On Friday, May 24th, Mr. Balfour made an exceedingly amusing
speech to a meeting of the National Union of Conserva- tive Associations, held at Westminster. After alluding to Mr. Haldane's declaration that the Government's present majorities were quite sufficient, he remarked that apparently " man—Gladstonian man—wants but little here below," and "unless I am greatly mistaken" will not "want that little long." Mr. Balfour went on to compare the position of the Govern- ment to that of a beginner on the bicycle :—" You see him pursue a devious and wavering course, shooting to the right, shooting to the left, turning the handles of his machine in frantic agony to escape now a fall on one side, now a fall on the other. You look at him, and you wonder when the catastrophe will actually arise. You cannot prophesy with any assurance ; you cannot foresee with security what is the particular obstacle that will finally demolish him, but you see with an absolute assurance that that obstacle cannot be far distant. It may be a Welsh ditch to the right ; it may be an Irish bog to the left ; or he may tumble over a brewer's dray coming round the corner." Clearly Mr. Balfour has himself taken to cycling. In any case, the parallel is most happy, and the brewer's dray is near at hand.
