular vote.
No factor Of the Liberal psrty is more In
terested in this complete recas,ing, reform
alton or emasculation OF the house of
lords a. the Irish home rulers. for they
know that during the last fifty years.
while the commons have made repeated
efforts to redress the grievances of Ireland,
the vote Of the house of lords has almost
invariably been against the Irish cause.