ANATOMY OF THE PEERAGE.

CHAPTER I.

SKETCH OF THE HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF THE

PEERAGE.

THE rude shock which the late decision of the Lords against the second reading of the Reform Bill gave to the hopes of the Nation, led all thinking men to consider the nature and uses of the body which thus violently jostled and endangered the public welfare.

The Peerage of this and other countries is indebted for its ori- gin to circumstances which it has long survived; and now that it is placed in another and entirely different position from that in which it once stood, it is natural to suppose that it may require consider- able modification and adaptation, to fit it for a continued and useful existence.

At a time when, throughout Europe, force was the arbiter of every question of right and wrong, Peers were the wielders and depositaries of force. Land, which both gave the power and limited it, was granted to them, on a condition that they should agree to club their force with that of the chief of all, when his will required its exertion.

The authority over possessors of land held on this sole con- dition, could never be so firmly fixed as to reduce them to an entire submission to the wishes of their suzerain : so they were not only commanded, they were also persuaded and consulted; and in order to this, the great holders of land, on occasion of any mea- sure which required their aid for its execution, were called toge- ther—summoned by the King to appear at a particular time and place, to assist him by theiraid and connsel. Hence a House of Peers.

What were the People all this time ?—Retainers, small holders dependent on greater, bordars, cottars, villeins ; in short, they were the simple instruments of their superiors—links of a chain, power- less in themselves, and moveable only in the order in which they were bound together. There was, however, one other element of power—the Church; a power partly of opinion, and partly arising out of the possession of the arts of learning, which were found convenient, and ultimately necessary, to the wielders of physical force. The priest held the pen as well as the keys of heaven.

Sometimes these two forces, the physical and the spiritual, are seen in opposition ; but they early found it their mutual interest to proceed in unison, and share the spoils of the country they. ruled. But all is changed : the links of the chain are broken, the metal

is recast: the feudal system remains only in the prejudices it has left behind, and in a few forms and some ancient institutions,— prejudices, however, deeply rooted, and which it will require time to eradicate, and institutions and formal distinctions which, where they interfere with the wellbeing of the people, must be gradually. either destroyed or modified. One of these institutions is the House of Lords.

The reign of force gradually yielded to that of opinion, and the acquirements of the priesthood became general accomplishments ; nothing was left them but the other world,—which they did not seem to value except as a means of influence in this. But the man- ner in which this change was brought about is important : its history throws a flood of light upon the nature and character of modern institutions.

Various causes split the possessions of the great feudal holders of land, and made such a division of ranks among themselves, that they became distinguished as Greater and Lesser Barons. With smaller possessions came smaller consequence ; and while the Kim, continued to summon the Greater Barons to his Council himself, he deputed the duty of summoning the Lesser Barons to the Sheriffs of each county ; and as these Lesser Barons still continued to grow more numerous as well as smaller, it ultimately came to pass that two were chosen to represent the Lesser Barons, under the denomination of Knights of the Shire.

Contemporaneously with this change, which was one of decom- position, another took place, which was one full of life and vigour. The institutions of feudality permitted men, on paying a certain tribute to their seigneur, to assemble together in towns, and to pursue their respective occupations for their own benefit: on these towns were conferred charters and privileges, both for their better regulation, and with a view to draw from them a part of that wealth which it is the nature of commerce to accumulate. The possession of wealth and the payment's:if money always end in conferring upon the possessor an advantage. These towns and boroughs and cities sent their delegates to agree as to the sum they were to pay ; and if a greater amount than usual were demanded, it was a natural consequence that they should be told of the object, and consulted as to its necessity.

The Greater and the Lesser Barons and the delegates of the towns having become a very numerous body, and their ranks and offices being different, a natural separation took place. The Greater Barons have continued to form the House of Lords • and the Lesser Barons, as sent up by the Sheriffs, together with the dele- gates of the towns, the House of Commons.

The Peers were thus set apart for themselves ; the Commons became the representatives of the People. The Peers have re- *mined Peers, but the Commons have been aggrandized with the body of which they were the Index. At the time the division took place, it might be an equal one ; there is no proportion now be- tween a chamber of Lords and the People : the stupendous wealth -and the wide-spread intelligence—in fact, all that which makes a state—exists in or springs out of that vast collection of org,aniza- lion which has germinated from the poor seeds sown by the villeins and thralls, the cotters and burgesses, of a time of ignorance and barbarism.* When the Barons were formed into a ruling body, they were

'well qualified for ruling. Their business was of a military and Seignorial character : he who with the strongest and most prac- tised arm wielded the battle-axe, managed a troop of partisans with the most address, or by the terror of his name or brow kept in highest order a crowd of boisterous and brutal retainers, was best qualified for his duty : if among his peers he added to these virtues the craft or the courage of a successful general, his word was prevailing and his influence great. It soon became evident that these were qualities ill adapted to the changes that were taking place; and they were no longer cultivated. But what motive ex- isted to substitute others in their place ? The body had no one to account to : their own interests were alone at stake, and these could Le cared for without either the skill which prevails in war, or the arts which adorn a time of peace. Thus constituted, it is clear *hat, but for some external cause, they must have become a mere shadow in the state, utterly destitute of any substantial power. -They were a body that arose out of and existed by the dominion of force; the dominion of force had utterly changed hands, and had itself become the servant of opinion. What, then, has preserved the existence of the House of Peers as an influential portion of the Legislature? It is remarkable that it is indebted for its existence to that which destroys other bodies : the extinction of the families of which it consisted, has caused it, through the exercise of the Royal prerogative, to be perpetually replenished from sources which sprang from the People, and which originated within the aphere of opinion. It is thus, and thus only, that the assembly of Zarones Majores has been preserved in such a shape as to render its continuance compatible with the safety of the State : otherwise it must either have sunk into utter insignificance, or been extin- guished as an intolerable nuisance. This sketch of the origin of the two branches of the Legisla- *ure, will be sufficient to show that power has been gradually *hanging hands : that which in feudal times the Barons held, the Xeople now hold; and the House of Commons owes its vast im- .Nortance in this age to the fact that it was by its nature acci- *lentally adapted to be the organ of the new recipients of power. In rude times, government meant coercion; and, for that end, rao more ingenious scheme the mind of man ever hit upon than the gradations of feudality. Government now means persuasion; and the rude instruments suited well enough for rough use, are Vit little adapted to the complicated interests of a great people. 7he science now demanded of a governor is that of legislation.

When power was placed in the hands of feudal lords, it was well placed for the purposes intended: but now that the power is placed in the People, is it to be supposed they will be content with _less efficient instruments ? If they avail themselves of ancient forms, it is because they think they can modify them to the occa- sion. This is the reason why the House of Commons is to be re- formed—the People want an organ, and think that it may be made one. The existence of the House of Lords depends solely upon how far they can make this House a greater or less able, steady, and intelligent administrator of truly national interests.

No one who considers the predominant force of the ruling power of the present day—opinion—can doubt its speedy triumph in the measure which it now ordains. The House of Commons will be reformed—that is to say, made an efficient organ of the public. "What, then, will become of the House of Lords ? It must prove itself useful and conducive to the furtherance of national inte- rests, or it will cease to exist. It is worth inquiring, how far, as it is at present constituted, there is any chance of its becoming an advantageous branch of the Legislature : for if it be not calculated by its wisdom, its steadiness, its intelligence, and its patriotism, to contribute to the general good, the sooner it is reformed the better ler itself.

Hitherto its objects have been entirely selfish ; and we should be very ignorant of human nature if selfish conduct on the part of irresponsible power excited surprise. The King has held over them his prerogative in terrorein ; but chiefly by other means he has made them, on most occasions, a subservient instrument of his will : so that, when the House of Lords has not been playing into the hands of the Sovereign at the expense of the Nation, it has been cherishing the interests of its own order.

No one can show that it has ever done anything for the People el•

* It is not meant here that the Commons have made the People, but the People the Commons, in spite of all sinister interference. In ancient times as well as modern, the Commons have conspired with the Peers to keep down the People; as in their en- deavours to perpetuate the system of villeinage. Vide 5 Ric. II. Rot. Part. t It maybe asked, who extorted Magna Charta ?—the Peers. It is, however, a -vulgar error to assume that the Barons, in proposing the terms of Magna Charts, considered they were doing any thing for the People at large. It must be remem- bered, that although Peers led the army, people composed it ; and it is curious to see that in the articles the Barons presented to the King, they include restrictions on taillage, a tax which fell upon the People, and scutage, which bore upon them- selves—but in the Charter, scotage is alone remembered. In fact, Afagna Charta is She charter of the Barons; and it happened to contain some excellent maxims, which they made fur themselves, but which have been subsequently applied by the

Zeople. that task is yet to be begun—and how is the present House of Lords qualified to perform it ? Up to this moment, by the hold they have got of the representation of' the People, thereby warping it from its just destination, they have ruled the country precisely in the way best adapted to their own interests. When this unholy grasp is unwound, and the House of Peers is flung back upon its own resources as an insulated and irresponsible assembly, what will it be then—how is it to square its movements ? So long habi- tuated to legislate for privileges, how can it be brought to legislate for the general good ? and if it persist in measures beneficial to itself and its order alone, for how short a time will it be intrusted with constitutional power? Much has been said of the reform of

the Commons ; but that reform entails a reform of the Lords—and they know it. The honest, the independent, and patriotic are pre-

pared for the sacrifice of a power they do not wish to use : the arbitrary, the bigoted, the corrupt, and the interested, naturally spend their last effort in opposing that whieh must annihilate their own factitious consequence. Having thus considered the House of Lords in its relation to the other bodies of the State, let us next inquire if there is any thine- in the details of its composition, and in its internal structure, cal- culated to counteract the natural results arising from its false posi- tion in the community.

The history of the House of Lords is shameful : it is the history of intrigue and corruption. Who are they that, generally speak- ing, have been made Peers—and why ? Is a peerage the reward of virtue, of talent, of disinterestedness, of grand patriotic efforts, of a long course of noble doings ? No one who has looked with any care to the family annals of the British Peers will venture to say that, even in the selection of a virtuous man for a Peer, his virtue has been the cause of his ennoblement ; or if a man of talent, that he has been chosen because his talent has been pa- triotically directed. No—the Peerage has been one of the means employed for several ages to carry on the great J 013 of Govern- ment. If a patriot was troublesome, he was bought off by a peerage ; if a powerful individual was importunate, he was quieted by a peerage; if votes were in demand, the possessor or manager was paid by a peerage ; if a Minister's place was desired, he vacated it for a peerage. The lawyer, who proved the ablest in- strument of Government, was rewarded by a peerage. In short, the honour of the Peerage has been the Treasury of Corruption. The rights of the People have been trucked for the privileges of the Peers. Let us look at the result.

The House of Lords may be divided into classes. There are the great Landholders, who, being identified in their interests with smaller holders. may be considered as standing fairest in the House: but when they are also Boroughholders, which is com- monly the case, they then possess the means of warping the mea- sures of Government, and influencing them with a view to their own advantage. They are in a position to parley with the Govern- ment, and say, "You shall not pursue any scheme for the People's good until we are satisfied, for we have one foot in the Lords and one foot in the Commons, and can thus, if we please, trample upon you." The Law Lords are another branch : what is to be expected from them, but advocacy of the Government, whatever it be, that has raised them from the people to the distinguished posi- tion of a privileged class ? The education of a lawyer is not that which disposes him for sympathy with the wants of the People. Of the Soldier Peers, the same may be said : they are the creatures of those that sent them ; and there is nothing in generalship which peculiarly qualifies a man for becoming a legislator. The Diplo- matist, the Courtier, the Churchman, where they have not wealth in land or money, are all more or less the tools of the Government, in matters which do not concern their own privileges ; and have no claim to the trust and confidence of the mass of the People whom their every measure nearly concerns.

Such is the composition of a chamber of men called upon to deliberate upon the national interests. But grant that in the first instance the summons of the King was never issued but to worthy men, who were entitled by their wisdom, their virtue, or their wealth, to take a decided part in the national counsels : they do not live for ever, and who is it that succeeds them? An eldest son—an hereditary legislator—whose slumbers in the cradle are soothed with a lullaby of "my lord "—who is flattered and pam- pered from his earliest infancy by mercenary retainers, who reckon upon his future power, and quickly persuade the natural vanity of man that the nascent peer is a creature per se, sufficient in itself, for whom others are born, and who has but to smile and all must be happy. "Why do you weep ? " said the young Duke of BOR- DEAUX to his governess; "Jam quite well!" The clerical tutor, and the gold and silver robes of college, complete what the nurse and governess have begun ; and a youth of expense, debauchery, and selfish luxury, fitly prepares the minor lord for the duties of legislation. Either his wealth has survived the follies of youth, or it has not : if it has, he trades in boroughs and secures privi- lege, employment, pension, and patronage : if it has not, his vote is put up to sale, and the Minister who bids highest secures his cooperation, in measures however politically vile and dishonest Shallwe wonder, _then, that this House, so chosen and so perpe- tuated, comes at length to consider that it is as necessary to the state as light to the world ?—that its members dream that where they are they are to stay ?—and that, blind to the circumstances of their history, and to the signs of the times, they are to continue dreaming of their own dignity, and voting and intriguing away according I9 the shrewdest notions they can form of their own interest ? We have been speaking generally of the natural results of the circumstances in which a body of men have happened to be placed: we are far from denying that the chances and changes of life have had their influence here, as well as elsewhere, and that the present House of Lords contains many remarkable exceptions to the rule, and that there are among them far more gentrous,dis- interested, and patriotic individuals, than could possibly bave been predicated by a philosopher taking an a priori view of their consti- tution. But the force of opinion must be taken into consideration —the irregularity of descent, which sometimes unexpectedly lights upon an individual who has not been " set apart from the womb ;" and again, the chance of an unlightened tutor may have its influence, or even • the liberal maxims of a family—for there are some families whose pride it has ever been to set themselves on the side of the People, in opposition to the partial interests of their order. We have spoken of them collectively, and it is only col- lectively that their operations are attended by national results. If, as we have shown, the House of Lords, by the natural pro- gression of things, is hastening to an euthanasia because of its want of correspondence and sympathy with public opinion, what is so well calculated to postpone that inevitable hour, as the adop- tion of that for the want of which they must wither and decay? A large and copious addition of popular Peers would revivify the antique and mouldering mass, and cause it to rise up with much of the ardour and beauty of a veritable rejuvenescence. Unless this plan be acceded to, the days of the Peerage, as at present constituted, are numbered ; and yet it is against this very measure that the greatest number of prejudices are arrayed. The Peers are jealous of new men: what are they themselves ? Take even the oldest of them, they are but of a few centuries ; and the majority are the merest novi homines—mushrooms, whom a shower of wealth, or an accidental fall of borough rottenness, has caused to spring from the earth within the last few years. The Peerage of England is the most modern in Europe : it is a con- temptible upstart, compared with that either of Germany or of France. Where are the true ancestors of Englishmen, the men of Saxon blood ? where even the descendants of the butchers and bakers that came over with the Norman Conqueror ? Not all the lies of all the heralds can give us a creation six hundred years old; and such as go even two hundred years back are very thinly scattered indeed. Some of the most ancient blood of England is represented by men of private station, or by baronets, whose ancestors did not happen to receive the King's summons to Par- liament in former reigns, and whose descendants, if they were to receive it now, would carry into the House of Peers all that depends "upon Norman blood, or whatever else it is they are so proud oL"* But the day is gone past when a legislator is .to be chosen on such grounds.

It would be a curious phenomenon, if the obstacle which the Peers have thrown in the way of the People's measure, should lead to an immediate change in their own body. It was a reform in the Commons that was demanded ; we may come to see that a virtual reform in the House of Lords is a necessary preliminary. The House of Commons has confessed its corruption: are the Lords immaculate? They debate as if their House stood upon the foundations of the earth, and as if angels guarded its keystone. It would seem they deemed it the very sun of our political constellation : they are mistaken—it is but a lamp, and may want trimming—may be worn out, and renewed—may have grown use- less, and he removed : a more cynical illustrator of its nature might even term it a will o' the wisp, which, when the bog of cor- ruption in the other House comes to be dried up by Reform, may die out of itself.

* Lord Brougham's Speech on the Reform Bill.