The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1909. THE BRITISH POLITICAL SITUATIN.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 660, 10 November 1909, Page 6

The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1909. THE BRITISH POLITICAL SITUATIN.

T)vo weeks hence the :Financc' : Bili will come before the House of Lords, .but we shall prpbftbjy ; npj know ■ for., a" ;■ few ,days what is likely. .to happen.. There have been . abundant (indications that' neither the Peers, nor those political leaders who hay<)'most? weight':with the Peers,,'have begn able to make up their minds between the conflicting policies of amendment .on the one hand and actiia.l or virtual,rejecfcipn pn the other. It. is. doubtful,'., even; whether Punch is as humorously accurate as usual-in its suggestion that .'"Lord Lansdowne and Mr. Balfour , wills be found to' hayp tied for tho: prize- offered by a. certain firm pf te,a-pjantera to the perspn sending in the mpst corrfcet detaijed forooggfc of th§ will dp/ wjjih the Budget. , '.' The Daily ■GhtpriM?e,we are tpl.d to-day, suspects, that the Peers who support Tariff Reform are pnr deavouring to stiffen;the resolution of their tarner brethren, and it , appears to believe that when the time conies the Bill, will be allowed to pass. .The cross-play of interests .Amongst; opponents of; the ■ Bill is extraordinarily interesting. Their problem is much more difficult than i the Government's. In', concluding his recent Birtfiingharn speech Mn, AgQUiTii was as ;buoyant ai)d defiant;, as one could wish. Amendment- and; rejection by the Lprds, he said,; were both.'p«| .pf the; question. Either would mciin'"financial'anil adininistrative 'chaos,'"-? and wpuld involve.'.,'issues: far wider, f deeper, than the mpro right of-.the; : Hg'use .'of Lbrds to rnedfllc with fhjjin.ee, , ' : His party, therefore,, was ''not only ready but anxious, and- not only anxious but eager, to take up the This was of course only Mk. ;wgy-of growing h.is belief that, .in iiny struggle 'to come the Liberals will be able to'appeal,-not to the'merits of the Budget,;but to such a hatred of'the Hppsc |9f as is supposed tp exist,, but'as to thje esistencopf-which there is, as'a matter of-fact, a' great deal of doubt;' , f |hc Liberal policy: is, obviously, to .terrify the Lords:into acceptance of .the whole Bui.; -v■■.,-■:. :;•;■■ 7; : " : - .••■;"■■ -vl . ■ Tjhe Unionists believe, however,, that the Government is not at all anxious tp gp to fh? country. Eathor than a.dissolution, );|icy calculate, the Government will endure, a good deal of amendment.'" ilii/ Asquith's ■statement that amendment ivill be :the same.'as. rejection; has not been taken Bβ.rioμß,ly \, ■ • the ; consiitu-; tipnal controversy,—as to the Lords' right to amend-Finance Bills-by removing mat-; torMqreigji Tfo the general of ■those Bills—would not havo continued es merrily-.as;ever. Of the:Loj:dy power of veto-there no ..question, and' there'' ; J j Ppctjcajly , : as.",.little- dpubt. as to";"their right 'pf • -'ameiidmenV. aJfclj.QHgh complicated historical theses to the contrary can be,' and ..have been, spun; as the phrase gpgs," "liptilvfurther orders." The 2'tmes,according to;;a cabji? message this morning, is.jifgjng the polity of drastic ameridiTientr^of' that. amendmerift that' is to say,..whjch consists pf an-en Jjlqg rejec-, tjon This:is in accord with' the'view which it expressed on Octobey 1.. The -..Peers, it said, had no desire tp challenge t£e privileges claimed by the.Cpmmons in.regard to finance: .

; "Nothing will tempt them, we are confident, into interfering-in. any-degjge. with the financial W pr even principles of tae Budget, so far as aro financial in any true and proper sense of the term. It is'only because the .Budget is being used as an engine 59 .offlß train, of provisions which are not properly-matter for a Financs Bill at all, that they will rgluctantly resolve,-if indeed fey- do soi not tp pass it into law. If they reject £he Bjidget they will reject it be-' cause it is a sham, and because they hold that ■tlie'issues which' it mvolyes • are issues \upon which the nation, before whose decision the Commons as well as tho'Lords must boiv, havo a clear right to ■.bo.'consujted." ■ v.

:?fe ffiajn; diffipujty of the Unionist party ' arises put pf,the cpntien,ding hopes of the Freetraders and Tarji^, Eeformers. The feel:confident thaf the rejection Budget wiU be followed by rUmonisWictory' at the next General Election, and the trjuinph pf Tariff Reform;nQw $e chief piank of the party. M 5. Oeambbelaui, in a letter read at the Birmingham meeting addressed by Me. Balfoue, hopgd thai; tho Hpuse pf Lords WPuld their way iio force a General .Ejection. "Mp.Asqijith," he said, "admits thafc Tariff is the only al.ternative, It is therefore between the Budget and Tariff Kefprm that ypu have tp choose.". '■'', , . ' .The Unipnisi; Free-traders appear to beJieye .that-: this jg' %;, alternative. Their obj.ection to thfl Budgqt is balanced by their objection l to what they fear, will bo. the alternative. Tb.o Spectator has been endeavouring to inspire them with courage by declarjng that tlje rejection of. the Budget- -yy-iH not assist Tariff Bcforrn at a 11..' A'dissolution, it says, would.result m the return pf the Gpvernment with a

greatly dimipished •■ majority—in which case. Socialistic legislation could not bo attemptechrpr,,ijj the return pf a Unipnist Gpvernment.with a small majority. In. the second casetho Unionist Free-traders would have $he support;of the Liberals in making Tariff Reform impossible.' It is: impossible to.guess at considerationsi ffhjch will have most: weight in deciding; tl|e' actien of the Peers, but. if.is.eq-iaHy. impossible, to believe that the : ; Bi^W}!J j . The really as ; ■ tomsWng:,tßfflgJe;>|iaj. ,tho Liberals, who, '«ocoaCjdently,aaMrtthatthe aatioa vasts

the Budget, arts so desperatelyopposed to that action by thb Peers which will-give the - -, nation an opportunity to v rccord its opinion beyond dispute , . The Government, .however, has ptatpd in the'plainest terms that if ..an. appeal is to be made to the ..country:the. battle-cry will be,, not "ThoBftdget!":bnt "Down- with the. ■ Peers! , '- This, loots-like ■anything: but confidence:. ■.m?;ihe;;BudgetitselfNEycn if the Govern}ment;,W6re. to.siicceedi.aVthe' election,-Hhe quitch witHin thcir.vrightsV ■■in...;rpfusing--to accept the. verdict,, as":a----.vo r ;dict. -: against. the present , constitution of.■P.arHaraejii,-.and it is really impossible ; ,tb;see : ;«h6w■ tlie'.Commons -can, ..without a' -Eoccind..dissolution, proceed with. the:'end- ; ; of .'the Upper "House." .^itllPHt -the:co-operation of : that ■Souse.i: : nothing-, can,.be done by any. Government' .-|,o-alter'tjie existing systch) other tljan by ; :the. creation of■■a.nfarmy.Df'new■Peers...■■':'■