Mr. Asquith spoke at Cambridge on Wednesday to the members
of the Liberal Club. If when the election came and the verdict was given, it was against the Government, Mr. Asquith declared that they would be able to reflect that they had not been false to their pledges, but had done all they -mid to give them lasting and practical effect. How this coincides with their refusal to dissolve when the Home-rule Bill was defeated we will not discuss now, but the sentence has, we must confess, the " morituri te salutant " ring about it. When men talk of the priceless consolation of having kept their word, it means that they are expecting a defeat. Mr. Asquith ended his speech by dealing with the problem of a Second House, and with such sound good sense that his words are worth quoting. Although against giving the House of Commons an absolute right, irrespective of the opinion of the nation, to change its laws, "yet I do say that, provided you have adequate and sufficient safeguards, such as may easily be devised, for securing that the opinion of the House of Commons is also the opinion of the nation, there you have all that is needed for the wise and prudent govern- ment of this country." It may be that one of the means for securing that uniformity and harmony of opinion was a Second Chamber. There are many who think that is the only means; "but the state of things which now exists is one in which you have not got the security of a Second Chamber." Does this mean that Mr. Asquith has gone over to the Re- ferendum P Mr. Asquith's speech also contained an attack on the Unionists for "subordinating the interests of India to the exigencies of party." Could there possibly be a greater misrepresentation than this? The Unionists saved the Government from defeat, because it was doing its duty in the case of India.
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