people in a new
election. They were again returned to power, though by a reduced
majority; yet the Lords continued to oppose them. Again they appealed
to the people in December of 1910, this time with the distinct
announcement that if re-elected to authority they would pass the
"Parliament Bill" destroying the power of the Lords. In this third
election they were still upheld by the people. Hence when the Lords
resisted the Parliament Bill, King George stood ready to create as many
new Peers from the Liberal party as might be necessary to pass the
offensive bill through the House of Lords. It was in face of this
threat that the Lords yielded at last, and voted most unwillingly for
their own loss of power.

Of this great step in the democratizing of England, we give three
characteristic British views--first, that of a well-known Liberal
member of Parliament, who naturally approves of it; secondly, that of a
fair-minded though despondent Conservative; and thirdly, that of a
rabid Conservative who can see nothing but shame, ruin, and the extreme
of wickedness in the change. He speaks in the tone of the "Die-hards,"
the Peers who refused all surrender and held out to the last, raving at
their opponents, assailing them with curses and even with fists, and in
general aiding the rest of the world to realize that the manners of
some portion of the British Peerage needed reform quite as much as
their governmental privileges.

ARTHUR PONSONBY, M.P.

A great and memorable struggle has ended with the passage of the
Parliament Bill into law. In the calm atmosphere of retrospect we may
now look back on the various stages of this prolonged conflict, from
its inception to its completion, and further, with the whole scene
before us, we may reflect on the wider meaning and real significance of
the victory which has been gained on behalf of democracy, freedom, and
popular self-government.

In the progressive cause there can be no finality, no termination to
the combat, no truce, no rest. But we may fairly regard the conclusion
of this particular struggle as the achievement of a notable step in
advance and as the acquisition of territory that can not well be
recaptured. The admission of the Parliament Bill to the statute-book
marks an epoch and fills the hearts of those who are pursuing high
ideals in politics and sociology with great hopes for the future. The
long sequence of the events which have led up to this achievement has
no