There was, continued Mr. Morley, not a single direct Nationalist
in the House of Lords, and that was one reason why Ireland might claim somewhat more than her exact numerical proportion in the popular branch of the Legislature. We entirely fail to see the "absolute relevancy" of this plea, which is only effective as an argument for the abolition of the House of Lords, and this, of course, may have been the idea at the back of Mr. Morley's mind. But it quite fails to meet the demand for the readjustment of representation on a democratic basis. If the relative proportion of parties in a non-elective Chamber is to be made the basis for regulating the principles of representation, other parties besides the Irish can claim consideration. With Mr. Morley's interesting remarks on the ethics of "hanging on," and the relation of patriotism to party loyalty, as illustrated by Mr. Balfour's attitude, we deal in another column.
Previous page
