The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-03-13
LORDS Invited
COMMIT ! ! HAR|KA n
That Is What Passage Of Lord
Rosebcry's Resolution
Would Mean.
.F.lG.H i STARTS MON DAY !
Gigantic Naval Estimates Have
Given Rise to. Much Dis
satisfaction.
STARTS NJ ONO & N
Gigantic Naval Estimates Have
~ w1LL1AM =. STEAD. 4

al
Especial Cable to The ,rimes-D ispatei.l
London. March 12.-Lord Rosebery
is again occupying O position In the
ilimelight OF British politics. His reso-
Slutions TO reform the Lords Will be
moved on Monday and debated all the
week There are three resolutions.
but the vital one is the third. 1t de-
c1ares:
THAT tho necessary preliminary to
such reform and reconstruction Is the
acceptance OF the principle that this
possession of a peerage should no lon
ger OF itself give the9right to sit and
vote In the House OF Lords" 4
To pass such a. resolution Is to com
NIT harikari. and no one knows yet
how the backwoodsmen OF tho peeraEe
will relish the invitation to disqualify
themselves for seats in the uppor
house.
Tho crux of all reform schemes lies
in the question, by what conceivable d
process is 1t possible ever to give
the Liberals even al, off-chance Of
obtaining a majority in the second
chamber? Hitherto no proposal has
been put forward to- attain this end,
save the drasticascheme OF authorizing
tho Prime Minister to$nomfnate a sur.
fioient number OF members to- give him
a majority for the duration OF that
Parliament. X 5
That. the Liberal government should
propose naval estimates amounting to
10000, showing an increase OF
sf5.oO0.O00 over those OF 1909. is the
best proof of the, state OF tension pre-
.vailing in international notifies. Large
as this vote is, It does not secure the
minimum standard of two keels to
strongest European power. There is
great dissatisfaction with this enor-
nous estimate among tho Laboritcs
and certain radicals and the ministers
will only he able to carry these es. g
Inmates by the aid OF the opposition.
a. fact which will have many Important
consequences
Welcome Surprise.
The collapse Of tho prosecution OF
Nicholas Tschaikovsky in st. Peters
burg Is a welcome surprise to hts
British and American friends. In 1909
I told the Russian Minister Maknroff
that his colleague. the Minister of
Justice. deserved to be sent to Siberia i
for the shameful way in which he was /
conducting the case. warned him lie
was making Russian Jurisprudence a
byword throug hout the world.
There is no doubt Tschaikoysky wa
a reyolutionist; that he had a false
passport. and that his arrest was JUS
,tifiable. but instead OF bringing him
to trial for his admitted offenses the
government spent Awo years in q vain
effort to build up a smonstrous super
structure of crime upon the slcndcrest
edifice of fact, with the result that
1T collapsed the moment 1t was sub
jected to judicial examination.
William O'Brien's threatened libel
! lease against tho Daily News is app
parently abandoned
AS II anticipated. the Progressivcs
achieved very considerable success
lat the London County Council cleo
I{tions, although not sufficient to give
them majority. The parties are al
most equal. Two women were elacted.
No one thinks It unfeminine to8sit OF,
a council Representing 100000 ctti-S
zens. but to suggest that woman
might sit in Parliament is regarded as
too dreadful for words.