The political campaign against the House of Lords was formally
opened by the Prime Minister in the King's Theatre, Edinburgh, last Saturday afternoon. Sir Henry Campbell- Bannerman, after recounting the legislative and diplomatic achievements of the last two years, declared that, as Scots- men, they saw a Session of legislative work, months of inquiry and labour, thrown away. So long as the House of Lords stands where it does the Conservative Party was never out of power. The Small Landholders (Scotland) Bill,was a genuine remedy for a crying evil, and the attitude of the Unionist Peers towards it meant a denial of Scotland's title to separate legislation. He defended the Government's decision not to proceed further with the Bill, on the ground that tactics must be met with tactics, and they had been fully justified by the prompt, patriotic, and unquestioning acquiescence which the crofters themselves had shown in the course of the dis- cussion. Turning to the principles and machinery of the Bill, Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman contended that, in view of the concessions made by the Opposition, the State would mis- conceive its functions were it to regard itself simply as the landlord's agent and under an obligation to respect his interests even to the point of disregarding larger considerations. He ridiculed the "hoary doctrine" of the landlord's unqualified right to control the destinies of his tenant as enunciated by Lord Lansdowne. The autocratic system of civil government had long ago been discarded, with unspeakable advantages to the Crown and to the people. Let them apply the same lesson to the land.
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