The most trenchant comment on Mr. Chamberlain's speech which has
yet appeared is that of Lord Hugh Cecil in Tuesday's Times. After comparing Mr. Chamberlain's method of healing the discords of the Unionist party with Pride's Purge, Lord Hugh points out that in Parliamentary politics it is not force or fervour but number that prevails. How is Mr. Chamberlain going to make good his losses ? Who will replace the recal- citrant Free-trader and the timorous Retaliator ? " There is no sign of an equivalent secession from the Liberal ranks." Mr. Chamberlain's minority must be powerless, because "in politics victory finally depends on counting noses, and every Free-fooder and every weak-kneed Balfourian has each his nose." Such tactics, be continues, are not those of the successful leaders of the past. " Anathemas and excom- munications should have no place in a party leader's armoury. Mr. Chamberlain's tactics are not those of a statesman, but of a fanatic." Lord Hugh Cecil heaps ridicule upon Mr. Chamberlain's economical arguments, observing that the statement that Tariff Reform would add £100,000,000 to our foreign trade "can only be regarded as a bold bid for the unanimous support of the horse marines,"—a phrase that will not easily be forgotten.
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