History of the British peerage much more common. The peerage ceased to be associated with wealth or land ownership. At the beginning of the century, however, such associations remained for some time. In 1909, Chancellor of the Exchequer David Lloyd George proposed the introduction of a land tax, which the landowning peers opposed. The House of Lords rejected the budget. After the general election of January 1910, the returned government introduced the Parliament Bill, which sought to curtail the powers of the Lords. When the Lords attempted to block the bill, the prime minister, Herbert Henry Asquith, threatened to have the king create two hundred
Stop of the Exchequer had put their money in their hands were ruined by this dishonourable and perfidious action". This seems to have been only a slight exaggeration: the goldsmith bankers were heavily hit, and some of the most prominent, including Edward Blackwell and Robert Viner, went bankrupt. Danby, the Lord Treasurer, promised them compensation, but this was never forthcoming, leading to a lawsuit, "The Goldsmith Bankers case", of almost unheard-of length. Eventually the Court of Exchequer Chamber gave judgment in favour of the bankers, but in 1696 Lord Somers, the Lord Chancellor, reversed the judgment on technical grounds which left a general feeling