The real fight began in Committee on Thursday. The House
was crowded, and Lord Salisbury in particular was like a captain with his decks cleared for action. It was very soon clear that if the Peers ruled England the Bill would soon be whittled away. An amendment by the Duke of Richmond reducing the scale of compensation for eviction according to the extent of the holding, so that a £20 tenant would only get four years' rent, was carried by 92 votes to 71, and so was another by Lord Luau prohibiting conacre by 148 to 108,—the Bishops voting with the Government. The first amendment spoils the Bill, and, as to the second, it was passed in defiance of a compromise offered by Lord Granville and accepted by the Duke of Richmond. It will be impossible for the Commons to agree to either, and we see some signs that the fiercer Peers are getting "out of hand," and preparing for themselves a humiliation. We hope it will be averted, but with Lord Derby away, the Duke of Richmond brushed aside by a man like Lord Lucan, and Lord Granville finding the weather almost too hot for the velvet glove, there may yet be an overturn greatly injurious to first-class passengers.
