Mr. H. H. Asquith publishes a long letter in the
Times in- tended to demolish the argument that the Lords may, when certain measures have passed the Commons, compel, by re- jecting them, a reference to the electorate. He asks what measures may be thus treated, instances Scotch Disestablish- ment as one which Lord Hartington would thus treat, and calls on the advocates of this policy to say how they will distinguish between great measures and measures fairly to be classed as " organic " or "constitutional." We wish, as we fancy Mr. Asquith also does, that the Referendum were a regular part of the Constitution; but, as matters stand, the answer to his rather casuistical argument is not very difficult to find. The right to compel reference to the electors arises whenever, in the judgment of the House of Lords, the question is important enough to make them risk the extreme odiwm. at that course. Or, in other words, it arises whenever the Lords prefer the interest of the country to their own safety as a legislating body.
Previous page
