NEWS OF THE WEEK.
NITE have assumed, in an article on the subject, that the Lords will waive their proposal to make the secrecy of voting optional, but the latest rumours point to a different result. We are told that all the leaders of the majority in the Upper House now regret they did not reject the Bill, and intend to kill it by insisting on an amendment which they know the Government will not accept. We can hardly believe, however, that the rank and file of the party will follow their leaders on so reckless a course, which at the worst may create a serious agitation, and at the best can end only in the waste of another Session in a dispute which can but end in one way. The Lords have secured the scrutiny, and they can secure if they like the limitation of the Act to the next eight years, but the optional secrecy they cannot secure if they fight for a century. To attempt it is only to throw out the Bill, which only a fortnight ago they had agreed to pass.
