To the deep disappointment of all the best elements in
the House, Mr. Asquith, instead of proving that his questions were not merely "traps," but boniefide attempts at a settle- ment, did not meet Sir Edward Carson by a frank avowal that the offer implied was a firm offer. Instead, he escaped, or, rather, tried to escape, from the predicament by a lawyer-like device : "I understand it [i.e., his question as to Meter accept- ing the decision] is not answered," and passed on to reassert certain well-worn but fallacious objections to the Refer- endum. We are most anxious to write nothing that will make compromise more difficult, but we are bound Alp say nothing impresses us so unfavourably in the whole of Thursday's debate as Mr. Asquith's manner of dealing with Sir Edward Carson's question as to the firm offer. We have dealt at length with the Referendum proposals elsewhere, and will only say here that we regard the situation with the utmost anxiety. It is true that a chink of the only unbolted door is still open, but that is the most that can be said. The moderate Liberals may yet save us from civil war if they will only make their influence felt. Out they refuse to make the effort P
