Mr. Balfour issued his election address on Thursday night. After
boldly declaring his belief that it would be impossible to find in the history of this country "any Parliament which has more successfully carried out the policy, or more adequately fulfilled the hopes, of those who returned the majority to power," Mr. Balfour most truly says that the war was not of our seeking, but that having been forced upon us, "it has served to show the world how great are the moral as well as the material resources which this Empire wields in times of national emergency." Mr. Balfour ends by what is in effect a promise of Army reform. We fear that the effect on the country of Mr. Balfour's address may be to make a certain section of the party think that he does not realise that there has been anything that in the least justifies the criticism that the Government has received, and to render them doubtful as to whether he possesses that high seriousness which should rightly belong to a statesman. Bat if any electors should harbour this doubt as to Mr. Balfour, they will be entirely mistaken. In spite of the fact that there are certain things in Mr. Balfour's attitude towards public affairs that we regret, it is our deliberate opinion that he is a states- man whose influence the country could not lose without most serious injury. He is essentially a man of large and liberal ideas, and fully worthy of the confidence of the nation. Of his devotion to his country there can be no question, and in spite of all the accusations of indifference that have been levelled against him, we will venture to say of him, as Brougham said of Wellington, "That man would serve his country with a spade if he could serve her in no other way."
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