two Houses
of Parliament began with the passage by the House of Commons of a
bill reducing very materially the powers of the Upper House. As a
result of their agreement, Russia and Great Britain decided in
December on joint intervention in order to prevent a threatening
uprising in Persia. Slight friction between Japan and Great Britain,
which had been caused by strong popular demonstrations in Canada
against the increased Japanese immigration, was removed by Japan's
announcement of its intention to limit extensively this immigration.

In April, 1908, Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman resigned the
premiership and was succeeded by Mr. Asquith and a Liberal Cabinet,
in which David Lloyd-George held the position of Chancellor of the
Exchequer, and soon began to push the most radical financial and
social measures which have ever been advanced in England. In May,
1908, Great Britain, together with France, Russia, and Italy,
withdrew her troops from the island of Crete, and in October joined
France and Russia in preventing the outbreak of war in the Balkans.
After the Franco-German agreement in regard to Morocco had been
signed in February, 1909, a conference was held between the German
Chancellor, Prince von Buelow, and Sir Charles Hardinge, with the
result that the German-English relations, which had been far from
cordial for a number of years, were adjusted. The refusal of the
House of Lords to pass Lloyd-George's budget, containing
revolutionary provisions for taxation, resulted in the dissolution
of Parliament by King Edward in February, 1910. The election of the
new Parliament clearly showed that the country was in favor of the
Liberal Government, which shortly after the opening of the new
Parliament showed its disapproval of the rejection of its budget by
the House of Lords by the introduction of a Parliament Reform Bill.
The budget was passed by the Upper House in April, 1910, but not
until after the Commons had passed a resolution limiting greatly the
veto power of the House of Lords. King Edward VII died on May 6,
1910, after a short illness and was succeeded by his son as George
V.

Just how much King Edward's personal influence was responsible for
the shaping of his country's foreign politics during his reign it is
hard to determine. Much has been written about this question, and
more undoubtedly will be said in the years to come. The fact
remains, however, that he had a strong dislike of his nephew, the
German Em