31 MARCH 1917, Page 2

The House of Lords debate was on similar lines to

that in the Commons. The Lord Chancellor (Lord Finlay), who wound up the debate, drew a very grim but a perfectly fair moral. It was only through the. action of the House of Lords, which refused to pass the legislation required to validate the Declaration of London, that the country was saved from a grave calamity. We may note that the Spectator from the beginning strongly opposed the Declara- tion of London, and supported the House of Lords in its refusal to hamstring the nation by the adoption of the ruinous proposals contained in that instrument.