single-chamber Government, and it would appear that complete sovereignty
is only claimed whilst the House of Lords is based upon the hereditary
principle. For the preamble of the Bill declares that "it is intended
to substitute for the House of Lords as it at present exists a Second
Chamber constituted on a popular instead of hereditary basis," and that
"provision will require hereafter to be made by Parliament in a measure
effecting such substitution for limiting and defining the powers of the
new Second Chamber." But whatever constitutional changes may take place,
the national will must remain the final authority in legislation, and
the ultimate position of the House of Commons in the constitution and in
public esteem will depend upon the confidence with which it can be
regarded as giving expression to that will. It cannot claim to be the
sole authority for legislation without provoking searching inquiries
into the methods of election by which it is brought into being. At a
General Election the citizens are asked to choose representatives who
shall have full power to speak in their name on all questions which may
arise during the lifetime of a Parliament. But, although invariably
there are several important questions before the country awaiting
decision, the elector is usually restricted in his choice to two
candidates, and it is obvious that this limited choice affords him a
most inadequate opportunity of giving expression to his views upon the
questions placed before him. There can be no guarantee that the
decisions of representatives so chosen are always in agreement with the
wishes of those who elected them. Even in the General Election of
December 1910, when every effort was made to concentrate public
attention upon one problem--the relations between the two Houses of
Parliament--the elector in giving his vote had to consider the probable
effect of his choice upon many other questions of first-class
importance--the constitution of a new Second Chamber, Home Rule for
Ireland, the maintenance of Free Trade, the establishment of an Imperial