NEWS OF THE WEEK.
TORD SALISBURY'S speech at Kelso on Saturday was noteworthy even in a week of thrice-reduplicated Parlia- mentary reiterations, because it shows that, with Lord Salisbury's consent at least, the Peers will never yield. "Allow me to remind you," he said, "what the precise contention of the House of Lords is. It is that no Franchise Bill of this magnitude can be equitable or safe unless it is accompanied by a fair Redistri- bution Bill ; and that one of these measures must not come into operative legal effect without the other. This I take to be the contention of the House of Lords I do not think the House of Lords will recede from it, and I am quite sure that they ought not to do so." That is, as we understand it, a final and absolute refusal of Lord Hartington's overtures so far as Lord Salisbury is concerned. Again, what can be more absolute than this :—" We are asked to give the Government a blank cheque, and in exchange for it they will give us a cheque without signa- ture." Unless a Redistribution Bill is introduced, unless he thinks that Bill a fair one, and unless that fair Bill passes the House of Commons, Lord Salisbury utterly refuses to advise the Lords to pass the Franchise Bill.
