Evening star., 1907-08-18
Aristocratic Titles
To Be Bought and Sold
Special Correspondence Of The Star.

the corruption OF American pOHtCS
and comparing IT, much to their own virtu-
Gus satisfaction. with the unblemished
purity Of English public affairs That such
comparisons apparently establish the over
welming superiority Of the English system
IS in large measure due to the fact that
in America political scandals when dis
covered are ruthlessly exposed. while here
they are hushed up.
OF tLis an Illuminating example has just
occurred Incidentally it shows that the
abolition of the house of lords is a remote
contingency, Notwithstanding the fierce de-
nuuC.atiOn that the liberals are heaping
upon it. Some tine ago the Ayrshire Foun-
dry Company secured a government con-
tract for work on the battleship Edward
VII The concern supplied defective
rfsdl"r 10 the ship. thereby exposing TO
th,. risk Of destruction considerably over
y5oo'~go worth of property and the lives
OF several hundred scamen.
It was discovered through the disclosures
madn by a discharged employe. They
showed the fraud to be the erossest kind.
Defects in the casting had been concealed
Iy some process of electric welding. Not
w4thstandng this the company was in
trusted with the making of a second rud-
der 1t made botch of that also. The
rudder was ultimately made at a govern
ment doCkyard.
A director of the campany at the time
vas James Brown Smith of Clifford Park,
Sterling. Sterling is the Scotch constitu-
ency which Sir Henry Campbell Banner
man, the prime minister. represents in
parliament. He happens also to be the
CT, IL ,,,,it
tee. But he has never done anything that
the world has ever heard of that would
entitle him to be selected from the host
of other Smiths for public distinction.
When the kings list of birthday honors
was published the other day it was found
that Mr.. Smith. along with a lot of other
nobodys in particular, had been made
knight. 1t attracted the attention Of II. c.
Lea, a radical NJ. p. who represents one
of the London boroughs in the house of
commons. Mr. Lea has been only a short
time in parliament and seemingly has not
yet mastered the peculiar ethics of the
political game as 1t is played In England,
In his ignorance he availed himself Of the
privileges afforded by question time in the
house to tackle the prime minister on the
subject of Mr. Smiths kniGhthood. He
wanted TO know why the honor had been
conferred on Mr.. Smith. He asked whether
1t was because of his connection with the
Ayrshire Foundry Company, or because he
was chairman of Sir Henrys electoral COM
mittee, or whether 1t was a reward for his
contributions to the liberal party fund
The house was shocked by his audacity.
Sir Henry in his reply assumed lofty
tone. He treated Mr.. Iea's imputations
with scorn and contempt. He said that
Mr. Smith was entirely worthy of the
recognition which his public services had
received but he did not specify what those
public services were. And the speaker
saved him from further embarrassing
"heckling'' by ruling that the prime min
lister is not responsible to the house for
any advice he might give to the sovereign.
In the recommendation of honors."
This amounted to veied admission of
what everybody knows, that although the
king is nominally the fountain of honor
the real source of them is the prime min
lister for the time being, the kings rule
being merely that of puppet who does
what he is told. But that the prime minis
ter is under no responsibility IN the matter
TO parliament is an amazing ruling.
However. ii suffced to squech Mr.. Lea.
But there was still left him that cherished
privilege of every Englishman with a
grievance-a letter to the Times. He wrote
a hot one. He said that if the scandal could
not be ventilated in parliament 1t ought
TO be ventilated in the press.
This letter aroused the righteous wrath
of Lord Robert Cecil, a younger son of the
late Earl OF Salisbury, for many years the
conservative prime minister. But what
offended Lord Roberts high sense of honor
was not the statement that peerages and
other dignities are conferred in return
for cash payments to party funds but that
members whose election expenses are paid
out of the party exchequer are under recog-
nized obligations to vote for that party
through thick and thin. Such allegations,
he declared, were a grave reflection on the
honor and dignity of the commons. There
fore, he moved that in publishing the
letter Mr.. Lea had been guilty of that
most henous offense, "a breach of the
privileges of the house" and that a special
committee should be appointed to inquire
into its allegations.
There followed another fine exhibition of
the British system of hushing things up
want an inquiry which might lead to dis
closures concerning the barter and sale of
titles Neither did Arthur Balfour, the
opposition leader who, when prime min
lister, raised lot of money for his party
that way. Sir Henry declared he was will
ing TO. leave the unworthy imputations'
10 the Judgment of the country. Mr.. Mark
ham, 4 radical member, challenged him to
deny that titles We're openly bought and
sold, but the accommodating speaker ruled
the question out of order. The discussion
ended by the prime minister moving the
resumption OF business and the motion
for an inquiry was defeated by large
majority.
But the facts are notorious. Both parties
obtain a large share of their campaign
funds by bestowing dignities on those who
contribute literally to them. The more
exalted the rank the bigger the price paid
for it, The market quotation for a coronet
is understood to be something between
100000 and 100000 England has estab-
lshed democratic institutions but the party
machines are kept running by the sale of
aristocratiC titles. Neither Sir Henry
III