THE KING AND THE PEERS.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXXV, Issue 13056, 26 April 1910, Page 4

THE KING AND THE PEERS.

Ste Edward Carson, formerly SolicitorGcneral in the Balfour Tory Cabinet, feels annoyed .at Prime Minister Asquith’s proposal to create 500 new peers, in order that they may carry the - will of the people .through the Tory Upper House. Of course, creating 500 new peers at one stroke appears supremely ridiculous to us oversea, but it has, at the same time, to bo remembered that it is tho only constitutional course open to poor Mr Asquith. But Sir Edward, using strong gutter language to .describe tho proposal, opines that the Prime Minister’s suggestion is a scandalous one. According to the Tory philosophy, the. only decent . thing to, do in any circumstances is to submit to what the Tories dictate, and they are invariably given to thinking it scandalous should the other side resort to weapons they (the . Tories) would not hesitate to employ to relieve themselves from a similar situation. The same old. stupid spirit of blocking the will pf the people by thrusting the. alleged sacrednees of the King before their.-eyes, was shown by the Cavaliers when Charles I. tried to enslave the British nation. Even, when James 11. tried the same game, there were not wanting similar people to assert that the Divine Eight of Kings to do what they liked should not be challenged. It was the same old stupid spirit which aided and abetted George 111. in the muddle which lost Britain her American colonies. The 20th Century Tories are prepared to admit that those Kings acted wrongly in defying the people’s will. But, strangely enough, they are quite ready to hint that the King should defy the people’s will now, and when there' seems a likelihood of him acting constitutionally after all, they call it scandalous. :