PLAYING WITH FIRE.
WE are by no means too anxious that the Lords should pass the Franchise Bill. The existence of their House in its present form has become inconsistent with the political methods of the time and with popular self-government ; the House cannot and will not aid in those reforms in municipal government and the tenure of land which the people demand ; and the struggle to suppress it cannot be postponed for more than a few years. As it must go, it had better go now, while men can still reason calmly ; while Mr. Gladstone is present with his moderating weight; and while the country is preserved, by the all-pervading loyalty to the present Queen, from the otherwise inevitable rise of an avowedly Republican party. It is, therefore, from no party feeling, but rather with a wish that the Opposition may reject our counsel, that we once more point out to the more cautious and experienced followers of Lord Salisbury what it is their leader is inducing them to risk. We will put the case, in the first instance, as favourably for them as possible. Lord Salisbury tells them that if they will but stand firm a Dissolution is inevitable, and probably a Dissolution advised by himself as Premier ; and that such a Dissolution, with the present Franchise, will either yield the Tories a majority, or leave the Parnellites so powerful that a Coalition Government would be unavoidable. Let us accept that view, and then see what would happen. The Liberals thus defeated—not by the nation, but by 500 families—would, of course, inscribe the abolition of the Lords as the first article in their permanent programme ; and as the new Government must pass a Reform Bill, the second Dissolution in 1887, or at the latest 1888, would be an appeal to the new electors upon that issue. DO.A418 quiet Peers really believe that, with Mr. Gladstone flung jen .- ;power by Peers alone, in spite of his majority, with the 2.—oeralroburning with enthusiasm and rage, and with the British Democracy for the first time in possession of absolute power, there can be any moral doubt as to the result ? What are they relying on ? The electors ? Why, the majority against the Tories was increased by the agitation of the autumn against the Lords, and this with the present con- stituency. Redistribution ? They surely must know in their hearts that this is an illusion ; that the difference between town and country rests on the difference of Franchise only, and not on the difference between road and street ; and that, with the Franchise once made uniform, no conceivable plan of voting which would pass Parliament would produce a House in which Liberals had nob for the present, and, till their great reforms are carried, an overwhelming majority. That majority would be pledged to a radical reform of the Upper House, which would involve either its suppression in favour of a single Chamber, restrained only by the power of penal dissolution, or a change which would be fatal to the hereditary principle. That is to say, in the very best event, the House of Lords would in three years cease to exist in its present form, and the smaller Peers would no longer exercise any influence upon the national politics. They would, as a powerful class, disappear from political life ; for though the greater Peers might enter the Commons, and individual Peers of ability certainly would, the average Peer who sought election would find himself in face of insuperable social jealousies. The squires would not vote for him, and the labourers would disbelieve in the possibility of his sympathising with them. Indeed, if the body of Peers seemed likely to enter the Commons, the Peerage itself would be in danger ; for commoners, rather than be so overweighted by the factitious advantages of their rivals, would sweep away titles, and con- sent to some new Statute of Distributions. Each average Peer, we dare say, thinks himself above the average ; but there must be quiet, sensible men, who are aware that success at the hustings is not for them, and even classes of Peers with little confidence in their hold over the community. Take the Catholic Peers, for example, thirty-three in number. They would not be so much deposed as annihilated. No Catholic Peer could find a constituency in Great Britain ; and the whole body must either retire from public life, or seek to obtain seats in Ireland as the humble and distrusted followers of Mr. Parnell. The social consequence of such men would be gone, and with it that chance of a political career which is dear to all men, even when they decide that the chance is not one they choose to use. The minor Peers would become what the Catholic gentry are,—wealthy persons, shut out from political careers by an immovable, if unjust, prepossession of the electors.
This is the best prospect before the quiet Peers if they still follow their reckless leader, who thinks status without power not worth having, and who proclaimed in 1868, as Sir William Harcourt showed, that he thought it quite advisable on occasion to advance to a point within twenty-four hours of revolution. But now just look at the worst that may happen. We will not speak of disorder, though there are districts like Staffordshire where disorder will be most difficult to avoid ; or of the anger slowly developing among the labourers though it is rising to a dangerous height, for such warnings are looked upon as menaces, and we have nu intention of menacing ; but sensible Peers will at least allow that Mr. Gladstone's fall—and unless he falls there will be no Dissolu- tion—might be followed by an outbreak of hot political feeling, of anger among the masses as of men insulted, which would lead to a temporary ostracism of the entire caste, and the return of a really Radical Parliament, pledged up to the lips to abolish every institution which savoured of aristocracy, which would in its first Session sweep away the Lords, hereditary titles, primogeniture, settlement, the distinction between personalty and realty, part of the liberty of bequest, and every form of power not directly derived from popular election. Such a movement is perfectly possible if the fire once catches the prairie ; for every one of these changes, except the second and the sixth, is already practically accepted by the people, and will in the slow English fashion gradually be registered in law. It is useless to argue, as so many Peers do, that such changes are impossible, because they would logically affect the claim to the Throne ; for the English people know well how to be illogical, and while Queen Victoria lives, and probably for a century afterwards, will never even consider whether the Throne, which they utterly dissociate in their minds from the aristocracy, is an anomaly or not. The changes are possible, and possible quickly, if the people are fairly irritated ; and we would just ask quiet Peers if these are the changes they approve, if they seriously desire, in order to win a barren victory over Mr. Gladstone, and to support a dangerous, though bold and eloquent, leader, to run such heavy risks ? Whoever may benefit by swift change, they at least will not. There is not, and there never has been, in history such a lot as theirs, one with so much ease, so much influence, so much deference, all enjoyed without danger, without exertion, and without fear of loss, on the simple tenure of agreement with the people when seriously moved. They need not even profess agree- ment, which might, no doubt—except in the case of the Catholic Peers, who have higher interests than their own to protect—involve a dereliction of principle ; they have only not to oppose,—to stay away from the House, on the distinct oppor- tunist ground that further resistance is unwise. Populus locutus est. Are they prepared, rather than do this, to forfeit, or— for we will give them every advantage in argument they can fairly claim—gravely to endanger such a position as theirs ? If they are, and that from motives they deem patriotic, we shall honour their resolution ; but how badly they must read history! They will be contending for a shadow. The true fight ended in 1832, when the Lords receded before the nation. The battle between aristocracy and democracy—which, we fully admit, was, from their point of view, worth waging—was fought-out then ; and all that remains is a retreat, which may be slow and honourable, or rapid and humiliating, but which can never atop. They must lose power, but they may keep status, if they are well advised, for some years yet, if only they will accept the condition, constantly impressed upon them by the Duke of Wellington,--the condition of not quarrelling with the House of Commons. If they, unlike the Sovereigns, prefer extinction to the appearance without the reality of power, so be it ; that is far from a dishonourable choice ; but let them at least understand clearly what it is they choose. He is no enemy, but a friend, who tells them clearly that the vote of next week will be a momentous one, that no demand once inscribed on the Liberal programme ever remains unrealised ; and that they are forcing men, who would gladly see them continue, to sum-up that demand in the two syllables which the householders, they may rely on it, will not alter,— " End 'em."
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