Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman also supported the demand for an inquiry,
but he found considerable difficulty in both defending his own and Sir William Harcourt's action in allowing the inquiry to end in a fiasco, and also asking for a new inquiry when no new facts of serious import had been produced. If it was so vital for the Committee to finish their report quickly in 1897, it is difficult to see how it can now be right to reopen the inquiry. Mr. Balfour, who wound up the debate, strongly opposed the inquiry, and very pertinently pointed out that the temper of the British people being what it is, the rancour and unfairness with which Mr. Chamberlain had been assailed would only strengthen his hold upon the country, would turn enemies into friends, and make ardent supporters of cool observers. On a division the proposal for an inquiry was negatived by a majority of 131 (286 to 152). Mr. Courtney and Mr. James Lowther voted for the inquiry. Sir Edward Grey and Sir Henry Fowler, we are glad to note, walked out without voting.
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