The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1913-03-08
MAY TRY TO ABOLISH
HOUSE OF LORDS
Proposition of Getting Rid Of Second
Chamber Problem for
Liberals.
English People firing of Spectacle
of Titled Nonentities lmped-
ing Legislation.
Upper House May be Substituted
by Elective Assembly in
Near Future.


The question of putting an end to
the English house of lords and substi-
tuting in it's place an elective assembly
is one, in the opinion Of T. p. O'Con-
nor. which the liberal party must soon
face. The veteran parliamentarian and
writer believes that the ancient cham
Der has passed that stage of it's exist
ence when it possessed value as a gov
erning body. He calls it weak, I'M
potent shadow of its former self. The
liberal party deprived the upper house
Of the veto power it once used with
such detriment to the house of COM
mons. Now it is proposed that the
liberals go a step further and abolish
it entirely for an elective chamber. On
this point 7. p. O'Connor writes:
The liberal party must before long
face the question Of getting rid of the
present wretched second, chamber,
which is out Of date, and substitute for
it something that will command the
respect Of the people. There are diff
ferences Of opinion among liberals on
this question and it will cause good
deal of trouble when it Is faced, but
it will have to be faced. The people Of
fsngianst with mot tolerate frnieifs longer
the spectacle of these titled nonentities
making legislation or impeding it.
Really, l felt when l paid visit to
the house of lords during their debate
on the Irish home rule bill, as il l were
looking at q house of shadows.
There were the same we'll known fig
ures there-old Lord Halsbury and the
other die-llards were still in their plac-
es, but somehow or other the express
sions Of their faces had all changed.
Lord Halsbury, still robust and still
full OF fight and fury in spite of his
weight Of more than eighty years. sat
with his lips pursed up and with look
of sullen defiance and when he spoke it
Was also to cry out to his fellow peers
that they were nothing better than an
impotent debating society whose words
carried no effective action.
And he was quite right. Everybody
knew that the lords were going to re-
ject the home rule bill, but everybody
including the lords themselves, knew
that it did not matter. They might
delay, but they could not destroy this
bill or any other bill on which the
liberal ministry was determined. This
farcical and impotent assembly, there
fore, can no longer continue to exist.
Its place ought to be taken by pure-
ly elective assembly, with perhaps a
few nominated members so as to give
the ministry of the day an opportunity
Of sending to its counsel men of great
distinction who had no aptitude for
popular elections. That reform is due
and will come and the sooner British
liberals face that fact, the better"
Mr.. O'Connor believes that the liber-
ais will continue in power until 1915
and he adds that he sees no reason
why they should not be returned to
power again.
! II see no reason he says, "why the
i liberals should not retain Office until
1915 and that when a general election
comes then, they should not be again
returned to power. OF course, one
must always bar accidents when max
ing these forecasts. 1t is a fundamen-
tai fact of British politics, which is
often forgotten and yet always makes
itself known, that every ministry, how
ever powerful. carries itself in its
hands every day that the house OF
commons is sitting. A snap division is
always possible. division in the lib.
eral ranks on even a trifing question
may produce an awkward and even q
dangerous situation"