Lord Rosebery, in a speech of striking eloquence, also no
doubt contributed largely to the happy result achieved in the division. No one, he pointed out, had ever dared to accuse the Duke of Wellington of cowardice, but it was due to the concessions recommended by the Duke that the House of Lords was preserved. Lord Camperdown, than whom no peer has behaved with more manliness and independence, made a personal explanation very greatly to his credit. He was followed by the Duke of Norfolk, who declared that if Unionist peers were to be found supporting the Government he would feel obliged to record his vote against the Bill. The Duke of Northumberland asserted his belief that a creation of peers would indirectly do the House of Lords a great deal of good. It was clear that the course which was taken by the peers who followed Lord Halsbury was one for which posterity would thank them.
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