The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1894-03-16
THE HOUSE OF LORDS.

IL IA not sure that the vote of Tuesday in
the House of Commons abolishing the
House OF Lords will accelerate that event.
SO important revolution is not likely to
be accomplished in a house which was only
half FULL or by majority one-half of
which consisted of Irish members The
vote on Wednesday, by which Labou-
chere's amendment was rejected, shows
that the Radicals are content to declare
what ought to be rather than what shall
be. When the English are ready to dis
pense with the hereditary chamber they
will do so in a deliberate way, after full
consideration, by the action of a clear ma
jority of their representatives in Parlla-
ment. The effect of Tuesdays movement
will only increase the irritation which now
prevails.
Mr.. Labouchere himself is not a Moses
or Joshua. BE is an eccentric person
who has acquired notoriety by posing as
the rsnkest of Radicals, while basking in
the intimacy of the Prince of Wales
During the FIR nco- German war he repre-
senred the Daily Ne,cS at Paris and re-
fused 10 leave when the other correspon-
dents departed at the beginning of the
siege. He shared all the discomforts Of
the close blockade, and when it was raised
he wrote book entitled The Diary of a
Besleged Resident" which was capital
reading, and brought him recognition in
the world of politics and letters. He after
ward started a paper in the fashion OF
arthur McE1en'S Letter. which should
be bis very own. 1t was called Truth
and its purpose was to publish unpleasant
hfprv hCtR Ia 1n1 t.
made Labouchere rich and got him into
Parliament, where he took sides with the
extreme Radicals. He is bright, flashing
speaker, who says smart things in a cut
ting way. But he has never impressed
people with faith in his sincerity or his
honesty OF purpose.
He may in this instance have served a
useful purpose by awakening the SON.
nolent Peers to the fact that substantial
portion of the representative chamber
wish them to step down and out. He
may have done for popular freedom in
England what Garrison and Wendell
Phillips did for human freedom in this
country. They were pioneers Of aboi-
ton, and assaiied the peculiar Institution
with invective and wit, while the party
which was led by Seward and Lincoln and
Chase held back and took no open part
IN their crusade. yet derived benefit from
il when the time for action came; so the
onslaughts of Labouchere and his Radical
brethren upon the House of Lords may
be paving the way for prudent aud con-
siderate measures for its abolition here
after. In the fifties, the vehement philip
pics of Wendell Phillips and Garrison and
Giddings were notice to the Shareholders
that the hour of doom was approaching,
though the abolitionist party commanded
no strength at the rolls. So now in
England, the policy of the nation is not
likely to be dictated by seventy-three
Irishmen and seventy-four Radicals; but
the vote which the latter were enabled 10
poll while the bulk of the members were
at dinner may well be regarded by the
Lords as the handwriting on the WALL
An hereditary peer voting by reason of
his birth, ana casting his vote. il he pleases,
by proxy, is as gross an anachfOnism at
the present day as an ichthyosaurus. He
is an attempt to perpetuate Cog and Magog,
and the age in which a successful politi-
clan could cry Of his departed rival, "Off
with his head and set il on the gates OF
York; Everywhere else the march of
common-sense has brushed aside these
relics of medieval absurdity. They have
survived in England because the English
are conservative people, a people who.
being generally prosperous, are averse to
comm otlons. There always has been In
England broad common-sense, which has
taught the average man that civil war
means lack of sense, and therefore, sorely
as reforms have been needed, the English
masses have been slow to accept them. Ii
took them half century to make the
House of Commons real representative
body. They have never been brought to
the point of abolishing the state church.
And now. in spite OF Tuesdays vote and
Labouchere's cockcrow, it may be taken
that the House of Lords Is not going to be
rolled In the dust without long struggle
and many periods of discouragement for
believers in human progress.
MUST WELD THE AK.