Mr. Balfour went on to declare that the Government were
not honest in the doctrines they preach. The explanation of the inconsistency of the position taken up by them in advo- cating two Chambers while actually setting up Single-Chamber government was to be found in the necessity which they were under of obtaining votes in the House of Commons. Turning to Home Rule, Mr. Balfour asked whether any man knew on what lines the Government were going to deal with the problem. Mr. Balfour ended with a spirited defence of the Referendum. Nothing was more pathetic than the way in which their opponents, who had been talking about democracy all their lives, were now struggling to show that an appeal to the con- stituencies upon a specific issue was the worst service you could do to the democracy. The straits to which they were driven would melt the hardest political heart. Ultimately the country would understand the struggle which the Unionists were making against Single-Chamber tyranny and for establishing the considered will of the people as the sole authority by which it should be governed.
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