[To THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR."] ,SIE, — May a plain man,
a consistent but progressive Con- servative, free (thank God!) from partisan trammels, be allewed to express deep dissatisfaction with the recent action of the House of Lords? The Licensing Bill, a faulty measure in some respects, but honestly aiming at temperance reform, is rejected without an attempt at amendment. The eon-contributory, non-discriminative Old-Age Pensions Bill and the Miners' Eight Hours Bill, both of them introducing novel and pernicious principles of government, are meekly accepted,—at the joint dictate, I suppose, of Lord Lansdowne and Mr. Balfour. In my humble opinion, the Upper House has committed serious errors of commission and omission which will, I fear, greatly weaken its position. In Pall Mall or at Westminster I hear no better defence attempted than the plea that our leaders were already committed in favour of the new departures against which I protest. This is no defence at all, and affords poor satisfaction to reflecting
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