It is no wonder that the House of Lords itself should be shamed over the survival of a caste system which permits even an idiot, born to the purple, to share the honors and responsibilities of membership in the highest assembly of their government, but even those apologists who maintain that the Britisher of rank feels obligations to humanity as does no other public man must take fright at the proposed concentration of power the new plan would insure. Certes, after many years of thwarted hopes for bettering of general conditions, the patient English people could only rise, in holy wrath, and abolish the House of Lords altogether. And, as a real and permanent reform measure, why don’t they do it now? The German Incident Closed “The toot of the Teuton is tootin’ no more, All sober sits Berlin, beside the wild Spree;” The words of this classic were never more apropos. The ebullition of German indignation over their Kaiser’s indiscreet interview, published in the London Daily Telegraph recently, the salient features of which were summarized in the December Jeffersonian, has subsided and the hard words, as proverbial, have “broken no bones.” That something drastic should be done to prevent such outbreaks in future, as well as to reprimand the “Great War Lord” for the unfortunate garrulity, was the generally held, resentful opinion; but _doing_ it, was another matter, unless the mincing of words between the Emperor and his Imperial Chancellor could so be construed. After their meeting for the purpose of discussing the matter, Von Bulow announced to the Reichstag that he was convinced the Kaiser would hereafter “observe that reserve, even in private conversations, which is equally indispensable in the interest of a uniform policy, and for the authority of the Crown.” This assurance was further bolstered by an official publication that Emperor William “approved this statement” and “gave Prince Bulow the assurance of his continued confidence.” This pacification the Reichstag was apparently glad to accept, in lieu of a constitutional guarantee of a check upon the Kaiser. During the national hysteria, when all were alike guilty of lese-majeste, it was safe to join the popular clamor. In his official capacity, no member of the Reichstag seemed bold enough to attempt to storm the fortress of “Divine Right.” It would have required a now impossible unification of opposing forces in that body, under leadership fearless of the consequences to self, to have magnified the disturbance into a real revolution in the German government. So, on all sides, there was a refluencing tide of displeasure—but the water-mark will remain for many a day to show that patience has its limits even in a people of almost unexampled docility. And, after having enjoyed a very carnival of free speech, they will never again submit to the gagging which has heretofore obtained.