4 MAY 1918, Page 3

Of course that principle has to be qualified, as indeed

Lord Hugh Cecil himself qualified it, by saying that points of honour and delicacy must arise where a Member must be guided by his own sense of propriety and duty. Mr. Asquith supported what Lord Hugh Cecil had said, and begged the House not to " get into a sublimated atmosphere beyond the reach of common-sense and public expediency." Those words contain all the wisdom that is necessary on the subject under present conditions, though it is of course quite possible that a Select Committee of the House who had the traditions, duties, and rights of Parliament sincerely at heart, and who were not in any danger of inviting the Government to intimidate sincere critics, might draw up for the guidance of the House a set of general principles sufficient for the instruction of intelligent men.