This day the KING in Council decreed that the Royal House should forthwith abandon all German titles and be known henceforth as the House of Windsor.  No one will be better pleased than Mr. SWIFT MACNEILL, who for months past has been unsparing in his efforts to purge the Upper House of enemy peers, and to-night had the satisfaction of seeing a Bill for that purpose read a second time.  His prophecy that such a measure could be passed in three minutes was not quite borne out; but that was chiefly because the hon.  Member himself occupied a quarter-of-an-hour in complaining of the Government’s delay in introducing it.

Wednesday, July 18th.—­Sir HENRY DALZIEL has been labouring under the delusion that the R.N.A.S. and the R.F.C. are so mortally afraid of trespassing upon one another’s aerial preserves that the former will not attack an enemy plane travelling over land, or the latter over sea.  Dr. MACNAMARA for the Navy, and Mr. MACPHERSON for the Army, informed him that there was no truth in the suggestion; but Colonel CLAUDE LOWTHER, remembering that there were once Two Macs who delighted in spoofing their audiences, refused to be comforted until categorically assured that between R.N.A.S. and R.F.C. there is “sufficient cohesion.”

[Illustration:  LORD HARDINGE’S CHAMPION.

MR. BALFOUR LETS OUT.]

This was BALFOUR’s day.  Never since he gave up the Leadership of the Unionist Party six years ago has he more completely dominated the scene.  Mr. BONAR LAW had announced that the Government had on third thoughts decided not to set up a new tribunal to try the persons affected by the Mesopotamia Report.  The military officers would be dealt with by the Army Council.  As for Lord HARDINGE, the Government, “on the representations of the FOREIGN SECRETARY,” had again refused his proffered resignation.  If any Members disapproved, let them propose a Vote of Censure or move the adjournment.

It was perhaps fortunate for the Government that Mr. DILLON accepted the challenge.  During the War the Member for East Mayo has lost such authority in the House as he once possessed.  Criticism on the conduct of the campaign from one who boasts that he has never stood upon a recruiting platform lacks sincerity.  Mr. BALFOUR, always at his best when defending a friend, laid about him lustily, and convinced the majority of the House, not very friendly at the outset, that it would be an act of gross injustice to remove a great public servant because the Commission—­on whose evidence, without further inquiry, you could not hang a cat—­had reported adversely on his conduct in an entirely different capacity.

To add to the force of this appeal came Sir HEDWORTH MEUX’S striking testimonial—­“I have known Lord Hardinge from a boy.”  After that, small wonder that the House rejected Mr. Dillon’s motion by 176 to 81.