The question of Redistribution touched on in Mr. Balfour's speech,
and very ably dealt with in a letter signed "F. R. S." which we publish in another column, demands a word from us. As our readers know, we have never ceased during the past five years to insist that the reduction of the over-representa- tion of Ireland was the essential duty of any Government professing Unionist principles. This time last year we warned the Government that if they meant business in this respect, they must introduce a Redistribution Bill at the beginning of the Session, and must push it forward by the means which they used to carry their Licensing Bill. Unless the Bill was passed in the Session of 1905, we pointed out that its passage was a physical impossibility. Those warnings were deliberately neglected, and neglected by men who have censured the Spectator for its want of devotion to the Union. Yet had they done what we urged upon them so often and so earnestly, and what, moreover, they had the power and the time to do, they could have made the Union safe for all time. With deep regret we have been forced to the conclusion that Mr. Balfour never intended to pass a Redistribution Bill in this Parliament, and had no real wish to reduce the Irish representation, believing that on the education question it would be useful to him to have as large an Irish vote as possible, and also that a large Irish vote would be a thorn in the flesh of his opponents in the next Parliament.
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