In 1910 two general elections, fought on questions of internal policy, and the conflict over the Parliament Bill diverted attention from foreign politics. Lord Rosebery's scheme for the reform of the Upper Chamber is treated in light-hearted fashion in the cartoon of the Selection Committee of the Peers' Royal Academy. Lord Curzon and Lord Lansdowne criticize Lord Rosebery's "problem picture": Lord Halsbury bluntly ejaculates, "Take it away." _Punch_, however, recognized the serious intentions of the Government in "The Constitution in the Melting Pot," where Mr. Winston Churchill, Mr. Asquith and Mr. Lloyd George are the three witches bending over the cauldron. The Unionists had gained some ground in the January elections, but not nearly enough; in December, when party feeling ran much higher, they failed to improve their position, in spite of the offer of a Referendum to determine the question of Tariff Reform, and of their insistent warnings as to the danger of single-chamber Government. _Punch_, with some reserves, was decidedly opposed to the Government programme, and a hostile critic alike of the platform exuberance of Mr. Lloyd George and the "wait and see" policy of Mr. Asquith:-- Schemes are shattered, plots are changed, Plans arranged and re-arranged! Words are eaten; every day Broken pledges thrown away; Here the riddle--where the key? Wait and see! Does his wandering course reveal Only love of Britain's weal? Does he toil through heavy sand Seeking how to keep his land Clean and prosperous and free? Wait and see! Is it that he turns his eyes To a goal that needs disguise? Just a paltry party score, Checked by some about him, more-- More particular than he? Wait and see! Is he one whose wavering mind Lightly veers to every wind, Hither pitched and thither tossed, While the country pays the cost Of his flaccid vertebræ? Wait and see! Be it not that he has sold All the faith that men should hold Sacred; that he walks his ways, Flogged by those whom he obeys, At whose word he bows the knee-- Wait and see! Wait and see, and wait again: But the country waits in vain. Waits for order--finding none; Sees but duty left undone. * * * What will Britain's verdict be? Wait and see! [Illustration: THE NEW JOHN BULL After the proposed "Federalization" of the British Isles.] [Illustration: THE CHANCE OF A LIFETIME OUR MR. ASQUITH: "Five hundred coronets, dirt cheap! This line of goods ought to make business a bit brisker, what?" OUR MR. LLOYD GEORGE: "Not half; bound to go like hot cakes."] [Illustration: "I SPY!" _Both_ (together): "Peep-bo! I see you!"]