Mr. Balfour, who of course spoke in ignorance of what
arguments exactly Mr. Asquith would have used, ridiculed the notion that the action of the Lords justified a revolution. The Government were misusing the prerogative of the Crown and destroying the independence of the Second Chamber to prevent the people from giving another verdict on Home Rule. All the time that Liberals had been denouncing the hereditary principle in the constituencies the Prime Minister had been carrying in his pocket a blank cheque for the creation of as
many representatives of the hereditary principle as might suit him at a given moment. He had in fact asked the King to make him a dictator. "He has put himself above the Con- stitution." The explanation was that the Irish Nationalists favoured a central tyranny under a democratic form. Point- ing to Mr. Redmond Mr. Balfour exclaimed, "The real hero on this occasion sits there ! "
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