The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-12-01
LORDS AT ODDSON BUDGET
CONCLUDE ARGUMENTS ON ENG-
 LIeH BILL.
Crowds Gather Around Parliament Building While Memorable De- bate Takes Place In Legis~
 Iaalxa ElnlIs Nxrifhlr

Iative Halls Within.
 London, Nov. 20.-This was a day in the history of the House of Lords long to be remembered.
 The session was given over to the concluding arguments and division on the Governments budget bill and the debate was the most interesting that has been heard in the upper chamber in many years. Interest was intense throughout.
 The galleries were more crowded than on any preceding day and the peers whose presence In view of a probable division was urgently requested by party whips, gathered in force.
 The Episcopal benches were filled, a majority of the bishops being present to hear their colleague, the Archbishop of York, who was the first speaker of the afternoon. Several peers who had never taken the oath of the chamber were sworn in in order that they might vote at the evening division,
 The Archbishop of York said that he would have to take a position some- what different from that of the primate and that If he voted he would vote against Lord Lansdowne's amendment.
 The Cabinet met at noon today for the purpose of discussing the form of the Kings speech proroguing Parlia-
 
 exception of Sir Edward Grey, Secre- tary of state for Foreign Affairs. were present.
 Tne Cabinet remained Tn session un- til o'clock. Meanwhile the crowd waited outside. cheering the ministers and at the same time hoping for a suf- fragette outbreak which. however, fall ed to materialize. The House of Lords convened at o'clock.
 The Archbishop said that 1t would be unprecedented for the Lords to re- ject finance bill passed by the House of Commons with such a majority. The peers would be judged, he thought, not by their intentions, but by their per- formance and no matter what they said it would be understood that In refusing supplies for the year they had rejected the budget,
 Quoting Lord Chatham. he contend ed that the consent of the peers was necessary only to clothe with the form of law a tax determined by the crown. The gift of grant was of the House of Commons alone.
 Lord Curzon, former viceroy of In- dia, In supporting Lord Lansdowne's amendment. objected to the assertion that the budget was an instrument of social reform. Neither side of the House, he said, had monopoly of the desire to promote social evils.
 After attacking the arguments of Lord Rosebury. Lord Cromer, and Lord Balfour of Burleigh, and their position in refusing to vote on Lansdowne,s amendment. Lord Curzon said he could not give place either to the socialism of the bill or the revolution involved in an assault on the House of Lords. He asserted that the Lords had no right to surrender their position. If they did so surrender nothing would stand between the people and the House of Commons. He strongly deprecated the suggestion that England would accept a single chamber system like that of Bulgaria and Greece. He maintained that the Lords had a right to reject the finance biiI.
 The former viceroy agreed that the country was on the eve of a moment ous struggle which might lead to the reform of the House of Lords but they would not shrink from a contest which would give the second chamber strength denied themselves. He hoped that his own party might be the one to achieve this object.