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Tomahawk (1867-1870), 10th July 1869, Edition 1 of 1, Page unpag, Hereditary Peerage is on its trial now, ...

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    • PEERLESS HONOUR.
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      The Tomahawk. A Saturday Journal Of Sati...

      THE TOMAHAWK . A SATURDAY JOURNAL OF SATIRE . o € i > iteii t » t > & vtt ) UT h' & eckett * MMWMaMl ^/ I ^ Mn ^ MMI * . I \ 1 % t f ^ " INVITAT CULPAM QUI PECCATUM PRETERIT . "

      No. 114.] London, July 10, 186 9. [Price...

      No . 114 . ] LONDON , JULY 10 , 186 9 . [ Price Twopence .

      Peerless Honour.

      PEERLESS HONOUR .

      Hereditary Peerage Is On Its Trial Now, ...

      Hereditary Peerage is on its trial now , socially as well as politically . We do not think that the conduct of the House of Peers with regard to the Irish question will do anything but advance the respect and honour in which , as a legislative body , the Peers are held . However much we may differ from the arguments used and the conclusions arrived at , we cannot deny that the spirit of many of the amendments proposed shows a higher sense of justice and statesmanship than has ever distinguished the House of Commons , either as individuals or as a whole . In fact , the existence of a body of legislators whose position depends neither on the caprice of mobs , nor on the favour of party leaders , is of great benefit to a State . We never denied this ; and , whatever our detractors may say , we have never advocated the abolition of the House of Lords as the House of Lords . What we do maintain is , that the more just , the more , wise , the more truly noble the intellectual , industrious , and legislative members of the Hereditary Peerage show themselves , the more conscientiously they do their duties , the more necessary it is to relieve them from the contamination " ' of the idle , the vicious , the useless members of their body , who , whether assisting in the deliberations and discussions of the Upper House or no , have still the right to give a vote on all questions brought before that House , and cannot , under any circumstances , except imprisonment , be deprived of that right . It is reform , not abolition , of the Peerage that we advocate , in the interest of the Peers themselves no less than in the interest of the country . The evil done by the scandalous conduct of individuals whose position , owing to no merit of their own , is a high one in the land , is incalculable . It tends to advance the influence and doctrines of the most ignorant demagogues , and to disgust b m y oderat a title e , peopl so effect e , whos ually e sense that they of right are and ready wrong to joi is n not in affected the cry against the whole body for the offences of some of its meanest members the ermine . , It that is often " these said by those writers who " live attack upon a the Lord skirts or of a Prince for doing things which John Smith or Tom Brown ( no allusion to the member for Frome ) can do with impunity . . Quite true ; but an hereditary legislator , or a junior pri member vileges of that the Peerage he does , ca without nnot expe some ct to responsibility enjoy the eno . rmous J ohn Smith can go bankrupt without exciting much astonishment , commiseration , or censure ; but a Duke cannot . While large privil estate eges s , im , are mense atta political ched to influence a Dukedom , gr , eat people social will and expect political the

      noble owner of these advantages to devote his time and money to something better than gambling and dissipation . If he will consent to make over his possessions with their responsibilities to some one who is not unworthy of the former or contemptuous of the latter , then he may go to the dogs as fast as he likes . His family and friends may suffer , it is true , and his moral guilt will be none the less as regards himself ; but he will not do so much injury to public morality , as he must do in his eminent and privileged position . Let us just consider how Hereditary Peerage presents itself to the public in the persons of some of its members at the present moment . A Duke and his two brothers are passing through the Bankruptcy Court with various degrees of dishonour . Another noble Duke , not unknown on the Turf , has paraded his violation of the marriage vow so openly as to bring on him , the tardy rebuke of fashionable journals . An Earl is being sold up by one of the associated blood-suckers , who like their blood blue , and seem to have no difficulty in gratifying their taste . The eldest son and heir of an eminent Peer and ex-Chancellor , who must succeed some day to the title that his father ' s intellect , if not his uprightness , won shown for no him , is an to u his nco nearest nvicted relations forger at larg who e ; has a man drai who ned has the purse of a mercy too generous and noble-hearted , brotherwho has shown himself insensible alike to gratitude and shame , . Unblushing , unrelenting , he has dragged through the mire the name of father , brother , sister , wife , of everybody connected with him . Were he by birth the pauper that he is now by crime , he would be safe within some gaol , or working at the quarries of Portland ; as it is , this just punishment is denied him , and he shows that he knows how to avail himself of such forbearance . Another Peer , who has been attacked in print , not altogether without foundation , assaults his accuser , ostensibly on the grounds of reverence for his father ' s memory . He had better have shown that reverence by the tenour of his life than by an isolated exploit of courage like this . He had better have remembered what was due to his position when he succeeded to his father ' s title , not now when the title has little weight in the eyes of those who sit as the legislators of the people . He is the chosen companion of the Heir-Apparent ; we will say no more of him . If he has the sympathy of the public with him now , let him try for the future to deserve it . We have not yet exhausted the list of these scandals which have brought the very existence of Hereditary Peerage into danger . Compared with the number of noble , intellectual , upright , and pure-hearted men whom we could select from among the Peers , these black sheep may seem an

  • Citation
    • Tomahawk (1867-1870), July 10, 1869, page unpag, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/t/issues/ttw_10071869/page/3/