The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 1912. THE OUTLOOK FOR MR. ASQUITH

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1422, 24 April 1912, Page 4

The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 1912. THE OUTLOOK FOR MR. ASQUITH

Owixa first to the great coal strike and then to the terrible wreck of the Titanic the public abroad has not been able to see or think much of the political situation in Great Britain. A big and important chapter is opening then*, however. The Government is committed to Home llule and Welsh Disestablishment, since these measures arc payments due for the sectional support that keeps the Liberals in office; it is saddled with the defence of the unpopular Insurance Act; it has also to reconcile the interests of the friends of adequate naval defence, with the interests of thoM wJjo opposs naval «BUi«n<sy out of their a&geineH £or what tliay tail

"social reform" programmes. The Government is seriously troubled, on top of all this, by the whole suffrage question. Finally, it has clearlv lost its grip on the country. In ail the circumstances it appears almost cruel to remember how, shamelessly the Government has thrown aside its pledge to follow up (he Parliament Act with a measure of Upper House Reform. We all know, of course, that the Government dare not even mention House of Lords Reform until it has "delivered the goods" to Mil. Redmoxi>. The real Home Rule fight is only just beginning. The Bill has been introduced a-fid has been read a first time, but it has to undergo a long period of criticism in Parliament and in the country, and it is a measure open to attack on every side. The outlook is not at all cheerful for the Liberals. As Sik Henry Lucy put it, in his "cross-bench" article in the Observer of March 10: "It is the Ministerialists who to-day show signs of depression, the Opposition who are jubilant with assurance of ultimate victory" and this veteran chronicler admitted that the Ministerialist depression was an extremely reasonable thing, and would, he hinted, become more reasonablo than ever very soon. In tackling AVelsh Disestablishment the Government is tackling something more than the general body of Anglican feeling. The Catholic Month and tho Tablet, the two leading organs of Catholicism, have opposed Disestablishment, on grounds so deep and powerful that Catholic Liberal opinion will turn largely away from the Liberalism that is now so obviously the burdenbearer for the forces embodied in tho Mr. Lloyd-George of Limehouso or of Whitfield's Tabernacle. As for Home Rule, a new force has risen up against it. •We noted two or three weeks ago the rough and arrogant fashion in which tho Nationalists trod the Conciliation Bill out of existence, and we find from English files to hand this week, that the killing of that measure had been contemplated for about a fortnight beforehand. A correspondent of the Manchester Guardian declared on March 13 that the Irish members would oppose the Bill, their reason being their fear that the success of the Bill would cause a split in the Cabinet, which is hopelessly divided over the suffrage question. The position was thought so ppjious by tho Guardian Miat it printed an editorial warning to the Nationalists of the folly of such action. For the Nationalists to oppose the Bill would be, it urged, "an act of direct hostility to the whole women's suffrage cause. Can the Irish members," it pointedly asked, "quite afford this?" Wo have seen that the warning passed unheeded; and the English opposition to Home Rule has been strengthened by the accession of the supporters of women's suffrago. This new opposition will not only harden up the defenders of the Union, but will also intensify the force with which the byelections are running against tho Government. Tho Government, of course, professes in public to have clear consciences, light hearts, and a .straight and pleasant road ahead of them.

There was a great Liberal gathering on March 8 to celebrate the passing of _ the Parliament Act, and this gathering was notable chiefly for the care with which the Prime Minister wrapped in vague generalities his Government's hopes and intentions. The Act, he said, was "only a means to an end," and tho Liberals would proceed with their measures. A good many people must have , been inspired by the demonstration to remember what Mn. Asquitii himself wrote of the Parliament Act: "It is of the essence of the Parliament Act, both in its letter and spirit, that a Bill which becomes law under its operations must have commanded during three consecutive sessions the unswerving support of the House of Commons, dependent directly in its turn upon a stable and consistent public opinion in the constituencies." For several months public opinion has been revealed in by-elcction after by-election as becoming acutely hostile to the Government. Where tho Government has not actually lost a seat, its majority has been heavily reduced. Even the ppty writers were forced into admitting the seriousness of the position wheti in South Manchester, one of the safest Radical strongholds in Britain, tho Liberal majority of about 2500 was turned into a Unionist majority of nearly 600. Tho Liberal party is not one to which a strong policy is possible : it is at the mercy of at least two strong and remorseless minorities. Its programme practically consists of desperato measures—like Homo Rule and Welsh Disestablishment— in which there is great peril and almost no profit; and there appears to bo nothing upon which it can base a new appeal to popular enthusiasm.