Our Parliamentary correspondent expresses a doubt whether, if the struggle
does come, Mr. Baldwin would or could be the leader of what we may call the national cause. Personally we think that he could be and ought to be. It has long been clear that he is not a man who will ever fire at rioters so long as the rioters can by other means be kept off violence and wrecking. If, then, the struggle should really he inevitable owing to the sub- servience of the decent mass of hand-workers to the re- volutionary few, Mr. Baldwin, better than any other man, could be entrusted with the nation's conscience. Even in the midst of war he would neglect no opportuni- ties for peace. He would not fight for class privileges ; he would not act in a spirit of acquisitiveness if he saw his foe _weakening. He would be fair and just and act in a truly national spirit, bearing in mind the two dominating facts that Parliament, not a self-appointed industrial caucus, must govern, and that people who are not involved in any industrial strife have a right to exist. * * * *
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