UNIONISTS AND " THE SPECTRE."
[To Tex EDITOR or THZ.SPECTATOR21
Sift,—in the interests of historical accuracy, and in order that readers of the Spectator may not draw an incorrect inference from the Queen's Hall Unionist meeting, permit me to say a word about "the spectre of Tariff Reform," which your note- writer tells us in your last issue was "forgotten" during that meeting. I attended the meeting, and I feel sure your writer drew 1•1s inspiration from the columns of a news- paper which printed only .a report. What struck me forcibly was the very moderate nature of the enthusiasm on the Irish question, and the entirely overwhelming outburst of cheering when Mr. Balfour made a parenthetical allusion to Tariff Reform, I was satisfied that the meeting cared infinitely more for Tariff Reform than for anti-Home-rule. Snqh different papers as the Tribune and the Express drew the same conclusion. Tariff Reform may be a "spectre," but Mr. Balfour seemed to be the only man in Queen's Hall who regarded it as such. He talked about Ireland. His audience was, I am convinced, thinking about Tariff Reform, and it interrupted his speech to cheer for Mr. Chamberlain when Tariff Reform was mentioned. Like the Spectator, I an for Free-trade. But it seems to me not merely useless, but dangerous, to pretend to-day that the Unionist Party (if represented by the Queen's Hall meeting) is not practically
solid for Tariff Reform.—I am, Sir, &c., E. T.
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