East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1909-12-27

London.-The interest in the gem
eral election becomes more and more
absorbing and the probability is in
creasing that the king will be the
proof of the whole struggle.
At present the radicals are more
royalists than the king 1t is poss'-
BILE that in February they may re-
vert TO the attitude of their ances-
tors of the Cromwellian age. But for
banning or blessing Edward VII is
emerging as the imam on horseback"
upon whose decision the resolution
of the lcrisis depends. The radicals
are all swear ng by the patriot king.
The Tories are swearing at him, for
expressing regret in his speech from
the throne that the supplies voted by
his faithful commons were rendered
unavailable by the rejection OF the
budget.
But If after the election the king
refuses to make every liberal agent
to the tune of 500, a peer OF the realm
for the purpose of overaweing the
house of lords. then the boot will be
on the other leg and the Tor'es will
| bless and the radicals curse their SOW
ereign lord and king.
Topsy- y-Turviners in Politics.
| For the moment the radicals are
all royalists. A pamphlet has Just
| been sent TO press containing the sew
eral counts upon which the $50 peers
who rejected the budget ought to be
atta.nted as rebels and traitors to the
crown. To refuse supplies is the last
step but one before armel REBEL on.
The peers usurped the authority of
| the commons in order to refuse the
king supplies which he needed for the
government and defense of his realm.
They encroached upon the royal pre-
rogative of dissolving parliament:
they exposed to the world the inn
portance Of the crown; they broke
down the balance wheel of the con-
stitution and generally committed
enough treason to justify their exc
cution at Tower Hi. The kings
scepter is the trencheon of democracy.
Without the king the commons are
powerless. face to face with the
usurpation of the peers. His minis
ters are at present contemplating re-
signing office Il after the election he
should refuse to make 500 brand new
peers, whose votes would enable them
to pass their budget, TO restore the
absolute control OF finance to the
commons and to abolish the veto of
the peers
Wholesale Creation of Peers.
There is every probability that the
king will refuse such a Wholesale
! s5 Z,
verita BILE landslide in the rad cal di-
rection. In that case Mr.. Balfour
would come in and there would be
another general election hard on the
heels OF the first, in which the con-
/ servatives would appeal to the con-
situencies to resist radical attempts
to dictate to our gracious sovereign
lord and ng.
Fortunately there is no need fol
so disastrous an annual climax. There
is only one way out OF the presen
impasse. and that is for the king tC
exercise his ancient, traditional pre-
! rogative to refuse to issue writs o
4 summons with contempt. and to fl
up the vacancy by summon'ng to th'
4 house Of lords good men and true
| who will be simply lords for the du
ration Of this parliament. 1t is OBJ
iected that this is a strong step Il
take The answer is that we ar
fighting a revolut on which is takinI
far greater liberty with constitution
. al usuage. It is necessary 10 hgh
revolution by revolution. You can
not make omelette without breakin
eggs. and we shall never get out o
the present impasse unless the KIM
can be made TO use his perogative t
make the will of the commons pre-
| val