236 BRITAIN FOR THE BRITON 



who caimoL resist the widespread temptation to drunkenness, 

 and yet the "trade" is so well organised, disciplined, and 

 equipped with all the newest weapons of political warfare — 

 whatever these may be — that the Government are i)owcrless 

 to help the i)eople. As with the land, so with the traffic in 

 intoxicating drinks — ccrtai)i vedcd interests hew the weiy to 

 reforms of a nature that would he of real help to the people, and 

 the thinrj hceomes impossihlc. 



Self-interest is, ]ierhaps, the strongest force in liuman nature, 

 and it rules this country with arbitrary sway, all men and all 

 classes being subject to its universal influence. 



106 Peers gathered aviien Lord Egberts sroke on 

 NATIONAL DEFENCE 



When Lord Eoberts made his great speech in the House of 

 Lords in the autumn of last year on the pressing necessity of 

 National Defence, 106 peers were in their seats in the Upper 

 House, in spite of the fact that the Press had been commenting 

 on the forthcoming speech and calling attention to the dangers 

 of foreign invasion a couple of months beforehand. The debate, 

 however, fell flat, little interest being evoked at the time, and 

 — none since ! 



368 Peers killed the Licensing Bill 



In the final debate on tlie Licensing Bill, at which its 

 obsequies were performed, 368 peers voted while others were 

 in their places who did not vote. 



Commentinrf on it, one of the London dailies had the 

 f olio win cf : — 



•"o 



" The beirinnino; of the cndiuj? of the Confiscation Bill was 

 carried out to-night in a brilliant setting and an atmosphere ot 

 tranquillity. 



"The attendance was the largest the Gilded Chamber has wit- 

 nessed this year. There have been no such gathering of Unionist 

 peers, and no sucli crowded galleries of peeresses, since the last 

 occasion on which the House of Lords killed a measure. This was 

 in the spring, when they made short work of the Scotch Land Bill, 

 which the Commons had flunsr back at them for the second time." * 



*o 



If this episode means anything it is this : that while the 

 Peers of the Piealm are not pre])ared to exert themselves in 

 the least where National Defences are concerned, or, at the 

 best, take but a languid interest in the movement, the crowded 



* Daibj Express, November 26, 1908. 



