Page:Blackwood's Magazine volume 137.djvu/160

154 favour of the existing Constitution, and the question would have been set at rest for the remainder of this century. As it is, the constitutional party must be on the alert, and prepared to defend the rights and independence of the hereditary Chamber whenever and by whomsoever attacked.

Behind that august body stands the still more august figure of the hereditary head of the State – the Sovereign; and the battle, waged nominally in defence of the first, will practically determine in its result the fate of both institutions.

May the new electors and the new constituencies realise the grandeur and the difficulty of their task, and by their prudence, self-control, and courage, reconcile the glorious traditions of the past with the institutions of the present and the developing empire of the future! Printed by William Blackwood & Sons.