Mr. Asquith's denunciation of any House of Lords, reformed or other, which retains the present functions of that body, must be only taken as a circuitous reiteration of his well-known adhesion to the idea of a single Chamber. But then what becomes of Lord Rosebery's emphatic and indignant assertions that he is in favor of a Second Chamber? Does he mean a Second Chamber of straw ? for that is the only kind of Second Chamber that Mr. Asquith will regard with tolerance. It seems useless to attempt to piece together any outline of a plan from utterances so contradictory as Lord Rosebery's and Mr. Asquith's revelations.

of Lords, together with a good many | He makes no difficulty about confess-
other things, including the House of ing the real grievance. It is that on
Commons, will be swept away; though several occasions they have left his
there is no sign in the political sky of government in a ludicrous minority.
such a portent just at present. But Lord Granville, who led the Liberal
revolutions have a certain logical con- party in the House of Lords for five-
sistency of their own; and no rev-and-thirty years, was exposed to simi-
olution that can be imagined would lar inconveniences towards the close
commit the flat absurdity of professing of his career, but he seems to have
to maintain the House of Lords while looked upon them as vicissitudes of the
depriving it of all its power.
political game to which all politicians
are liable. He never dropped a word
to indicate that he felt it so acutely as
to seek a remedy by “raising the great-
est issue that has been put in this
country since our fathers resisted the
tyranny of Charles the First and James
the Second." And before Lord Grau-
ville's time the grievance did not ex-
ist; for Liberal ministers from time to
time had majorities in the Lords in
those days, before Mr. Gladstone had
joined the Liberal party. But the iron
has entered into Lord Rosebery's soul.
Whatever is to be said against the
House of Lords has been true for
some generations past. But arguments
against it, whether good or not in the-
ory have been little thought of in prac-
I entertain a strong conviction that tice, until they have been illustrated by
in this apparent controversy between the mishaps of the Gladstonian party.
the two ministers, Mr. Asquith from The present government has placed
the Radical standpoint takes the juster England in a minority in the House of
view. He has taken the trouble to Commons, and by a pact with the Irish
think the matter out, which his chief has secured a small majority in that
probably has not done. It is only by Assembly; and Mr. Blake's indiscre-
ending, and not by mending the House tions have given us some insight into
of Lords that the avowed objects of the inner life of that patriotic alliance.
their party can be accomplished; and The House of Lords has resisted the
as the development of the contro- measures of this confederacy.
versy brings this result out into the Majesty's present government can only
light, I fully expect that the indispen-show a minute body of supporters in
sable Second Chamber will go the way that Assembly. The desolate interval
of the "predominant partner," and will of red bench which represents the
be dropped with light heart and pleas-ministerial array behind the prime

ant scoru.

Her

minister, is the patent offence which The probability of this issue will be dispenses with any further search for evident to any one who considers the accusations against the House of Lords. motives by which the new crusade He dwells on it again and again in against the House of Lords has been various parts of his speech with geninspired. What is the sin which the uine pathos; enlarging on the cruelty existing Assembly has committed? of fate which condemns him to be a How has it been unfortunate enough member of an assembly that loves him to draw upon itself the stripped and so little. His colleagues harp upon the girded energies of the prime minister? same string. Mr. Asquith complains

212

every tone of melancholy reiteration, that instead of three hundred the faithful band is reduced to thirty.

that the House of Lords is no true Sec- | from Lord Rosebery's pathetic comond Chamber, because it has imposed plaint, repeated again and again in a check upon him and his colleagues, but no check upon certain measures passed by their opponents. Sir E. Grey, with the candor of youth, protests that unless the House of Lords is dealt with, the destinies of the Liberal party will be compromised. It is the old "manse " argument over again. Woe to the institution, whether it be Church or Chamber, which disagrees with the Gladstonian party.

What is the cause of it? How is this wholesale defection and falling away of some two hundred and seventy Liberal peers to be explained? Every one of these Liberal peerages, so to speak, was born good. There was to each of them an age of innocence when its holder was a sound Liberal. How have they fallen from their first estate? Why have they wandered from the fold?

The offence charged is open and manifest. It boots not to deny it. The strength of the Gladstonian party in the House of Lords has diminished, Lord Rosebery has a theory which and is diminishing. There is no ques- he calmly, and without any external tion of the existence of the malady, symptoms of hilarity, laid before his which is passing through a stage of audience. It is that "the House of acute paroxysm just now. The ques-Lords," i.e., all except the thirty, "is tion is whether Lord Rosebery has a permanent party organization, conreally in his mind any remedy by which trolled for party purposes, and by party he believes it can be cured. What managers." A little further on he metamorphosis is the House of Lords speaks of them as a collection of poto undergo which will make that As-litical hacks." He is very indignant sembly, even intermittently, Gladsto- that this explanation is not accepted nian? A glance at the nature of the seriously, and is especially aggrieved task he has to fulfil will show that there with me for having mentioned it in is reason for the scepticism which terms which implied little belief either his colleague evidently feels as to his in the veracity of the theory or the chances of success. modesty of its invention. If he only The base proclivities of the House of means that the Tory peers vote in acLords do not arise from their having cordance with Tory opinions, and the been selected by the wrong persons, or Liberal Unionist peers vote in accordwith the wrong motives, or, indeed, ance with Liberal Unionist opinions, from any error in their selection. The his statement, no doubt, is accurate, but mass of the present House of Lords he cannot be said to have made much has been drawn from the purest Lib- of a discovery. Whatever changes he eral sources by the most trusted Lib- may succeed in introducing into the eral leaders. In the division which constitution of the Second Chamber threw out the Reform Bill in October, the members of it will continue, it may 1831, by a majority of forty-one, there be presumed, to vote in accordance were one hundred and twenty-eight with the opinions which they hold, and Liberal peers present in the House. will so far act on precisely the same Since that date two hundred and ten principle as those of whom the Second peerages have been added on the rec- Chamber now consists. But if he ommendation of Liberal ministers, of means that the peers are actuated in which about thirty have become ex-giving their votes by any motive other tinct. Any historian in future ages, than the guidance of their opinions, he coming upon these facts, would by a simple process of arithmetic infer that a ministry calling itself Liberal might count upon the support of about three hundred Liberal peers. Alas, we know

is making an imputation for which no vestige of proof can be adduced. They cannot be ridden as political hacks, for their riders, if such there be, can possess neither bridle mor spur. He has

attacked the peers for the lack of a of the men who, as approved chamquality which they obviously and nec- pions of the party faith, were specially essarily possess. They may be wise or selected for honors. It can only have foolish, timid or courageous, but they been a mind, penetrated through and certainly are independent. The quali- through with partisan modes of thought, ties observable in a body of men that could have attempted to explain depend, as the phrase is, upon their such a remarkable movement of opinenvironment, and it would be difficult ion by the theory that the Carlton had to assemble conditions and surround-captured the Peers. The cause of it ings better calculated to produce inde- is sufficiently obvious, and lies upon pendence than those in which the mass the surface of the history of our genof the peers are placed.

eration. The party which calls itself Liberal no longer represents to the eyes of those who received those peerages, or their descendants, the principles to which, in calling themselves Liberal, they conceived themselves to be pledged. It may be said, of course, that they have changed their position; but this is true only in the sense in which a landmark may be said to have changed its position in relation to a drifting ship. And as they are drawn from no limited circle or narrow clique, but are, or are descended, from the most suitable men each successive Liberal minister could find to recommend, it is pretty certain that the hostile opinion which exhibits itself in their votes has largely affected the whole social stratum from which they It is the extremity of self-delusion to are drawn. That row of empty red attribute to the wiles of a party man- benches which vex the prime minisager the change which has taken place ter's soul are not the result of some in the political allegiance of some two eccentric caprice inspiring two hundred hundred and seventy peers, owing and seventy recreant peers. It means their peerages to Liberal ministers, that all the classes in which a Liberal who doubtless chose for their recom- minister would seek for men suitable to mendations the staunchest adherents be selected as Liberal peers are probthey could select. Certainly if wire-ably affected by the same malady, and pulling and party management can effect such marvels, the Liberal party ought not to have been left behind. They have only just lost a party organizer whom the prime minister has put upon the same level as Mr. Gladstone in recounting his party services. Surely, if the allegiance of the peers of Liberal creation could have been ensured by any party manager, it would have been done by Mr. Schnadhorst. It is a libel on the excellent management, which has always distinguished the wirepullers of the Liberal party, to attribute to that inferiority the defection

Lord Rosebery appears to consider the opposition of the Peers as something personal to himself. He says that if he spoke with the tongue of men and angels he would not secure a single vote more than he does. It is not precisely the tongue with which debaters speak that chiefly influences votes in the House of Lords. Eloquence does not particularly move them. But they will vote with the speaker who advocates the policy they approve, whatever his eloquence may be; and if Lord Rosebery satisfied them in that respect he may be sure that no control of party managers and no interest of a party would prevent the "collection of political hacks" from following him into the lobby.

that in a proportion not very dissimilar they are opposed to the government, which would be their natural leader if the words "Liberal party still continued to bear the meaning which in past times they used to bear.

Three things might have been safely predicated of the leaders of the Liberal party while Lord Palmerston was alive. They upheld the Established Churches, they maintained the integrity of the Empire, and they respected the rights of property. As their falling away in these respects has become more manifest, their supporters, among those to

whom these objects, or any of them, | ical solution. I am referring to them are dear, have become scantier year by not for the purpose of refuting the year. No other explanation is required views of the government on the subject of the change of feeling towards them of property; but for the purpose of which has shown itself among the pointing out that the working and the classes from whom the new Liberal ulterior tendency of their doctrines peers of the last two generations have have been discerned and appreciated been taken. Of course the most by an increasing number of persons marked and sudden secession was due from year to year; and the distaste to their unexpected tampering with the they have excited, both in respect to integrity of the Empire. But the in- the rights of property and the integrity security into which their proceedings of the Empire, is a serious hindrance to have brought property of all kinds has Lord Rosebery's dream of fashioning a produced a more general disquietude, new Second Chamber warranted to which is felt in a degree by all classes, exhibit Gladstonian proclivities. The because of its paralyzing influence on classes among whom the candidates for industry and trade. The special por- Liberal peerages have hitherto been tion of their programme which men- found have deserted his party, because aces ecclesiastical property is evidently of the monstrous transformation which moving sections of the population who the teaching of his party has underare less sensitive to the alarms which gone. He must dig deep and search secular property is feeling. Mr. As- far before he finds a couche sociale with quith thinks it sufficient to reply that the disposition that he wants. I doubt these apprehensions with respect to if he will find it in any large abundance, the security of property have been unless he digs in Celtic soil. Of course heard before. It is quite true. So the his Second Chamber may be so concry of "stop thief" has been heard structed that it will turn out to be a before; and will be heard again when- mere replica of the House of Comever there is a thief to stop. His argu-mons; and in that case it will exhibit ment proceeds on the assumption that the oscillations which have marked the the State, do what it will, cannot com- history of opinion in that assembly. mit robbery; and least of all can it But if it resembles the House of Comcommit robbery upon the possessions mons in the origin and basis of its of ecclesiastical corporations. I have authority, it will insist on also possessno wish to embark on a discussion as ing the same powers and the same to the extent to which anything can be functions. It will demand a voice in considered property in the presence of questions of finance, and the power to a political authority that desires to ap- dismiss ministers; and it will be able to propriate or "convey" it. There is no extort compliance with its demands by question of practical ethics which has precisely the same methods as those received so various an exposition. It by which the House of Commons in is impossible to bring within the limits past days has built up the fabric of its of theoretic regularity a Plantagenet or own authority. A Chamber which Tudor sovereign's views on the subject possesses the power of saying "no" to of benevolences, or a Highland chief's any legislative proposal can extort what notions as to his neighbor's cattle. privileges it pleases by threatening to And in our own day, Mr. Henry stop the machinery of the State if its George, Mr. Keir Hardie, and a crowd demands are refused. The House of of sympathizers on both continents Commons obtained its own dominant have proclaimed the right of any com-power by this procedure, and it would munity to seize land and other "instru- assuredly be employed if some more ments of production," which are now restless and adventurous body, not in the hands of private persons. In afraid of innovation, were substituted the practice of the world such questions for the present House of Peers. Such receive a dynamical rather than a log- a duplication of the First Chamber

would be a new phenomenon in poli- its stages after several divisions up to
tics, and would lead to some interesting the third reading, and failed at that
results. But its occurrence is evidently point in consequence of an intimation
impossible. It could only come into that there was no chance of the co-
existence if the Radicals became en-operation of the House of Commons.
tirely supreme; and, in that case, their
purposes would be much better served
by sweeping away the Second Chamber
altogether.

A proposal in the same direction was
made by the Conservative government
five or six years ago, but after be-
ing read a second time the bill was
Lord Rosebery's plan, therefore, if it laid aside on an announcement by an
exists, is destined to a very ephemeral authoritative voice, that it would be ob-
existence. He has in effect laid down structed in the House of Commons, at
as a primary condition that his new a time when obstruction was all-power-
Second Chamber must be, at least ful. It is very likely, therefore, that
intermittently, Gladstonian. So long if circumstances were favorable re-
as the Liberal party pursues its present newed attempts in this direction would
course, recent history shows that the be made on the same or on different
materials are wanting for a Second
Chamber that will support it. Or if
by the use of novel ingredients a Sec-
ond Chamber of the desired type is
produced, it will ouly operate as an
instrument for disputing, and in the
dispute shattering, the power of the
House of Commons.

lines. I shall not presume to express an opinion upon such projects until I see what they are. But I think I am able to prophesy that they will be honored by the warm opposition of Mr. Asquith and his friends, for he has proclaimed his hostility to any changes, whatever they may be, if they mainIn treating the political predilections tain the present functions of the House of the House of Lords as the crying sin of Lords. It is safe to predict that no which calls for the doom of the existing measure diminishing the scope and assembly, Lord Rosebery has prevented importance of those functions will ever any confusion between his plan and be accepted by the House. Any modiany Conservative propositions which fication of its constitution to which may be made for the modification of the House may on full consideration the House. Mr. Asquith asserts with assent, will, I am convinced, be framed some profusion of detail that the Con- with a view, not of promoting the servatives have on the stocks " a interests of any political party, but in proposal to pass the House of Lords order to enable the House better to perinto the hands of the speculative form its public duties, better to ensure builder; and he reproaches us bitterly full effect to the deliberate will of the with tinkering the Constitution. Ination; and above all to strengthen it hope most of the information he re- for its most important duty, that of ceives at the Home Office is more repairing the mistakes, and frustrating trustworthy than this intelligence. I the intrigues of any log-rolling confeddo not know of any such plan, and eracy in the House of Commons. But have not heard of any peer who is plaus of this kind — plans which will likely under existing circumstances to make the House of Lords strongerbring any project of the kind forward. the government does not ask us to But the subject has been brought consider; it tells us beforehand that it before the House on more than one will have none of them. So far as I occasion in past years, aud no indis-understand Lord Rosebery, he means position to entertain it has been shown so to alter the House of Lords that it by the Peers. The obstacle to such shall always defer to the House of improvements has come from another Commons whenever the Gladstonians quarter. Twenty-five years ago I re- are in office. Mr. Asquith and the member supporting Lord Russell in a other ministers wish, on the other measure of this kind, which passed all hand, to enthrone the House of Com