ated more or less unexpectedly on an appeal to the country by
a defeated ministry, and it not infrequently happens that an election
turns all but completely upon a single issue and thus assumes the
character of a national referendum upon the subject in hand. This was
pre-eminently true of the last general election, that of December,
1910, at which the country was asked to sustain the Asquith government
in its purpose to curb the independent authority of the House of
Lords. In any event, the campaign by which the election is preceded is
brief, although it continues throughout the electoral period, and, if
the outcome is doubtful, tends to increase rather than to diminish in
intensity. Appeals to the voters are made principally through public
speaking, the controversial and illustrated press, the circulation of
pamphlets and handbills, parades and mass-meetings, and the generous
use of placards, cartoons, and other devices designed to attract and
focus attention. Plans are laid, arguments are formulated, and (p. 095)
leadership in public appeal is assumed by the members of the
Government, led by the premier, and, on the other side, by the men who
are the recognized leaders of the parliamentary Opposition.[136]

[Footnote 135: The Representation of the People Act
of 1867 made the duration of a parliament
independent of a demise of the crown. The text of
the Septennial Act and that of the Lords' Protest
against the measure are printed in Robertson,
Statutes, Cases, and Documents, 117-119.]

[Footnote 136: M. Ostrogorski, Democracy and the
Organization of Political Parties, trans. by F.
Clarke, 2 vols. (London, 1902), I., 442-501;
MacDonaugh, The Book of Parliament, 1-23. Among
numerous articles descriptive of English
parliamentary elections mention may be made of H.
W. Lucy, The Methods of a British General Election,
in _Forum_, Oct., 1900; S. Brooks, English and
American Elections, in _Fortnightly Review_, Feb.,
1910; W. T. Stead, The General Election in Great
Britain, in _American Review of Reviews_, Feb.,
1910; and d'Haussonville, Dix jours en Angleterre
pendant