On Tuesday, Mr. Goschen delivered at the Music Hall, Edinburgh,
a reply to Mr. Gladstone. He rightly denounced Mr. Gladstone's doctrine that the true duty of the Lords was to bow to the people and so save themselves from destruction. Is that, he asked, an adequate view of the responsibilities of the Second Chamber P The House of Lords may not be representative, but it is responsible to the country for the due discharge of its duties. Mr. Gosehen hinted that if an attempt was made to pass a Registration Bill unaccompanied by a redistribution of seats and a reduction in the Irish repre- sentation, the Lords would be obliged to act as they acted in 1884,—use their veto to prevent a half-measure being carried. It was nonsense to say it was a case of six millions against five hundred. An analysis of the electorate represented in the vote on the Rome.rule Bill showed that on the one side are 2,850,000 electors, on the other side are 2,700,000 in round numbers. The difference is 150,000 on the total, which repre- sents 2:`, per cent. upon the electorate. But for the over- representation of Ireland, the majority would only have been 17, instead of 34. Taken as a whole, the speech was not quite up to Mr. Gosehen's usual level. The fact is, Home-rule is "dead dog," and on neither side is it possible to arouse en- thusiasm. It is, besides, not in the least necessary to defend the Lords, for they never did a more popular act than when they snuffed out Mr. Gladstone's "soft composite" with a " thief " in it.
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