nues and after receiving the final general annual budget from the president submits that also to the general assembly. Minority representation is provided for by plurality voting. A unique provision of the new instrument is that which prohibits the president of the republic from leaving the national territory for longer than forty-eight hours without consent of the legislature. A like prohibition applies to individual members of the commission; they cannot leave the territory without consent of a two-thirds vote of the full commission. Plenary power to interpret the constitution rests with the legislature.

X. THE BRITISH EMPIRE

THE UNITED KINGDOM.—The last of the "sniping" debates, that on the charges made against the ministry by General Maurice (see last RECOrd, p. 46), resulted early in May in a sweeping victory for Lloyd George. Mr. Asquith was able to muster only 108 votes as against 295 for the Government. Henceforth the Opposition refrained from open warfare, and Parliament was able to devote itself to legislation and finance.-Aside from war measures, the most significant laws of 1918 were the Representation of the People Act (see last RECORD, p. 43) and the Education Act. The Fisher Education bill was reintroduced early in 1918 and became law on August 7. This far-reaching measure raises the elementary school age to 14 years; provides for compulsory attendance at continuation schools for those from 14 to 16 years of age until 1925 and for those from 14 to 18 years of age thereafter; forbids children under 12 to work for wages; provides that children between 12 and 14 may not be employed over two hours on Sundays and school days or before 6 a. m. or after 8 p. m.; gives local authorities permission to provide holiday or camp schools and physical training centers, a portion of the cost of which will be borne by the Treasury; provides for medical treatment of children in schools supported by the public and for special schools for physically defective children; and abolishes all fees in public elementary schools. Mr. Bonar Law's second war budget, for the year ending March 31, 1919, which was passed without difficulty, allowed for an estimated expenditure of nearly £3,000,000,000 and a revenue of nearly £850,000,000. It raised the income tax to 6s. on the pound and doubled much of the indirect taxation. During the year votes of credit to the aggregate amount of £2,500,000,000 were sanctioned. - Parliament adjourned for a ten weeks' recess on August 8. When it reassembled on October 15 complete military victory was in prospect, and when on November 11 Lloyd George read to the House of Commons the terms of the armistice it was fully realized that the Parliament which weathered the storms of war would soon be brought to a close. This Parliament, elected on purely domestic issues in 1910 for a maximum term of seven years, first reduced its term to five and ended, after

five extensions of its life, in the last quarter of its eighth year, by outliving all its predecessors since those of Stuart times. On November 14, Mr. Bonar Law announced in the House of Commons that Parliament would be dissolved on the 25th and that a general election would be held on December 14.—This general election was the outstanding political event of the year in the United Kingdom. The franchise had been so greatly extended by the Representation of the People Act that by October 1 the register contained two and a half times as many electors as the previous one, including for the first time women and soldiers below the age of 21. Premier Lloyd George and Mr. Bonar Law shortly after the signing of the armistice outlined to their Liberal and Unionist followers a plan for the continuance of the Coalition Government during the period of reconstruction. This plan was adopted. However at the first conference of the new Labor party, held in June, it was decided by a vote of two to one "that the party truce be no longer recognized", and at the special conference on November 14 the party voted, 2,117,000 to 810,000 to withdraw its support from the Coalition Government. This decision ultimately resulted in the resignation of the Labor Ministers with the exception of Mr. G. N. Barnes, who left the party and remained in the cabinet. The Labor party placed 370 candidates in the field. On November 28 it issued a manifesto signed by the executive committee of the party, prominent on which were J. McGurk, chairman, J. Ramsay MacDonald, treasurer, J. R. Clynes, formerly Minister of Food, Sidney Webb and Arthur Henderson, entitled "Labor's Call to the People", which served as its platform. The chief points were: a peace of reconciliation and international cooperation with an international labor charter as an essential part of the peace treaty; the immediate withdrawal of allied forces from Russia; freedom for Ireland and India; repeal of the Defense of the Realm Act; abolition of conscription; release of all political prisoners; land nationalization; immediate construction of a million new houses at the expense of the State; free trade; payment of war debt by a special tax on capital; immediate nationalization and democratic control of mines, railways, shipping, armament and electric power; a national minimum wage; abolition of unemployment; universal right to work or maintenance; legal limitation of hours; drastic amendments of acts relating to labor; complete adult suffrage; equal pay for women; and support of the cooperative movement. Mr. Asquith led the Liberals in opposition to the Coalition on a platform not differing essentially from that of the party before the war. The Liberals objected to the holding of an election amid the distractions of the time, fearing that personalities rather than principles would absorb the attention of the electors. They accused Lloyd George of seeking to secure a long lease of power, questioned the accuracy of the voting lists and esti

mated that a large percentage of the soldiers could not vote because of the difficulties of communication, mistrusted the reactionaries in the Coalition Cabinet, condemned the agreement on preferences and criticized the Government's policy in shelving the Home Rule question. The Coalition Government, made up of Unionists, Liberals and National Democrats, in a statement to the nation on the eve of the election, appealed for the support of all voters regardless of party. It promised to secure the trial of those responsible for the war, the expulsion of enemy aliens and the payment of the cost of the war by the Central Powers "up to the limt of their capacity"; pledged itself to make adequate provision for returned soldiers and sailors by giving them facilities for special industrial training and by enabling them to acquire land; strongly urged the necessity of increasing production as the only means of securing improved wages and working conditions; advocated fair treatment of both labor and capital; and promised to provide improved housing conditions through government aid. It favored a League of Nations, accepted the principle of preference to the colonies, and favored the reform of the House of Lords. Finally, it aimed to continue its policy of the gradual introduction of responsible government in India and of exploring "all practical paths toward the settlement of the Irish question on the basis of self-government ". -One hundred and seven members were returned unopposed. For the other six hundred constituencies there was an extraordinary multiplicity of candidates. Besides the parties mentioned there were a number of smaller groups.—The result of the election was a remarkable triumph for the Coalition; Mr. Lloyd George was confirmed in power by a majority of 263 over all non-Coalition parties. The Coalition secured 485 seats: 338 Unionists, 136 Liberals and 11 National Democrats; the Labor party, 61 seats; the Independent Unionists, 28; and the Liberals, only 26. In Ireland, Sinn Fein swept nearly all before it in the Catholic sections, winning 73 seats. Mr. De Valera defeated Mr. Dillon, the Nationalist leader. The Nationalists were reduced to 7 members. The Unionists returned 27. Sir Edward Carson and his followers received large majorities throughout northeast Ulster. Every minister facing a contest was returned. Many prominent Liberals on the other hand failed of election. The Labor party strengthened its representation and became the official opposition. Those of its candidates who had favored the vigorous prosecution of the war were generally returned by large majorities but the pacifist members were defeated. Of the 16 women candidates, only one, Countess Markieviecz, was elected. The result of the election was a complete vindication of the war policies of the government. There were 21,373,424 names on the lists, but only 10,679,020 votes were cast. The Coalition majority in the popular vote was 1,575,299.—In a number of by-elections the Coalition has suffered some severe re

verses. At the by-election in Hull a Coalition Unionist majority of 10,371 was changed to a Liberal majority of 917, and at the recent byelection in Bothwell a Unionist majority of 332 was changed to a Labor majority.-On January 10 Lloyd George announced the formation of a new ministry. The changes consisted mainly in a shuffling of the cards, a majority of the former Unionist ministers remaining in high office. The chief members, aside from Lloyd George as Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury, were the following: Andrew Bonar Law, Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Commons; Earl Curzon, President of the Council and Leader of the House of Lords; George Nicoll Barnes and Sir Eric Geddes, Ministers without Portfolio; Sir F. E. Smith, Lord Chancellor; Edward Shortt, Secretary for Home Affairs; Arthur J. Balfour, Foreign Secretary; Viscount Milner, Secretary for the Colonies; Winston Spencer Churchill, Secretary of War and the Air Ministry; Edwin S. Montagu, Secretary for India; Walter Hume Long, First Lord of the Admiralty; H. A. L. Fisher, Minister of Education; Sir Auckland Geddes, Minister of National Service and Reconstruction; Sir Gordon Hewart, Attorney General; Austen Chamberlain, Chancellor of the Exchequer; General Viscount French, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland; Sir James Ian Macpherson, Chief Secretary for Ireland. In June Christopher Addison was appointed to be the first Minister of Health. - The Prime Minister in his address at the opening of the new Parliament on February 11 declared that the time had not yet come to discuss the work of the Peace Conference, spoke of the League of Nations as “full of hope for the future" and analyzed the causes of industrial unrest, pointing out that remedies were being perfected by the government. On March 31 the House of Commons passed the Government's service bill, 282 to 64, providing for an army of 850,000 men in the face of charges of abandonment of pledges to abolish conscription.—The budget for 1919-1920 was presented to the Commons by Mr. Chamberlain on April 30. The estimated expenditure amounted to £1,434,910,000 and the estimated revenue to £1,159,650,000, leaving £275,260,000 to be covered by bonds. The budget provided for preference on certain goods from the colonies and dominions; increased the duties on spirits and beer; retained the income tax rates of the previous budget; reduced the excess-profits duties; increased the death duties on estates exceeding £15,000; and abandoned the luxury duty. The Chancellor of the Exchequer was uncompromising in his repudiation of a levy on capital. The provision for imperial preference is the most important feature of the budget. The national debt on March 31, 1919, was £7,235,000,000 as compared with £645,000,000 at the outbreak of the war. - The Irish question seems no nearer solution now than it was a year ago. The attempt during the summer of 1918 to couple conscription and Home Rule for Ire

land proved unsuccessful. Ulster would not accept Home Rule, the Catholics strongly opposed conscription, and the Sinn-Feiners vigorously opposed both. The discovery of the Sinn Fein plot (see last RECORD, p. 45) naturally added to the friction. On July 29, 1918, Mr. Dillon's motion declaring the Government's Irish policy contrary to the principles for which the Allies were fighting was rejected after a bitter debate by a vote of 245 to 106. The Nationalist leader described Ireland as lying under the unfettered tyranny of a military government and suggested that if no British statesman was strong enough for the task President Wilson be called in to settle the Irish question. Mr. Shortt, for the Government, announced that conditions in Ireland had been vastly improved. Mr. Bonar Law stated that it was impossible at that moment to put into force any form of Home Rule in Ireland. Early in November Mr. Dillon moved that before Great Britain participated in the peace conference the Irish question ought to be settled on the principle of self-determination. The motion was defeated 196 to 115. In the December election (see supra, p. 106) the Nationalists were overwhelmed by the Sinn Fein, who determined, however, not to take their seats in the Imperial Parliament. On January 21 they met in convention in Dublin, adopted a declaration of independence and proclaimed an Irish Republic.—On February 24 Mr. J. T. O'Kelly, Sinn Fein member of Parliament from Dublin, arrived in Paris as the "accredited envoy of the Provisional Government of the Irish Republic" and sent to the president and members of the Peace Conference a letter demanding the recognition of Irish independence and the admission of Ireland into the League of Nations. Mr. Eamonn de Valera, Count Plunkett and Mr. Arthur Griffith were delegated to present a statement to the Conference in behalf of Ireland. During the early months of the year there were such serious disturbances that in April martial law was proclaimed in Limerick, Cork and Tipperary. Serious strikes were also in progress. On April 11 three American delegates, Frank P. Walsh, Edward F. Dunne and Michael F. Ryan, appointed by the All-Irish Convention held at Philadelphia on February 23 to present to the Peace Conference resolutions asking for Irish independence, arrived in Paris and on March 17 conferred with President Wilson. It was announced that they would be received by Lloyd George. Their tour in Ireland, however, caused such demonstrations of hostility to the Government and such unpleasant impressions throughout England that on May 12 the British Premier announced that he would not receive the delegation. The report of the Irish-American delegation concerning conditions in Ireland was at once rebutted by the Government. On May 27 Mr. Lansing notified Mr. Walsh that the American representatives could not make further attempts to secure passports for Mr. de Valera and his companions to present the Irish cause at Paris. During June