Sir Henry James's exhortation to abstain from all agitation aimed
at the reform of the House of Lords was not, on the whole, very cordially received. Mr. Bryce expressed the view that, in face of the last crisis, it would be simply impossible to agitate only for what the Lords had already refused to do, and that it would be quite necessary to call the attention of the country very strongly to the need of a reform of the Lords. Mr. Bryce gave Lord Salisbury perfect credit for the manli- ness of his course in throwing down the gage to the Commons, but expressed his opinion that it was absolutely essential for the Commons to take it up, and to place the issue plainly before the country. The Lords having declared that they are better judges of the true feeling of the country than the Commons, it becomes absolutely necessary to examine into the character of the Second Chamber, and to expose and, if possible, remedy its defects.
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