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Home Politics and Parties from the Reform Act of 1867 to the Parliament Act of 1911 1886-1911, Recent Affairs; Part 3 |
1886-1911, Recent Affairs; Part 3A long series of conferences between the leaders of the two parties failed, however, to produce a settlement. Mr. Asquith then dissolved Parliament again, and appealed to the constituencies to support his proposals with regard to the House of Lords. The result of the General Election, held in December, 1910, was that the Coalition, composed of the Liberal, the Irish Nationalist, and the Labour parties, had almost identically the same majority in the House of Commons as in the previous Parliament. The Parliament Bill—as the Bill containing Mr. Asquith’s proposals was called—was accordingly passed through the House of Commons. The House of Lords, then, made considerable amendments, which the House of Commons refused to accept. The king, however, on the advice of his ministers, agreed to create u sufficient number of peers to force the Bill, if necessary, in its original form through the House of Lords. As a consequence, Lord Lansdowne, the leader of the Opposition, and the bulk of his followers abstained from voting when it became clear that insistence on the amendments would lead to an enormous creation of peers; and though a considerable number of Unionist peers refused to follow their leader's example, the Bill was finally passed by a majority of 17. Under the terms of the Parliament Act, the House of Lords is deprived of the power it formerly held of rejecting a Money Bill; and if any other Hill is passed by the House of Commons in three successive sessions, and is rejected by the House of Lords in each of these sessions, it becomes law, notwithstanding its rejection for the third time by the House of Lords, so long as a period of two years has elapsed since the second reading of the Bill in the House of Commons in the first of these sessions.Of other features of the twenty-live years since 1886 something may be said. First, there has been a growth in the respect for the authority of the Crown. This was due partly to the affection inspired for the queen, especially after the Jubilee of 1887, and the Diamond Jubilee of 1897, when her long reign was celebrated with great enthusiasm, and partly to the confidence fostered by the shrewdness and tact of her successor; and partly again to the increased knowledge of the Victorian era through the publication of letters and biographies which revealed the part played by the Crown in our national affairs—a much greater part than was popularly supposed. Along with that has come an increased feeling of pride in, and of responsibility for the Empire, combined with much more enlightened notions as to its value—due to a variety of causes which are dealt with elsewhere. As a consequence, foreign and imperial affairs absorbed much attention during this period, especially during the South African War of 1899-1903. Lastly, there has been, during these twenty-five years, and especially in the latter portion of them, a good deal of unrest amongst the manual workers of the country. The relations between Capital and Labour have been uneasy, and have led to frequent strikes and still more frequent threats of them. The Board of Trade has often intervened with success in settling the differences between the employers and their workmen, and it seems not improbable that the Government in the near future may be given fuller powers in order to prevent, if possible, these disastrous Industrial Wars. |
Chronology |
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