Lord Lansdowne, speaking at Perth on Friday week, devoted the
first part of his speech to a temperate defence of the House of Lords. The attitude which it was confidently predicted the Lords would take up was based on the assumption that the Upper House had always shown itself ob- 'stractive, and opposed to all useful measures for the ameliora- tion of the condition of the people. Nothing was further from the truth. The House of Lords did not claim the right to obstruct, but it did claim, and meant to exercise, the right of revising measures sent up from the other House. That process, he contended, was doubly necessary now that, owing to the working of the Closure, many Bills were sent up without adequate discussion. The House of Lords also claimed the right, in extraordinary cases, of asking the dountry to judge between the two Houses of Parliament, as it did with the Home-rule Bill, when the country pronounced an overwhelming verdict in its favour. In conclusion, Lord Lansdowne, while admitting that the aspirations of the Govern- ment, as expressed by Mr. Haldane, were admirable, strongly deprecated any reductions which were calculated to impair our fighting efficiency or our naval supremacy. It is pleasant to find Lord Lansdowne speaking with such good sense and statesmanship, and to hear no more of " big revolvers " and such like engines to be used to prevent the free importation to these shores of whatever our merchants and people may desire to purchase from abroad.
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