Lord Hugh Cecil in Thursday's Times draws attention to the
treatment which the Unionist Free-traders are receiving from the 'Tariff Reformers, in spite of the fact that on questions outside the Fiscal issue many of the Unionist Free-traders have done notable service in opposition to the present Government. He points out how easy it would be for Unionist Free-traders to retaliate. " But such a civil war will be deplorable,—deplorable for the sake of those who are threatened by Radical legislation, and who need all the help they can get to make head against their enemies." He goes on to declare—and here we can most heartily endorse his view—that his is not an individual opinion, but that " three•fourths of the Unionist Party disapprove of the pro- ceedings of the Confederates." "If, then, unity is to be preserved and the party is not to be divided just at the moment when it is engaged in a most anxious conflict, wiser mon Must make active efforts to restrain the violence of these extremists." II Out* readers will turn to the article in which
we describe the policy and practice of the Confederates, they cannot fail, we think, to agree with Lord Hugh Cecil's view. They will note also the growing demand for a Centre Party which has been expressed in so striking a way in our corre- spondence columns. We must never forget that such a Centre Party, if formed, must have the most disastrous results on the Unionist Party, for it would draw from that party many of its very best and most capable adherents. It is for that reason that we so long resisted the demand for the formation of such a party.
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