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88 it you can have any better mode of , _ ascertaining the views of the country at / WHM' _departgre, we are making it on l large, and therefore I would favor the high I 1 notion. the sanction of the ' reference of this uestion to the people, Brigg: gm}; of Commons, the sanction I not that I would do it as a general rule, o e iirdnweaith, the but as an exception which might pro- sanction of the Chadian House of Com- 0 perly apply under the circumstances." mans. the sanction of the great leaders Then, again, Mr. Mills in 1898, six or in constitutional law on both sides ot seven years after his first expression of the Atlantic. We are making it in view _ opinion on the question, referred to the of the diiiicuities to a certain extent. same matter when the bill for the which are involved in legislation of this plebiscite was before the Senate of that kind, and I would be rather disposed, in year. There the question was raised as a conservative way, to echo the view to the propriety of the course and as expressed by Sir Louis Davies. that we to its constitutional effects. Mr. Mills, must not allow ourselves to be too speaking in the Senate in 1898, said t-- strongly bound by precedents. Preee. f'Ordinarily the work of legislation ought , dents are useful in steadyin the decis- ito be carried on hy Parliament, and the: ion of the court. and theregore useful. lGovernment ought to assume the re-l, too, in legislation. but we ptrstr--1 was sponsibility of determining what they almost going to say daily-in this House i I'Dl'Opose. became in ll great many in- bills for which there has been no pre- I stances the questions that, as it Govern- cedent. How is society to grow, how I ment, they are pledged to and that they are the liberties of the people to expand, {are called upon to deal with are qucs- if you are to sit down and study musty lions with reference to which the etee- volume after musty volume in order to ltions have turned. Now, this is not an ascertain if our grandfathers or great- {ordinary question of legislation, and no grandfather; or gncestorg a, hundred question relating to a sumptuary matter years ago did BO and trot Should we l can be, because it is not what is best in "then while recognizing the good some. the abstract. but it is what the people the prudence and judgment and loyalty are ready .to spstain, that you are ound to the liberty of the people, and to pop- to determine. . ' ular institutions of our ancestors, should Constitutionality of the. Referendum. F we be for ever in leading-strings. should l . we be restrained by hands that prac- Further evidence shows that Sir John tically have mouldered years a o and Macdonald and Sir Mackenzie Bowel],I ts gone to their original dust t an, are and all who had any status in Parlia.. in the living present. We have the re- . ment in fact for the last ten or fifteen, li, sponsibilities of living legislation before ' .veartr, either by their vote or by tlt,tir/ k us and the full realzation of that larger I speeches accepted the "onstitutiomilitrl sense of manhood we enjoy, some cf _ of th referendum. It, therefcre, we are N, which we have inherited from our fath- s-s-------""-'"""-, ers. l A Philosophie Expedient. That leads me to the next view. ls . the referendum a mode of procedure , which one might, reasonably expect to meet with the approval of thoughtful ment Legislation to be effective, and to maintain its dignity. must keep within the lines of the best thought of the people. If We. are too . conservative we are discarded, and very l prope 1y so; if we are too radical, we may introduce revolutions and changes which will be very disturbing and very _ unconstitutional. The golden mean in legislation must always be our aim. 1 Does the referendum commend itself to -"""'-'"""-"--------------. those who have given it thought, the I leaders of the great movements which are crystallized in legislation t I have no less an authority than the Premier of England, Lord Salisbury, on that point. Lord Salisbury said, and I be- lieve that anything on a question like this coming from a man such as Lord Salisbur is full of thought and sifrJtift- a g',i'il'di,'lllZ,,.'i' Salisbury said: "I believe nothing could oppose a bulwark to popu- lar passion except an arrangement tor deliberate and careful reference of any