The Washington herald., 1911-06-06
THE PASSING OF THE PEERS

I
few have been more poignant in their
drama than those recent moments when
the voice Of the Marquis OF Lansdowne
faltered as he pronounced his own SEN
tence Of political death upon his own
order upon the House Of Lords. That.
and not the veto bill, when II passed
the Commons is the tragic moment IN
the long drama between the peers and
the people OF Great Britain.
The veto bill attests the triumph OF
the people. but the Marquis OF Lans-
,, downe's ''deathblow to his house" was
the pathetic surrender OF the peers. as
complete a surrender as though the en-
tire peerage had walked out Of the cham
Der in q body. vowing never TO re-enter
its portals again. The long battle is
won and lost forever. Never again Will
the House of Lords recover its authority
its prestige. or its power. It has slain
its own authority, It cannot even con-
test the terms on which II may enjoy
respite and be allowed to survive a
little longer. Hence the deathblow ad-
ministered by its champion is OF greater
import than the triumph Of its hereto
fore victim, the Commons. by the pas
sage OF the veto bill
When ancient pride is so abject, ex-
ultation would be unchivAlrous. Its
most implacable enemy may at least
spare a sympathetic thought for its
| champion, driven to the cruel task OF
giving the House OF Lords its deathblow.
To the Marquis of Lansdowne, at any
rate. the House of Lords must represent
something II cannot be to nous autres;"
and common human feeling must i'm
pei some sympathy with him in the pang
it must have cost him to slay the thing
he loved. He must have felt almost like
man rifling the tomb OF his ancestors,
for those who had gone before him had
done distinguished service in the House
whose deathblow he was there to give.
Lord Shelburne. the first marquis, and
his descendant the third. were great
statesmen in their day. Could they have
foreseen the day when the craftsmanship
OF the fifth marquis. and the twenty
sixth holder Of the barony, would have
brought him to that pass-that he must
propitiate an outraged people by the sac
rifice Of the order that had offended
them? ....
And the enemy" II he be endowed
with any sympathetic imagination, also
must have spared a commiserating
thought for the serried and silent ranks
OF peers who listened to their doom out
Of the mouth OF one OF themselves, and
who passed gloomily from a bright scene
which they cannot much longer adorn.
the cold breath OF death already chilling
the air of that gilded chamber. As they
sat listening to the sinister words, their
Imagination must have passed in review
the glories OF their past history, the days
when stars and garter sashes frightened
the legislative scene and men with great
names spoke on great themes to the
bluest kind OF blue blood of old England
in all the confidence and pride of an as
sured and unchallenged position,
For centuries the chamber of peers
had been, so to speak. the stateroom Of
their families Their ancestors. father
to son from generation 10 generation,
had been born on its threshold, and had
entered it OF right, and were ready-made
powers In the land. And now the whole
edifce was crumbling before their eyes.
and the sound OF 1t filled their ears-the
sound Of the voice OF a man with a mat
ter-of-fact speech and undistinguished
manner. himself the bearer of a great
name, telling them their hour had come,
that the day when men could be born
great had passed forever, that the heri-
tage they had received from their sires
could no longer be transmitted to their
children. that the old order was passing,
and must yield place to the new.
But II must be all the more bitter be-
cause the fate was deliberately invited.
Never was Nemesis more direct and COM
plete than that which has overtaken the
peers after they had burned their boats
and staked all on a last throw and a
themselves OF extenuating circumstances
but forged the keenest weapon for their
enemy's hands. Pity the peers we may,
but what OF those who lured them to
their doom? For these spoke of their
own 'prescient craftsmanship and of
thigh resolve and of noble courage"
and sneered at the "pusillanimous wise
acres" who held up warning hand, and
called them cowardly dotards and feeble
spirits.
This is a fitting time to recall these
things, and to see what the statesman
ship" of these ardent spirits has done.
When Lord Derby left Peel over the corn
law split, the Duke Of Wellington, who
supported Peel, wrote a remarkable let
ter to the Rupert of debate. telling him
for his guidance what had been his policy
as a leader Of the House Of Lords for
so many years. 1t would have been well
II Mr.. Balfour and Lord Lansdowne had
conned that letter together in the autumn
of 1903, when they were contemplating
that act which has turned out to be
the final catastrophe, for the letter might
have enlightened them not only as to the
merits of a conservatism which seeks to
conserve by thinking on the maxim. 'Qui
trop embrasse NAL etreint," but as to the
perils of a conservatism which may de-
stroy what It exists to keep. For the
winner OF Waterloo knew when 20 accept
defeat, and he told Lord Derby plainly
enough that the policy he had followed
to the damage Of his popularity among
the ardent spirits OF the Conservative
party, was always to avoid conflict with
the Commons, and to avoid Ii by the
simple method of always yielding TO what
the Commons wanted when the Commons
made its determination clear.
And the duke defended his policy as
zone Of conservatism He realized that
II was necessary for conservatism, so to
speak, to make large donations out of its
income If It wanted to keep its capital
intact, and he w6s willing to pay any
price, after the shock of the reform bill
(for he could profit by experienced to
keep the Lords, as an institution. outside
the political controversies CT the day.
His advice was disregarded, and the Con-
servative party entered on q decline
which was terminated only by giving
something out OF It's cApital-that Is, by
giving q sweeping reform bill to dish the