THE HOUSE OF LORDS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5056, 7 June 1877, Page 3

THE HOUSE OF LORDS.

(Contributed.) The House of Lords, the influence it has exercised as a constituent part of the body politic of the English nation, its legislative functions, and the effect of its exercise of those functions upon the social condition of British subjects, has for a long time been a topic for discussion, not only at the private dinner table, or over a quiet pint of beer in a public-house, with a screw of tobacco and a good old churchwarden pipe (those who know Old England will understand what I mean), but also in the leading periodicals published in England, and in that powerful organ of modern times, " the public Press." And during the last few years we ■will venture to say that there has been a great revolution of public opinion in respect to their Lordships. In England, happily for her, the people are a law-abiding people. The democratic feeling which has been going backwards and forwards in the minds of the people since the French Revolution in 1707 has, from events in other countries in Europe since, received a severe check. The cry which was raised by the Liberals for universal suffrage (for that was what the proposal really amounted to) under Mr. Gladstone's Government in 1867, has died away, and the general feeling of the conntry has become more Conservative. The idea of one man being better than another because he possesses a handle to his name has also become an exploded one ; and we are disposed to think that has conferred a mutual benefit upon all classes of the community. Why should there be any line of demarcation between one class and another? In the first chapter of Lord Macaulay's beautiful history of his own country, a book which must charm every reader, and which is more like a poem or a romance than a " dry history," as we schoolboys used to call histories, it is very clearly and very ably pointed out how expansive 13 the Constitution uuder which England has risen to her present eminence. There is no such thing now as an aristocracy in the old sense of the word. We don't wish to go back to the old idea of the definition of the term '■ gentleman." Our own notion corresponds with the very well-known one that he is a gentleman " who behaves himself as such." But to return to our subject, the nobles of old have lost their sway ; the rank 3 of the House of Peers are now being continually replenished by the exeroise of the prerogative of the Crown, which enables the advisers of her Majesty to select those who have made their mark amongst their fellow-commoners, and who, having acquired large experience aud political knowledge in the House of Commons, are peculiarly well fitted for taking part in the calmer atmosphere .of the House of Lords. They have shown their ability and honesty in guiding the destinies of their country, and their right to be looked upon as leaders of men. We may here, ad interim, just recur to the fact that the power to create a Peer give 3 the Sovereign an opportunity of rewarding the services of men who have distinguished themselves in military operations in the field; a power which has often been taken advantage of with great benefit; for instance, the great Duke of Wellington. The state of affairs to which we have arrived, and which we think will be readily understood by all, has been carefully considered, and has Tadually become satisfactory to all the thinking men of the age, and to those also who take their ideas from them. The influence which the House of Lords has exercised on the councils of the nation has been very considerable, and has at the same time very considerably increased. At the present time the opinion entertained of it by the great majority of the electors of Great Britain is probably more favorable than it has ever been before. England has now for some time enjoyed a state of profound peace. We do not forget the Abyssinian expedition. But that was so far as our argument goes a mere trifle, and not worth taking into account. To all intents and purposes the "temple of Janus has been closed," to go back to classic times, and we are reminded, so far as England is concerned, of her own poet's words—

No war or battle sonnd Was heard the world around, But peaceful was the nltrht On which the Prince of Light His reign of Peace on Earth began. So much for our peaceful relations externally But our statesmen, being obliged to do somethin", have been exercising their minds on internal affairs. Army Keform, Law Iteform, Church Kates, Church Disestablishment, Inland Taxation, the position of the Licensed Victuallers, and various domestic matters, hare therefore attracted the attention of the representatives of the people in the English Parliament. Most of these social questions, however, give rise to great party struggles. War would have diverted their attention from these subjects, and compelled them to occupy their time in devising measures for meeting the common foe and the common danger. But during peace our Imperial legislators, having their hands empty as to foreign objects, turn their attention to social matters ; and therefore, as wo have said, party feeling is apt to run high. In every popular assembly this has been found to be the case all the world over. But the atmosphere of the House of Lords is calmer and more dpliberative. We have led up in this way to the subject of our present paper, because there have been many references lately in the various papers published in the colonies, with respect to tho desirability or otherwise of retaining an Upper Chamber; and may we be allowed to define what in our opinion should be the meaning to the mind by "Upper Chamber." We should bo inclined to define it as "a chamber removed from those sudden ebullitions of popular feeling to which all purely representative chambers are liable, but at the same time amenable to public opinion, as forming a branch of the Legislature, with common sense to do, after careful consideration, what is best for the country whoso interests they are supposed to protect. In support of these remarks we may quote from a very able article on the subject, published in the February number of " Eraser's Magazine." Every reader who takes an interest in this must not forget that tho result of the election of the present House of Commons was the cause of the removal of one Government from office and the putting of another in its place, and that therefore tho present House of Commons may be looked upon as tho mirror in which the opinion of the majority of the peoplo of England will bo found, at least up to tho present time. (To be continued.)