The Dominion. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4. 1910. THE BRITISH CRISIS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 733, 4 February 1910, Page 4

The Dominion. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4. 1910. THE BRITISH CRISIS.

Although they fail to tall us the things we, most desire to know, the latest cable messages dealing with the political situation in Great Britain make it clear that the Government's' position is one of. great and increasing difficulty. Not the least of' the Government's troubles is its inability' to, make up its mind as to the exact attack, to be made upon the legislative powers of the Upper, House. Nothing ;is easier than to proclaim that "the veto must go," or that "the Lords must be smashed," but those-who, having had these phrases dinned into their ears for months, imagine that the "abolition' of. the veto" or the "smashing' of the 'Lords" : are , simple operations' easily within the compass of a Government with a working majority at its back, are profoundly ignorant of the delicacy, the. complexity, and the magnitude of tho business of destroying the unwritten Constitution of the'-nation. In the meantime there are ; other sources' of trouble*;to the'' Government.': The Nationalist vote is the Government's | only on an . option so depondent upon incalculable interests as to be far too precarious a possession" to inspire its holder, with much confidence. Should the question of tho Peers' legislative powers bo settled sufficiently well to allow the session' to proceed, the Budget/,cannot .be . brought , in''.without V such. concessions. to the i Irish party as will make the Budget-Home Rule bargain stand forth in, all its nakedness. The. ; immediate result must be to cause a' split ini. this; Lib-', eral ranks,. for not all tho Liberals, and not all the members of the Government, are prepared to give their support: to, anything - like tho ■ measure of Home Rule which will be demanded by Mr. Redmond as the irreducible minimum. .■. ■ ' , , ; It now. appears very probable that the Labour party, conscious . that it is for the first time in a position to make its own terms with; the party in power, will place-its own interests above the interests of its Liberal friends. ( What' the Labour party may do was. hinted at by Mb. Ramsay Mac Donald in v the interview summarised in our cable news of yesterday.- "Anyone assuming," he said, '.'that tho Labour party would simply' be. content with'anything Government, might propose regarding -the House of Lords was much mistaken." • He warns the.' Government 'in pretty 1 plain terms that Labour's support will be available only if tho Liberals "deal drastically". with unemployment. This means, as the London, Times points out, that Labour's price is a Right-to-Work Bill—a price which tho Government, .unless it swallows, ail. its principles;' simply cannot pay. The is also of the opinion that tho Labour party will demand a Bill that will reverse the judgment of the House of'Lords;.in the famous; Osborne'; judgment that trades unionß cannot omploy their funds, or strike levies, for tho payment of Labour members of Parliament. ;"Wb have, frequently ..die-.-cussed- this most important ease, which was finally disposed of just before Christmas.. The- strongest ground upon' which the claim of the trades unions'was dismissed was the ground of public policy.. "It needs little'imagination," said Lord Shaw- .■ in his,judgment, -"to figure the peril in; which Parliamentary government would stand .if, either by the pur-/ chasq of single votes or by subsidies for regular support, the public wellbeing were, liable to, betrayal at'the command, and for the advantage of,' particular individuals or classes." The Daily Chronicle, a sound Liboral journal, remarked that in the . face of such a judgment an alteration of the law is neither probable | nor desirable.

Befote,' however, the, Government begins to struggle along subjected to the pressure of : the' Labour and Nationalist groups, it has to overcome the initial difficulty of dealing with the Peers without going to pieces. The. Prime . Minister haß certainly: used language that might, be interpreted as an intimation that unless the Peers are willing to divest themselves of their legislative powers he will resort to unexampled measures of circumvention. The other day Mr. Lloyd-Georgb declared that the Government would pass its Budget/without consulting. the.Loids at all, but it is difficult to believe that the cooler-headed of the Liberals). however strongly they may feel thai the Lords have transgressed the ■: spirit of the . Constitution, can approve of a policy of rectification that involves the ■ absolute destruction bf the' fundamental law of Parliamentary government. In civil affairs we may - sometimes feel that a- Supreme Court judge has erred, but every sane person will cling to the/ existing judicial system in'preference to a direct appeal to the King's •, Ministers' without referring legal causes to the established tribunals., So in Britain, there must be an overwhelming weight of opinion against the ignoring of either House in tho enactment ,■of the nation's,laws. To-day it is reported that tho editor of tho Liverpool Post has stated that the Asquith Government is committed to retiring from office unless the King gives an assurance that the power of the Lords shall be broken. "The Budget, "the statement continues,, "is of secondary importance, and Supply can-be refusedr until grievances are

redressed."-"* Should' the Government take up that attitude, the King is not in the least likely to agree that a dispute over policies is a sufficient warrant for hia interposition. There would simply be a change of Government, and another dissolution, from which- the Unionists would return with/ a .majority. To the,overseas citizens of the Empire it is not a little depressing, and it is very disturbing, to find that British statesmen have so far lost their bearings as not to see that it is contrary to the spirit of British government, and a rejection of the policy of caution on which Britain's stability has been founded, to regard the fortunes of any momentary policy as of greater importance than the fortunes of the Constitution. The'.cardinaL crime of the Lords, so the Liberals assured us, was their breach of Constitutional usage. Yet these very Liberals are now advocating the complete destruction of that usage.