THE POLITICAL CRISIS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 270, 14 November 1910, Page 4

THE POLITICAL CRISIS.

Once more- there is a crisis to be faced at Home, and apparently there is ewery reason to fear that it will end, like so many of its predecessors, in a dissolution. We can well believe that if the Liberal Ministry could see their way to avoid another general election they would not willingly plunge the country once more into the turmoil and extravagance that these gTeat political contests always en■tail at Home. No doubt it is possible to make out a g6od caee for another election. As Mr. Lloyd George has just said, the Liberals have done their best to conciliate the Lords, and now that their efforts have failed, they can only repudiate once for all the claim of a handful of hereditary legislators to be allowed to control the destinies of fortyfive millions of people, and to thwart their efforts at securing better methods of government. But, admitting all this, we may still ask ■with Mr. K.eir Hardie, whether the Liberals have not already receiyed from the electors a mandate empowering them to enforce the will of the people against the Lords, and whether the verdict of the last election is not cleaT and forcible enough to justify Mr. A'squith in carrying his Veto resolutions to their furthest logical conclusion.

The answer to this question, of course, is that Mr. has good reason to toe dissatisfi-ed with his present circumstances. Without the assistance of the Nationalists and the Labourites he cannot command a "working majority in the Oommone. We may fairly conjecture tjiat Jie has been compelled to feel acq'tery the difficulty,.not to say the humiliatton, of such a position, and we can -well imagine -fcha-t he would be -prepared to risk another general election if in his opinion its results would be likely to render him no longer dependent upon the ■will of Mr Redmond and Mr. Kelr Hardie. We must admit that at present wn can ccc no good -reason for assuming that if an election takes .place within the next Wo months, anything will have happened to alter materially the relative strength of Liberals, Nationalists, and Labourites. However, there may be something in Mr. Haldane's contention that the great question of limiting the power of the Lords will now be put before the people as a distinct issue for the first time; and it is possible 'that the result will show that the arrogant and intolerant tone adopted' by the Upper House in regard to tthe Veto resolutions may have arou&ed even etronger and fiercer public indignation than last year's struggle over the Budget, and that when it comes to a figh'E" "between the Lords and the people, the Liberals may score an overwhelming victory.

On these matters we must allow that Mr. Asquith and Mr. Lloyd George and Mr. Haldane are likely to be the best judges. And we may add that the evident determination of the Liberals to appeal to the country once again has been encouraged by the many signs of disorder and weakness manifested in the ranks of the Opposition. The Unionists have in some waye a strong case against the Liberals. They have seized eagerly, upon the pretext of Imperial Federation as an argument against Home Rule, and even if they cannot beat *he liberalNationalist combination on fair ground, they can weaken Mr. Asquith by forcing him to commit hwn3elf irrevocably to Home RJile, and thus surrender his independence into the hands of the Iriefl party. On the subject of Tariff Reform, again, they hare a good case, and from our point of view it is a great national mdsJortune that a question of public policy of such vital interest to England and the Empire should be thus exploited in the interests of a party which has identified itself so closely in other respects with a retrograde or unprogressive ipolitical programme. But though the Unionists hold etrong cards, they have played them ihadly; and for their recent failures they have to tihank Mr. Balfour more than anybody else. For estimable and admirable as Mr. Balfour'a personal c3ia.Ta« - teT may 'be, -he -Iras few of the qualities tha.t go to make a great political leader. Hβ is too tentative, too philosophical, too critical, too detached ever to be carried away 'by the prejudices and enthusiasms that count for everything in a political conflict. The Unionist newspapers which reach us by today's mail complain bitterly of 'his Edinburgh speech as an "impartial summary," a "philosophical disquisition" rather than a -battle-cry; and if the Liberals sweep the polls at the next election they will owe their gratitude chiefly to the exasperating "philosophic cahn" and the bewildering dialectical subtlety -of ifchis "leader who will not lead."