The test vote against the Prussian Bill for county reform
was taken in the Herrenhaus on Saturday, on a motion by Iierr von Stahl, and was defeated by 114 to 87 votes. The Conservatives there- upon refused to discuss the Bill any longer, and it was accordingly passed on Monday by a vote of 116 to 91, a number evidently arranged so as to make the majority exactly equal to the number of Peers created to carry through the Bill. In the previous debate the Conservatives, it appears, denounced the ingratitude of the Government, by which they had stood in all discussions on the Army Bill ; but Count Eulenberg retorted that though in- dividuals should be grateful, States could not be. Government could not be for ever grateful to a party because it had formerly preserved a proper attitude. Parties, in other words, owe support to Government, but Government owes nothing to them. That is rather " high" State doctrine, but on national questions English statesmen maintain it too.
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