The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-11-27

pie. and lions have been known 10
 | tnrn upon and deeeur their mas
 tors The English lion once upon time
 devopred q king, and has many times
 since bv his growls and brlstling mane
 5isplaved the dormant ferocity which
 needs only sufficient provoeation to
 arouse him to action. Lions love plood, human blood. especially blue blood, Ahe
 lion of France d century ago feasted upon the blood of royalty and nobility
 and found the flavor 50 much to his TX ing that even today he smacls his lips 1 at the recolleetion The English lion is 1 Lot quite so savage as the Galllc non, and Furthermore his master has been | wise enough not 10 goad him beyond tue l noint of endurance. It is hardly 10 De l questioned but that the wisdom which
 has heretofore served to sooth the rising 1 anger of the beast would now be forget tel and in it's stead the lash and torture. | Tn a moment of madness. said John | Redmond, the lon-ma ster. the privil- 1 eeed classes the aristocracy of England, hv and through his representative, the
 house of lords threw down the gage Of battle to the lion, the English democracy,
 and the battle was on. Not content with
 the defeat of a year ago over the budget,
 a more determined conflict is now about | 10 be waged over the veto and with the | prospect of a more decisive vietory-for
 the lion.
 British politics are an interesting study to Americans The points of similarity between American and British forms Of l government are many and yet they are vastly different in just as many respects. 1 Both are constitutional, yet one Is mon
 srehial and the other republican. In one | he constitution is written, In the other snwritten. In both governments the leg- islatures are bieameral. but in America the members of both chambers are eject
 ad by and responsible to the people Whlle ia England the members of the house oi commons only are elected by the people The house of lords. as the name implies | consists of a certain number of peers l who are hereditary legislators, that IS, they are legislators simply because they ,,. lords and not because they have been
 sieeted or in any way shown themselves qualified for the office Fortunateiy
 there are a few among them who nave lbeen raised to the peerage in recogni- fion of distinguished services rendered
 the nation either in the army or navy or l in the fields of literature or science. AS l a rule these peers constitute the hberai element in the house of lords, but neither l their ability nor their knowledge IS any match for the overwhelming number or stupid. selfish tories. who never fall 10 1 vote against every measure proposed py | commons The house of lords Is one of tbe anonolies of the British form of government and Is nothing more nor less l than a relic of bygone feudalism. Such institutions are tolerated so long as they do not come in antagenism with the pop l ular will. and heretofore 1t has been the custom for the house of lords to yield to
 the popular will; but last year when the popular will decided that the lords them l share
 expenses of government they Haunted the
 popular will and went down in defeat at
 the polls.
 conducted and carried on by which ever political party is in office. At present
 the liberal party, under the leadershlp of H. H. Asquith, constitutes the govern
 ment and the conservative party, also
 called the unionst party, under the lead l ership of A J Balfour. constitutes the l ornosition. It is very seldom that po- Il litieal campaign in England or anywhere
 else is fought out a single issue. con
 seauently political parties are generally
 made up of various elements, the result being a sort of concrete which proves
 good or bad foundation according to the cohesive properties of the ingredients. general election is supposed to be an lexnression of the popular mind upon some important question and sometimes
 fl is. especially when that one question towers Olympus-like, above all other
 questions. Such is the question that now
 presents itself to the English people.
 For centuries the hereditary and ire
 sponsible legislators. tie house of lords, have exercised their privilege to delay or
 defeat all legislative measues passed by i the liberal party in the house of com
 mons. As these measures are generally of a progressive nature and calculated to extend the powers of the democracy
 and to curtal the powers of the arfstoc- | raey they have had to overcome consld- | erable opposition from the conservative l opposition but only to meet their death-
 blow in the gilded chamber. Such was
 the fate that befel the budget last year
 when the house of lords pitched 1t out 1 neck and crop, and challenged the iip- 1 eral governments that had passed It to make an appeal to the people. The chal- lenge was accepted, the appeal was maoe,
 and again the liberal party was returned to office. The power by which the house of lords rejected the budget is called the veto, and the liberal government, fearing the house of lords would again nulify all liberal legislation by it's ex- 1 erese of the veto cast around for some means to prevent its recurrence. Ihe
 means proposed was to have King Eo-
 ward, then alive, give guarantees that 1 he would create, If necessary, g. 6uHi-
 cient number of liberal peers to vote for
 liberal legislation and carry it through
 the house of lords over the heads of the
 torles but King Edwards death tempo 1 rarily enterfered with that plan. In the
 meantime the house of commons adopted
 resolutions setting forth it's demands for the reform of the house of lords and these resolutions covered three important points, namely-the limitation of the veto an elected second chamber, and a i've year term of parliament. 1t was also de-
 cided by the house of commons that
 in the event the house of lords refused
 to be governed by these resolutions ap-
 propriate legislation to the same e1ect
 would be passed.
 As it began to look rather serious Tor the house of lords and as King George had just come to the throne 1t was agreed that the whole question be submitted to a. conference made up of four men rom | each party. That conference sat all II through the summer months holiing prolonged meetings every day and not permitting single syllable of news to become public. All sorts of rumors were aloat about the proceedings in the con
 ference chamber, but all doubt was set at rest when Premier Asquth tersey announced .'An over, nothing done. What really took place may never De | known; but the fact that no decision
 was reached puts the question where II
 stood six months ago.
 The house of lords stands today as the
 Bastille stood on July IA, 17ss. It is en-