The debate was resumed on Wednesday by Lord Beauchamp, who
argued strongly against a Referendum as being conser- vative rather than democratic. Lord Cromer, who spoke next, began by emphasising the necessity for a stable settle- ment of the Constitutional question, and pointed out that we were so torn by dissension on matters of internal policy that our influence as a world Power was, to say the least, greatly diminished. He next criticised the view that the Referendum was a dangerous innovation, and suggested that it was merely the natural and logical application of those democratic prin- ciples which were accepted by all in this country, except, perhaps, by the extreme democrats themselves. Lord Cromer went on to argue against the idea that the Referendum would be a fatal blow to representative government. He thought there was no danger of this so long as the Referendum did not lead to the Initiative. Finally, Lord Cromer pleaded that the Referendum should be considered on its own merits as a principle calculated to strengthen rather than to weaken our existing institutions.
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