New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-07-31
AN ARTIFICIAL CRISIS
The Puppet Menace-MaSses
Not Interested.
London, June 20.

| the right OF the crown 10 secure the en-
actment Of laws by the multiplication
OF peers. The practice Of forcing the
opinion Of the Lords by new creations
has been invariably recognized, although
rarely employed The subject came up
I'm the reign OF George l. when bin for
limiting the membership Of the upper
house was passed by the Lords and re-
iected by the Commons If Il had been
enacted the crown would have lost all
control over the House Of Lords, since
the notification Of peers was the only
check upon it in the lightly oised sys-
tenn of constitutional balances. Halan
summed up the argument against lini-
tation OF the prerogatiye by demonstrate
ing that tho crown was restrained by
the responsibility Of the Soveregn's ad.
visers and by specific statutes, and the
Commons by dissolution through royal
proclamation, and that tho only safe
guard against pcryerse action of the
privileged legislators wag the preroga-
tive Of increasing their number Hal
lam admitted, it Is true. that the SUBJ
iugation Of an aristocratlcal faction" by
the creation Of new peers could not be
attempted except I'm the case OF a
nearly equal balance In that sense
the Radical assault upon tho upper
house may be described as q revolution.
airy act directed against the indepen-
dencc Of the upper chamber. The crea-
ton of peers IL an orderly constitutional
process. but the unbalanced condition 81
parties renders IL at present more or less
revolutionary.
one Of the precedents Dor the creation
Of peers has practically lost It's force.
This was the preference for peers eldest
sons which William " expressed when
he assented to the creation Of n suTi-
cient number Of puppets for the pas
sage Of tho reform bill Of 1892. Tho
eldest sons were 70 he called up first.
and so evenly divided were the Wing
and Tory mobiles that thu majority could
have been filed out by Lord Grey with
out going outside the patrician class.
Not more than thirty Radical peers
could now be obtained BY the premature
promotion of eldest sons and they would
he unstabl and lukewarm: and between
four hundred and five hundred new
! Trustworthy creations are needed Tor
knocking out the Tory Lords Il ia tbs
disproportion between the party forces
in the upper chamber that renders the
reconstruction Of that body a hopeless
undertaking under existing conditions
! The joint session Of representatives Of
! the two chambers, Which has been the
| Unionst substitute for the Parliament
/ bill. would not he impracticable If there
We're an approach to equality between
| the two sides, as there was when Lord
Grey and the Duke Of Wellington or
dered the political destinles of the
patricians
| The Radical government Is acting on
the theory that the powers Of the state
are concentrated In an elective as
sembly. That was the accepted opinions
Of constitutional writer's during the We
torlan period. Mr. Lowe when he was
| Chancellor of the Exchequer contended
| that i'm place of a SYSTEM Of checks and
! balances the constitution had been re-
duced to a state Of tremendous sim
| pliclty. We have put all on a single
| foundation he asserted. "AH depends
upon the House Of Commons, upon their
ability 10 conduct the business Of the
state properly; all depends upon their
| being able and willing to keep the min
listers of the crown within bounds and 70
! fulfil their duties 70 the state" Base-
! hot and other authorities supported the
view that the sovereign no longer eyer-
cised predominant power and that The
! Lords could not challenge the ascend
| ancy Of the popular assembly and over
! throw IT'S decisions. If the elective body
were TO lose confidence in the ministry
the constituencies could he called in as
final arbitrator. and from their de-
cision there could be no appeal. The
! speeches and literature Of the Victorian
reign were filed with the essence Of
single chamber government The Rad-
cal Parliament bill carries ont John
Brights proposal for regulating the re-
lations of the houses. When he sug-
/ StSlt / II NOBODY III HN'li' lllt ''llclhFl'i
1t a revolutionary device.
! During recent years there has been
| reversion among the educated classes TO
the original idea that the hereditary and
elective assemblies form one house of
! Legislature This theory presupposes the
coordinate powers Of the two chambers
and assumes that neither is 10 be Grip
| pied or weakened by the other The
/ Lords threw the constitutional mechan-
/ ism out Of gear by hanging IN the budget
/ of 1909, and the Commons are now
/ striving TO reduce the Lords 10 helpless E.
ness by the Parliament bill. These crude
and unscientiic processes are not in &C
cord with the spirit OF representative In
stitutons. Temporary eXpedients may
| be necessary, but sooner or later there
must be a reversion 10 the better prac-
! tice Of making each house n more Eff
Client half of the Legislature. That was
done when the House OF Commons was
improved by a series Of reform bills, and
also when the House of Lords was re-
modelled as a court of final judicial ap-
peal and when representative peers OF
Scotland and Ireland were allowed 70 sit
| I'm the House Of Lords by virtue Of acts
OF Parliament The composition of the
present emergency by creations OF peers
through royal prerogative, but eventually
both chambers will be reconstructed ana