13 AUGUST 1887, Page 16

THE CRY FOR RECONSTRUCTION.

[To TES EDITOR OF TR% SPRCTATOR,"]

Sia,—We should indeed be unreasonable if we made any com- plaint of your observations under the above heading, as far as we are concerned, in the Spectator of August 6th. But lest any misconception should arise from the tenor of a portion of your remarks, will you allow us to say P-1. That we have not expressed a desire for any immediate reconstruction of the Cabinet. 2. That, in the arguments we ventured to urge on the consideration of the Liberal Unionists, we were not influenced by any misgiving as to the capacity or stability of the Government as at present constituted, but solely by our anxiety as to the position at Liberal Unionist candidates, vie-d-vie of an electoral body more prone to generalise than to distinguish, and whose judgments are rough-and-ready rather than discriminating or fine. 3. That, while giving expression to this view, we feel that Lord Hartington and the distinguished and patriotic men who are acting with him, are the best judges of the course they should pursue, and that any opinion we entertain on the subject, we hold with diffidence, so long as he and they do not share it.—We are, Sir, TEE EnrroRs OF THE National Review.