With the battle-ax, sir, with the battle-ax!

The journalist Steven Sailer recounts a exchange from early-20th-century England: 'A hereditary member of the British House of Lords complained that Prime Minister Lloyd George had created new Lords solely because they were self-made millionaire who had only recently acquired large acreages. When asked, "How dd your ancestor become a Lord?" he replied sternly, "With the battle-ax, sir, with the battle-ax!"

S. Pinker, The better angels of our nature (2011), 99

I note, perhaps hearteningly, that this is entirely, unsupported by proper references, as Sailer acknowledges here.