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NOTE ON THE EXAMINER . The preference expressed in the last number of the Monthly Repository for Mr . Roebuck ' s plan of reforming the House of Lords by the single veto over Mr . O'ConnelVs scheme for an elective second Chamber , to which only peers should be eligible ,
seems not to be in accordance with the prevalent views of the Reform Press . The News observes , " if it came to that , the plain sense of the people would sooner have it done away with altogether . " I think so too , and had previously expressed my conviction of the advantage of simple abolition as compared with any plan of Reform . But the misfortune is that the choice does not rest with " the plain sense of the people . " The determination of the House of Commons , the concurrence of the House of Lords , either in its present state , or as packed for the purpose , and the royal assent , are all essential to a peaceful change ; and the question is , to what kind and amount of change they are likely to be obtained . The Cheltenham Free Press affirms that there is but one obstacle to Mr . O'Connell ' s
plan—" the dissent of the king . " We are not come to that yet . At present there is also the dissent of the two Houses of Parliament . By the way , the editor rather hastily imputes a blunder which is of his own making . It is true , as he says , that there are only 430 members of the House of Lords ; but it is also true that there are ( reckoning the Scotch and Irish ) 620 peers , all of whom would be eligible to the proposed elective House . The leading article of the Examiner for Jan . 17 th contained a more
extended notice of the letter on Peerage Reform , on which I shall make a few comments . The writer seems to assume ( as does also the editor of the Cheltenham Free Press ) that its leaving the constitution of the House of Peers undisturbed was represented , in the letter to
Mr . O'Connell , as one reason for preferring Mr . Roebuck ' s plan . It was not so intended . Its bearing" is upon the practicability , not the desirability , of the scheme . The argument is , that trie single veto would be the least annoying change to individuals , at the same time that it would be the most
beneficial for the public . The JExaviiner prefers the elective scheme for the sake of its improving influence upon the aristocracy . Very desirable is it that the aristocracy should be improved , but the proposed peerage school would be kept open by the nation at a costly rate . The frequent delay or mutilation of good measures , and the occasional adoption of bad ones , are rather too much for twenty millions to submit to , in order that a ftw hundreds paay have an additional stimulus to grow wiser . Another reason assigned for its preference is , " the advantage of the review and reconsideration of measures " which have
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PEERAGE REFORM .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1836, page 93, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2654/page/29/
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