rub, REFERENDUM.
(To THS EOMes or ran "firsoraron.”) Sra,—I sincerely trust that in any forthcoming General Election the establishment of the Referendum as an integral part of the British Constitution will be made the dominant inane. The present hideous travesty of popular government should surely open the eyes of sensible people to the crying need of some plan whereby the nation at large shall have a determining voice in legislation. At present we elect politicians in a haphazard sort of way, and send them to Westminster with carte blanche to do what they like for the next few years. In the present instance, one group of politicians, by combining with two other groups, has seized despotic control (jocosely labelled " Will of the People ") and has nearly plunged us into civil war in order to fulfil its political engagements and keep itself in power. This sort of thing must be put a stop to, and it can only be done by the people themselves assuming command and insisting that a power of veto be vested in them. Those who have most loudly insisted on the right of the people to govern themselves are already coming out in their true colours and fighting real popular government in every possible way. But we must press on, and never relax our efforts till the Referendum is established and full control of legislation placed in our hands.
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