We shall not know before going to press what will
be the fate of the Cromer amendment, but we fear it is safe to say that the Commons will disagree with it and that the Lords will not insist on maintaining it. If that is to be the history of the Lords' attempt to keep the question open, we can only say that we think that it would have been better to have let the Bill pass without a division. Unless the Peers meant to back up Lord Cromer through thick and thin, and to insist on at least securing a reconsideration of the measure in seven years, it was useless to challenge the Commons. To make a show of fight and then to run away is always unwise, and in this case there was the extra unwisdom of failing to maintain their protest against the attempt of the Commons to enlarge their claims to privilege. The fact that Lord Cromer's amendment is met in the Commons with the plea that it is contrary to their privilege, and not merely that they dislike it per se, places the Lords in a very bad position.
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