The Duke of Devonshire presided at the dinner given by
the Unionist Free-Trade Club at the Hotel Cecil on Monday night, and in proposing the toast of the evening, "Success to the Cause of Free-trade," delivered an important speech on the present position of the Fiscal question and the relations of his followers towards their official leaders. It was, be contended, their plain duty to meet the open and undisguised attack of the Tariff Reform League with an equally strenuous and direct opposition. As regards the policy of Mr. Balfour, he asserted that if they had misrepresented his meaning, it was due to incapacity, and not illwill. Examining the Prime Minister's successive declarations, he found himself unable to discover any clear indication as to what measures or changes Mr. Balfour would submit to Parliament if he were returned to power after the next General Election. Meantime he believed that the real question which was agitating the country, and which the country would be called on to decide, was that which had been raised by Mr. Chamberlain, and not that of the opinions of the Prime Minister.
