Lord Grey has not yet done enough to set the
House of Lords against the House of Commons. He writes a long letter, pub- lished in Thursday's Times, to Lord Redesdale, regretting that it is not in his power to aid Lord Redesdale in preventing the Hares and Rabbits Bill from being carried in the House of Lords by the Government, and denouncing what he calls the " indecency " of "hurrying important Bills through the House, without any real deliberation on their merits." The indecency, if there be any, consists in the habits of the House of Lords, which make it impracticable for them to discuss as much as is necessary important Bills after they are sent up by the Com- mons,—the real obstacle being that their own habitual amuse- ments are too imperative to be neglected. As regards this Bill, the farmers all over the country regard it as one of the highest importance to an agricultural interest now suffering from great depression ; and Mr. Pell himself—a fair and impartial witness, if there be one—said in the House of Commons that in a year of bad weather he could hardly overestimate the evil done to agriculture by hares and rabbits in the present con- dition of the law, and that he saw at present no better remedy than this Bill. But Lord Grey is constitutionally unable to agree with any Government, Liberal or Conservative, and denounces each in turn, as if his own judicial intellect were the final standard of political good and evil.
Previous page
