Mr. Asquith, who followed Mr. Balfour, explained that he had
never said that a Liberal Prime Minister ought not to meet the House of Commons before he had obtained guarantees for an exercise of the Royal prerogative. He had asked for no such guarantees and had received none, but if the occasion should arise he should not hesitate to ask for them. To ask in advance, however, for assurances regarding a measure not even presented to the House of Commons was impossible ; no Constitutional Sovereign could be expected to grant such a request. The Government proposed to proceed in the first instance by Resolutions, which would be embodied in a Bill to be carried into law this Session. The Budget had to be reaffirmed, and it would be necessary to deal at once with the redemption of the War Loan of 1900, of which the outstanding amount was 221,000,000. Then authority must be obtained to renew the Treasury bills which had been issued, and the Supplementary Estimates and certain necessary Votes in Supply must be passed before the end of the financial year. The House must have an opportunity to express its opinion on the House of Lords Resolutions .before the Budget was passed. Mr. Asquith's speech was not received with mach enthusiasm on the Ministerial side.
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