Lord Salisbury also pointed out that the new red-herring of
agitation against the Lords will effectually divert public attention and public interest from the various social measures which are most likely to improve the condition of the masses, —from old-age pensions, from the improvement of the houses of the labouring classes, from the regulation of the hours of labour, and other changes of that class. He reproached the Gladstonians with never being able to make use of their political machinery, however recently it might have been repaired and improved, since they could never satisfy them- selves that some great further alteration is not wanted before they can be content to put it to its intended use. The use of a Second Chamber is to check abrupt and capricious experi- ments which have not been well-considered, and the only offences of the House of Lords have consisted in the checking of such experiments till the people show conclusively that they have made up their minds to try them. In other words, the House of Lords is blamed for doing exactly what it was. created to do.
Previous page
