Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1907-02-03
THE HOUSE OF LORDS
CHECKS 1T HAS RECEIVED AT THE
HANDS OF THE COMMONS.

Out of Business Altogether For q
Number of Years - BoIinsbroLe's
Way With the Noble Lords.
There s III idea in the minds Of very
many persons that the British house Of
lords Is supreme and can do pretty well
what 1t pleases This, however, Is a
mistake. On several notable occasions
their noble lordships have been para.
lyzed and have got very much the
worst of 1t in stormy arguments with
the gentlemen Of tile house of com.
mons.
The first occasion ON which this hap
pencd was when the peers ventured to
differ with the long parliament, which
was at the time engaged in life and
death struggle with Charles l. The
commons on this occasion wasted no
| valuable time In talking. but promptly
abolished the lords altogether and
turned them, archbishops, dukes, belt
ed cnrls and all the rest Of the gor-
geous coroncted crowd, into the street
The gilded chamber was vacant
For half dozen years or so the
country got OH without any house OF
lords.
All the checks tho house OF lords
hive received have not been of such II
drastic nature rs this, of course.
Various ministries. finding that the
peers We're unwilling to pass their pro.
posed bills, have resorted to the threat
to create enough new peers TO swamp
the house of lords. These new peers
would. of course, have been pledged
1AfN a. 80
creating them.
In I'LL the prime minister of the
day. the daring and INSCRIPTIONS Wis
count Bolngbroke. wns anxious to ter
inmate the dcsoating and ruinous war
with France, which had been raging
OH and Off for twenty years.
TO effect this purpose he had drawn
up the trenty of Utrecht. 1t WINS neces-
sary Mt That time That lords and COM
mons should agree to treaty before
1t would become valid. The commons
assented to the treaty, but the lords
declared thnt they would have none
of it and that the war must go on,
whereupon Bollngbroke coolly but
firmly informed them that, rather than
see himself dciled by them, he would
vote for the treaty.
The story goes that he had regl-
ment of the Life guards paraded under
the windows of the house OF lords and
threatened to make every trooper into
n noble lord IL driven to It, He did
make twelve new peers, and then the
lords gave In.
The Liberal government Of 1882, with
Earl Grey as prime minister, used the
same threat. They wished to pass the
first reform bill. The lords hated this
bill bitterly.
Until then they had been practically
an oligarchy. with all the real power
in their hands. The franchise had been
SO limited that only rich men, and gen.
orally only the nominee of some great
nobleman, could get into parliament.
The reform bill altered that. 1t give
the smaller men chance. The lords
expressed their deliberate intention of
wrecking the bill
Earl Grey retorted by extorting from
King William IF.--who didn't like re-
form bills. but dared not oppose the
wish OF the nation for fear of revo.
luton permission to call up to the
house oflOrls as many new peers rs
should be necessary to carry his bill
The mere threat was enough for the
lords. They had no wish to see their
order made cheap and ridiculous, rs
would have been the case had peers
become rs plentiful as blackberries.
1t used to be the custom in the Brit
ish army for all officers commissions
to be purchased. That: is, an officer, in.
stend of getting into the army by
means of n competitive examination
and rising by merit. came straight
from school. without knowing anything
of the new duties he was about to as
sumo, and had a commission bought
for him. After that instead of being
promoted as reward for his services,
he used to buy each promotion.
If he had no money his chances of
being promoted were about thousand
to one. The result was that officers
who had grown gray in the service and
fought in many battles remained sub
orlinates all their lives. while the sons
Of wealthy families who had not seen
u quarter OF their service jumped over
their heads by having their way pur-
chased up for them to be colonies and
generals.
MI. Gladstone decided to do away
with this purchase system. The lords
did not wish it to be abolished. Con.
sequently. when Mr.. Gladstone intro.
duced bill to abolish purchase IL the
army the house of lords was not dis
posed to give 1t a kind reception.
They threw out the bill and imagined
that they had won glorious victory.
But Mr.. Gladstone found that Queen