It is now suggested—­publicly in some quarters, privately in many quarters—­that the House of Lords will not only use without scruple their veto in legislation but they propose to extend their prerogatives; they are going to lay their hands upon finance, and if they choose they will reject or amend the Budget.  I have always thought it a great pity that Mr. Gladstone made a compromise with the House of Lords over the Franchise Bill of 1884.  I regret, and I think many of my hon. friends in the House of Commons will regret, looking back upon the past, that the present Government did not advise a dissolution of Parliament upon the rejection of the Education Bill in 1906.  A dissolution in those circumstances would not merely have involved the measure under discussion, but if the Government of that day had received the support of the electors at the poll their victory must have carried with it that settlement and reform of the relations between the two Houses of Parliament which is necessary to secure the effective authority of the House of Commons.  That is the question which, behind and beyond all others, even the Budget, even Free Trade, even the land—­that is the question which, as the Prime Minister has said, is the dominant issue of our time.

Opportunity is fickle, opportunity seldom returns; but I think you will agree with me that if the House of Lords, not content with its recent exploits with the legislative veto, were to seize on the new power which its backers claim for it over finance—­if, not content with the extreme assertions of its own privileges, it were to invade the most ancient privileges of the House of Commons—­if, as an act of class warfare, for it would be nothing less, the House of Lords were to destroy the Budget, and thus not only create a Constitutional deadlock of novel and unmeasured gravity, but also plunge the whole finance of the country into unparalleled confusion, then, in my judgment, opportunity, clear, brilliant, and decisive, would return, and we should have the best chance we have ever had of dealing with them once for all.

These circumstances may never occur.  I don’t believe they will occur.  If we only all stand firm together I believe the Budget will be carried.  I believe the Budget will vindicate the strength of the Government supported by the House of Commons.  I believe it will vindicate the financial strength of this great country.  I don’t believe, if we pursue our course without wavering or weakening, there is any force in this country which can stand against us.  The Conservative Whip in the House of Lords, a friend of mine, Lord Churchill, said the other day that the House of Lords when they received the Budget would do their duty.  I hope they will.  But in any case be sure of this—­that the Government and the House of Commons will do their duty.  Then if there is anything more to be done, see that you are ready to do your duty too.

FOOTNOTES: