The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1910-03-16
REtr,. ...vF IHELORDS
RosebeTy Would Have Second
Ci.. Dcr Purge itself.

'OIl TIC DdI-
ger Of Single irresponsible Chamber.
London, March 15-The house Of
lords was crowded when Lord Rose
berry arose to initiate the momentous
debate on the reform of the house of
lords. The former prime minister
moved the following three resolu-
tions:
!. That a strong and efficient sec
ond chamber is not merely an integral
part of the British constitution but
Is necessary to the well being OF the
state and the balance of parliament
2. That second chamber can best
be obtained by reforming and recon
stituting the house of lords.
3. That necessary preliminary to
such reform and reconstruction Is
the acceptance of the principle that
possession of a peerage shall no Ion
ger in itself give the right to sit and
vote in the house of lords.
Integral Part of the Constitution.
At the outset of his argument Lord
Rosebery declared that the house of
lords had attracted to 1t what is most
eminent in public life-its antiquity
As such 1t was a descendant of the
Witenagemot IL was an integral
part of the constitution. It's abolition,
according to Freeman, who was a
great historian as well as a great
Radical, Lord Rosebery said, would
be the greatest of revolutions.
He appealed to the greatest sove-
reign who reigned without the name
of king-Oliver Cromwell-who said
he would not govern without a second
house. Then sketching the govern
ment's proposals he pointed to the
gallery of the commons and asked:
''ll they do as they have threatened,
Of whom will this house be composed?
What seli-respecting person would sit
here If he could find a seat in any or
binary vestry? Who would sit in
house composed Of puppets and Grip
pies? The whole country and it's in
terests would be at the mercy Of
chance majority. Any sudden impulse
or ebullition of momentary wrath such
as swept the country in 1906"
rhey were told that condemnation
Of the lords was the voice OF the
country. No one had greater re-
spect for the voice of the people than
hf, h,tt icfr
the voice more effective. He instanced
the city of Kilkenny's Lap votes as
contrasted with the $4,000 cast in
South Essex. Each returned one man
but "the voice of the people as coming
from Kilkenny was quite as loud as
from South Essex"
He said that revolutions as a rule
were not carried out by the voice of
the people, but by small and deter
mined minority. The very house of
commons that carried the resolution
at the time of Charles |. was a mere
rump, a fragment Of the original
house. The execution of that unhap-
py monarch was carried out by a very
cllidii llilLOihy WI lllS III lllSl DtOUlt.
In France the execution of Louis XVI.
was not carried out either by France
or by Paris, but by comparatively
small minority of the cabinet. Speak
ing for himself, Lord Rosebery said
that it was not the voice of the people
that he dreaded, so far as revolution
airy movements were concerned, but
the voice of small, determined and
Intrepid minority.
Hereditary Right Cannot Be Defended.
There are two vital principles at
stake" said his lordship, so vital
that without their adoption it is use
less to touch the question of reform
at all. The first question is that of
heredity-the hereditary right to sit
in this house and the doing away
with which was the unanimous and
spontaneous recommendation of your
lordships' own committee.
"The hereditary principle was not
inserted in the constitution until the
Reformation. Until that time a ma
iOrity of the peers did not sit by her.
cditary right at ALL but it is now a
part of the constitution-the most OBJ
jectionable to the country, the most
resented by the people at large. 1t
is the easiest principle to attack, the
most difficult to defend. II is INSULT
cient to point ont the eminence of the
house of lords 1t has given us a
great many more peers than are
wanted"
The second principle which he ask.
ed them to adopt, and which was es.
sential to any reform, was election to
their membership from the outside.
Nothing else. he contended, would give
life and strength to the chamber,
nothing else would give it that contact
with national life and thought which
was necessary to the strength of any
chamber exc. cising the functions
wherewith they were endowed.
The hereditary principle had not
given, and could not give, the strength
that was desired He had not pro
Josed to add to the lords by popular
election. That would only make them
a feeble understudy of the commons
and moreover multiply the horrors of
general elections. But the house OF
10, DIS would derive new strength, new
grace, new dignity, by association
with the corporations, the county
councils formed into elective bodies
IL, tru Ia