The Bill abolishing the Royal prerogative of making Irish Peers
has been lost in the Commons, having been talked out on Wednesday by the Irish Members, who pleaded through Captain Nolan that the Bill would bring up the question of the right of Irish Peers to sit for Irish constituencies. We do not quite see that, but we have often wondered why the Conservatives have not abolished the restrictions which prevent Scotch Peers from sitting in the Commons, and Irish Peers from sitting for constituencies in their own island. The restriction is scarcely defensible by argument, and its abolition would give the Tories twenty or thirty of the best possible candidates. At present, the lot of a Scotch Peer who is not elected a representative, and cannot offer himself for any constituency, is harder on a man of ambition or abilities than that of any other grandee in the country. His ancient title actually disqualifies him for any political work, while his rank debars him from many of the ordinary occupations of life.
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