Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1915-12-22
Would Have House of Lords
Deprived of Right of Free
Speech, He Says

4 UNIVERSAL character EOHSlllulcS
source of influence TO anyone in pub
lie life, then Lord Derby may be re
garded as being, next 10 Lord Kitch'
ener, the most influential figure in
Great Britain at the present time, says
a writer in the Chicago Tribune, who
signs himself "Ex-Attache" His fel-
low countrymen of high and low de-
gree repose trust in him second only
! to that which they accord to the field
marshal.
1t is because of the weight which his
words carry with his fellow country
men that his amazing attack upon the
house of lords in general and upon
! Lords st. Dayids and Ribblesdale in
particular, has furnished a great SEN
sation. The attack was contained in
recruiting address, which he deliy-
cred on the floor of the London stock
exchange, where it was received the
widest enthusiasm, and tokens of ap-
prevail, particularly when he denounc-
ed Lord st. Davids as liar and as
no gentleman and Lord Ribblesdale
as a traitor.
Criticized Powerful Men.
Yet Lord Ribblesdaie is the brother
in-law of Premier Asquith, has been
chief whip Of the liberal party, held
ministerial office in connection with
the royal household when Lord Derby
was still small boy in pinafores,
was favorite lord in waiting of
Queen Victoria, and an intimate friend
of King Edward, and has been to
such an extent looked upon as repre-
senting everything that is best in
English sport that he was the last
peer to be selected for the now abol-
ished government. post Of master OF
the royal hunt
AS for Lord st. Davids, he, too, has
rendered yeoman service to the lib
eral party, both as member of the
house of commons for many years and
as generous contributor to its cam
paign funds. In addition to possessing
a very modern peerage, won by his
own efforts, he has inherited one of
the oldest baronetcies, created by
James in the first year of his reign.
Both Gave Sons to Country.
Lord Ribblesdale's Treason" which
led Lord Derby to hold him up to ma
ticnal and international obloquy as a
traitor, consisted in speech by the
former, in the house of lords, in which
he criticized the Gallipoli campaign.
His criticism was of a moderate char.
acter, and if he spoke with feeling
it must be remembered that his only
remaining son and heir was killed in
the trenches in the Gailipoli campaign,
his oldest son having given his life
for his country in one of England's
little wars in Somaliland, eleven
years ago.
With regard to Lord st. Davids, he,
too, deserves. If not consideration, at
least some forbearance. For already
overwhelmed with grief over the
quite recent and tragically sudden
death of his wife, he has within the
last three months had his oldest son
killed at the front in France.
Opposes Free Speech.
Both the speech of Lord Ribblesdale
and that of Lord St Davids were de-
livered in the house of lords, where,
owing to the absence of that cloture
which prevails In the commons, and
to that of any presiding officer cloth
ed with such arbitrary powers as the
speaker of. the lower chamber, the
peers are free to speak without re-
striction. Indeed, what with the CEN
sorship of the press and the readiness
of the civil and military authorities
to look upon charges of infractions of
the defense act, any one guilty of eX-
pressing disapproval of the admins
tration, or of the conduct of the naval
and military operations, the much de-
cried house of lords is, as in ancient
times, prior to the existence of the
commons, the only place in the Unit
ed Kingdom where complete freedom
of speech and liberty of criticism pre-
vail
This freedom Lord Derby seeks to
curtail and even abolish. He insist
ed in his stock exchange speech that
the authority of the censor should be
extended to the house of lords, and
that curb should be put on the
speeches delivered there, and that any
peer who said there anything that
could possibly be construed as of use
to the enemy should receive the same
punishment as a man who risked his
life in getting Information for the enc
is to say, as spy or
traitor. -; ~
Naturally there is not the slight
est prospect of the house of lords sur
rendering it's liberty of speech, which
it has enjoyed since the reign of King
John and the signature of Magma
Charter at Runnymede 700 years ago.
All that the government can do in
the matter is to punish, and, if neces.
sary, suppress the newspapers pub.
fishing the debates in the upper
chamber. s........
If Lord Derby was led to suggest
any curb upon the house of which he
is so distinguished member, and if
he permitted himself without due re-
Election to single out two bereaved
and grief stricken fathers for partic-
ular obloquy, it is because he fears
that anything in the nature of legisla-
tive criticism of the leadership of the
British military forces win interfere
with the complete success of his great
recruiting enterprise. Moreover, he
is one of those who hold that when