New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-11-30

1t is worth our while to read once
more the singing sentences of Macau-
lay (Second Essay on Chatham) and to
note how they apply, not only to Gren-
vile but TO the Prime Minister Of to-
day:
"Grenville would have been very an
CRY with any person who should nave
denied his claim to be a Wing. He was
more prone to tyrannical measures
than Butte, but he loved tyranny only
when disguised under the forms Of con-
sttutional liberty"
So Mr.. Asquith would be very angry
with any person who should deny his
claims to be Liberal. But no Tory
Minister of our time has passed
a measure so tyrannical as the Parlia-
ment Act. Then Macaulay states
Grenvilles doctrine:
THE voice of the people was the
voice of God. but the only legitimate
organ through which the voice Of the
people could be uttered was the Par
lament All power was from the peo-
pie: but TO the Parliament the whole
power of the people had been dele
gated. No Oxonian divine had ever,
even in the years which Immediately
followed the Restoration. demanded for
the King so abject. so unreasoning q
homage as Grenville, on what he con-
sidered as the purest Wing principles
demanded for the Parliament"
II is as true of Mr.. Asquith as II was
true of Grenville. Then Macaulay
sums up:
I'VE are inclined TO think, on the
whole, that the worst administration
which has governed England since the
Restoration was that of George Gren-
vile. His public acts may be classed
under two heads: outrages on the lib
erty Of the people, and outrages on the
dignity Of the Crown
And Of both these outrages Mr.. AS
quith has been not less guilty than
Grenville The Parliament Act and the
refusal TO allow Home Rule and other
measures TO be submitted TO the cleo
torate are outrages on the liberty of
the people. The outrage on the Crown
was not fragrant when Mr.. AS
quith, taking advantage of the King $
inexperience, Induced or Coerced him so
soon after his accession to pledge him
self TO the creation of Peers enough to
flood the House of Lords should that
House reject the Parliament Bill.
1t is under this Act by means Of its
machinery that the Prime Minister is
forcing Home Rule upon the nation
which has twice, in 1856 and in 1893,
rejected II. Upon the present bill II
has never been allowed to declare its
will. The pretence that In the cleo
tions of 1910 Home Rule was an issue
is a fraudulent pretence. II was not so
much as mentioned in Mr. Asquith s
address TO his constituents; a mani
festo in which every Minister, and
above all every Prime Minister, lays
before his constituents and the coun-
try statement of his policy and pur-
pose. Mr.. Brrell himself, as ! lately
pointed out, in speaking to his con-
stituents in Bristol in 1910, secuted the
notion that Home Rule was or could be
an issue. Mr.. Birrell is Minister for
Ireland. There is other evidence and
il is overwhelming. The sole defence
of such a bill, or of passing it auto
matically under the Parliament Act, is
the doctrine Of the mandate; that Par
lament has all the power and the Peo-
pie none. Twice already the bill has
passed the House and twice been
thrown out by the House Of Lords.
Next spring il is to be passed third
time and then will go straight to the
King, and if signed by him become
law.
did you suppose" asked Mr. AS
quith, In the .tone'of scorn habitual TO
him, did you suppose we passed The
Parliament Act to let it lie idle and
! useless" Under ii the Home Rule
Bill, the bill for the plumber Of the
Welsh Church, and the bill against
Plural Voting-a bill to strike half a
million Unionist voters off the register
are proceeding to their final passage.
They are all Revolutionary Bills. They
and the Parliament Act together-or
indeed the Parliament Act by itself
effect a profounder political subversion
| than has been known since 1858, or
since CromwelTs short-lived transfor-
nation scene; or, in truth. than since
| Simon de Montfort; and since the eX-
listing Parliament has been in being.
Lord Somers said the Revolution Of
! 1888 was a Revolution not made out
prevented. This is Revolution ready
made, and, for the time being, COM
plete. The Constitution Of England lies
! in ruins.
The plain, simple, and, in ordinary
times. inevitable remedy would be a
General Election with Home Rule the
one issue before the electorate. MIR.
Asauith will not allow it. He will not
follow the ancient and true Constitu-
tional practice. Mr.. Redmond forblds
! il. and Mr.. Redmond, not Mr.. Asquith,
is for this purpose the Prime Minister.
If either of them believed that the peo-
pie wanted Home Rule would either or
| both of them refuse to consult the peo-
pie?
q sg.,. N.NF