Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-07-14

are the sole gift OF the commons. and all
bills for the granting Of such aids and
supplies ought to begin with the COM
mons, and that 1t is the undoubted and
sole right Of the commons to direct, limit
and appoint In such bills the end, pur-
poses, considerations, conditions, limita-
tons and qualifications of such grants.
wnlch ought not to be changed or altered
by the house Of lords"
This exclusive right Of the commons to
control the finances Of the realm was
never questioned by direct act of the
house OF lords. although several times OPP
position to financial legislation led to
an agitation for the revival Of the power
or the lords. In reply to such movements
the commons. time and time again repeat
ed and reaffirmed the sense Of the resolu-
uon or 1913. which stood for nearly three
centuries as an integral part Of the Brit
Ism constitution. Both tories and wings
subscribed to and supported this dictrine,
ana thelr successors, the conservatives
ana liberals. without division agreed that
the commons possessed this undisputed
constitutional right.
Even the leaders of the present struggle
10 recoup the lost and a,brogated powers
OF the peers emphatical
Appeals to ly expressed themselves
the People. on this question. Mr..
1884 said: Are the lords to dictate to us,
the people Of England? Are you going to
be governed by yourselves-or will you
submit to an oligarchy which is the mere
accident OF birth? Your ancestors resist
ed kings and abated the pride of mon
archs. and 1t Is inconceivable that you
should be SO careless of your great hertz
age as now to submit your liberties to
this miserable minority Of individuals
who rest their claims upon privilege and
upon accident
AS late as October g. 1903, Mr.. Arthur
}. Balfour. the leader Of the conservative
party. said: 1T is the house Of commons,
not the house of lords. which settles, un-
controlled, our financial system This
was but a reiteration of Mr.. Balfour $
proudfui boast that he is ''house of
commons man.
But all this was before the house of
ing strings Of the so-called governing
Glass; 1t was before the time had come
when the landlords no longer could con-
trol legislation in the commons as in the
lords. 1t was before Lloyd-George. as the
champion of the average man. had chal-
ienged to mortal combat the panoplied
knights of the survival of feudalism
Ihat doughty Welshman of the blood OF
Arthur and of the kidney of the Tudors,
first convincing his own political allies,
brought in the first budget Of his admin
istration as chancellor of the excheQuer,
and In that budget he proposed a tax on
land. For a year the budget was buff
feted about in the house of commons,
finally passing without division.
4 4
1t went to the house of lords And
there the monstrous proposition was
made that even the sane
Defiance by tlty of constitutional
the Peers. precedent should not
Tending the privilege of the land-owning
classes. Messengers went into the by
paths and hedges and rounded up back
woods peers. who had not been to London
since the advent of the era of electric
lights. Noble bucolic earls inquired their
Westminster. while decreptt, diseased and
imbecile peers were carried bodily into
the chamber of the house OF lords to
vote against the adoption of the budget
Mr. Chamberlain, Mr.. aBlfour and
other distinguished commoners of the
into a position of defending the revolu-
t1onary procedure on the port of the
lords. and in spite of their previous utter
ances they did not vote for the resolu-
ton passed by the commons early last
December after the lords had rejected the
budget. That resolution reaffirmed the
ancient rights of the lower house in
these words: THAT the action of the
muse OF lOTOS III refusing 10 pass into
law the financial provisions made by the
house is breach Of the constitution
and a usurpatiOn Of the rights Of the
commons
The whole question was referred to the
country by the dissolution Of parliament
and a general election campaign was be-
gun. The issue in that campaign ought to
have been the cause Of the people VS.. the
peers. but 1t was fought on the merits
of the budget, rather than the constitu-
tional rights of the commons; upon tariff
reform, rather than upon the principles
of taxation, upon the alleged objection
able personality of Mr.. Lloyd-George,
rather than upon the right or wrong of
the political revolution which he repre-
sents. This one thing is certain-the
crisis of last year has cast the house Of
lords into the melting pot and that body
must be reformed, in letter if not in
spirit; or abolished, in effect If not in
fact: before there can be political peace
in Britain.
TOmOrrOw-The British Crisis.
X-AhOlitiOn. Reform or COmurOmlaA