Page:Problems of Empire.djvu/74

 PROBLEMS OF EMPIRE. face to face with a real and living issue i.e., the preservation of parliamentary government the better it will be for all concerned.' Mr. Russell's remedy is the extension of the principle of Grand Committees; and the burden of his song, as of that of Sir Henry Fowler, is that at all costs the dignity of the House of Commons must be preserved. Either remedy might be of value if the congestion of business could be attributed to the obstruction of the Irish party, the fractiousness of the Opposition, or the multiplication of questions. The real reason lies deeper than this, and was well put by Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman in his address to the electors of the Stirling Burghs, issued in July, 1895. 'The excessive burden of work,' he said, ' now imposed upon Parliament can only be relieved by a large system of devolution. It is for this reason, as well as from a sense of right and justice to the nationalities concerned, that I regard as urgently necessary the creation for the three kingdoms of subordinate legislative assemblies dealing with the distinctive affairs of each.'

The House of Commons is the responsible guardian of the interests of the greatest Empire the world has ever seen. It has to deal with questions affecting the United Kingdom as a whole; and it also legislates for the special interests of the several countries of the United Kingdom. The diversity of business is extraordinary, the quantity enormous; and it is not to be wondered at that the House of Commons is unequal to the task now imposed on it. In no other country of the civilised world is such a task attempted. The conclusion is inevitable, that parliamentary government is breaking down because the needs of the