New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-03-23
PROBLEM Of THE PEERS
British Hereditary Legislators
Doomed to Extinction.
TORY PAPER ADMITS IT
Institution Collapsed Because
It's Soul Had Fled-Masses
Blinded to It's Function.


London. March 22-Writing III Inc
Daily News and Leader this week ON
the European burden of the WAT
Harold Spender said: The fact Is the
governments Of Europe have Overcome
ia. and i'm all parts of Europe there Is
deep resentment among the peoples
against the heavy burdens which their
rulers are placing upon them. II is
clear that if governments of the old or
der are going To make their rule so eX-
pcnsive then Europe. ovcrburdcned ana
dstraught, may yet seek at any cost OF
risk for some alternative method of
rule"
OF course. there is nothing new or
unusual in this thought. What makes
it especially attractive at this time Is
that il follows so closely on Premier
Asquiths statement in the House of
Commons that the reform of the House
of Lords would come before the END or
the present Parliament, and the cX-
PLANTATION by Mr.. Asquith's Cabinet col
league. Herbert l.. Samuel, that Two
characteristics of the proposals 10 be
made will be that the new second
chamber contain within it no vcstigc
of hereditary principle, and that under
no circumstances Will the veto be re-
stored"
Following this came an editorial in
that most Tory of English papers. The
Pail Mall Gazette" which, under the
title Nemesis" said:
THE obsolete composition of the
House of Lords has been fatal OBJ
,staclc 10 clear thinking. The inevitable
prejudice against that survival has
blinded tho masses 10 the real function
Of an upper house as a security for
their own rights. If there is To be one
act of this government in which every
thinking Union!st will find unbounded
satisfaction il will bc when IL proceeds
to swccp away the last vcstigc OF "A
hereditary chamber. Half dozen
wears ago there were few adhcrcnts OF
Conservatism who could imagine them
selves not only tolerant but grateful for
such a prospect. Faith in old institu-
tions dies hard with Engllshmen, and
there were many grounds for thinking
that the historic pccragc retained
sound clements Of craftsmanship and
might lend strength and continuity to
tho political system. even for centuries
10 come. II WAS imagined that II would
bc a refuge for the qualities Of high
prInciplc. courage. unsclilshness and
foresight. for which there was less room
and safety in the rough and tumble OF
popular clcctionecrng.
The history of the Parliament act
shivercd that illusion 10 atoms. We
shrink from analyzlng the motives
which paralyZed tho moral sense OF the
ma jority I'm the presence IL the final
test. 1t is enough to know that hercdi-
tary pccrage collapsed. ms every in
stitution collapses. because the soul had
gone out Of II. because II had no longer
a sunlciency of men who could follow
conviction fearless ~ consequences or
weigh the great things Of national Sc
ciirity against the petty things OF class
privilege. The peers lost their souls Ia
save their faces, and in the end, as we
now see. their faces are 10 follow their
souls and so one Of the great estates
Of the realm comes to an end az dis
tinct political factor.
AN organ which has lost the power
Of serving the body had better nc re-
moved and everything that accelerates
Mr. Asquiths surgery is quickening Il
return 10 real constitutional stability.