The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 4, 1911. THE BRITISH POLITICAL SITUATION.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1016, 4 January 1911, Page 4

The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 4, 1911. THE BRITISH POLITICAL SITUATION.

> There, may be some very deep and disturbing significance in the absence of new peerages from the iNew iear honours, and equally bo no significance in it at all. Tho second of these hypotheses is unlikely to obtain ' much general support in Great Britain, where, it,, is made increasingly evident to us every week - ; whcn the mail arrives, that tho tendency towards hysteria is growing rapidly. There are tew .journalists in Britain with greater strength or aplomb than Miti J..L. Garvin, whom- the , Liberals devest more bitterly, and attack more wildly than the very Dukes of tho street, as we suppose 'wo ought to call thorn. .Yet in his paper the Observer, Mil. Garvin sometimes lias fits of something like delirium. On the other hand there is no'paper in, Britain, with a finer reputation for good form" and coolness than tho Westminster Gazette. Yet the Ixazetfc, has -within the past six months become quite Jacobinistic, and is _ now eager to whoop on any extremist idea that its friends bear into the din of battle and to leave unrebuked, even to bless in an oblique fashion, the nastinesses of MR., Lt.oyd-George. The Liberal tress almost as a-whole is quite hysterical, and there arc only rare exceptions amongst the Unionist journals which are, or were, not equally ' dishevelled and furious. This, of course,' is a. phase that will' pass,: although it will take, time in passing; and when it has passed,.unfortunately, it will leave some'permanent _ marks upon tho character of, British; journalism, just a,s the excessive, heat engendered amongst the. politicians will, have some permanent bad effects upon British" pnbhc; opinion. In the meantime it is not very.-likely that.the absence of new. peerages from the honours list has' any significance at all; . If tho Prime Minister'' had received from tho. Kino a• guarantee of an. proval for any peerages ■ho might recommend, it can hardly he doubted he would end all his troubles by doing now what in such a casS he would do.later on, for ho has nothing'to nam,'.'and ,a good deal to lose, by -allowing the Peers to take ;the. sting out of. tho Parliament Bill. Tdcre is, of. course, no certainty that Mr. Asquitii will obtain from the Kino any/guarantees that may be necessary for tho conversion of tho' House of Lords into a wing of the Liberal party. ■ _It would be very pleasant to be able to feel that the New Year ad,y.lc<> °f, T! ' c -Times an.d Standard w.ould be taken to heart by the political,.leaders, on both'sides.' This advice was' summarised in some cable_ messages printed yesterday, and;-it is:.cortainly such as will receive the : . approval of all ■ levelheaded people in the-overseas Empire. "If ever there was a case for settlement by consent,'.' The Times thinks, "it is- in connection with the present political crisis," and it remarks upon the fact, for it is a fact beyond dispute, that the selfgoverning Dominions arid foreign observers alike see with extraordinary unanimity that tho case is not ono'foiva reckless "fight ,to a finish." Tho two points that" really dominate the situation, to the eyo of true statesmanship, must be, first, the division of the nation into two practically equal parties, and second, ' high seriousness of the issue. Under any- decent system of proportional representation,, coupled .with .such a redistribution of, seats as Vould moderate the overrcpresontation of Ireland and bring the British-votes to something like equality, the late ■ election - would have given the Unionists a representation very nearly equal to all tho. other parties combined. It is undesirable. that a defective electoral system should make possible the representation of a small margin in tho country by a huge margin in the House; but it is intolerable that such a weakness in the law should _ leave the way open to 1 the alteration of the' whole basis of government by the yoto of the odd man. Wo have' several times urged that -a settlement by consent, is what tho sober people in the overseas Empire would like to see, and, as The Times indicates, this interpretation of public opinion at tho ringside is correct. Should Mr,'Asquitii obtain from the King the "guarantees" that he desires, and should he decide to destroy bi-cameral government by brute force, ho will inflict a deep injury, not only upon Great Britain, hut upon tho Empire, for he will have embraced' that policy of revolutionary recklessness to. tho steady avoidance of which is due the .present power and strength of the United Kingdom.