Lord Balfour of Burleigh in his final letter protests earnestly
against the doctrine that membership of a club or of the Conserva- tive party deprives any man of the right of private judgment on matters which are not within the recognised party programme. "I suggest," he adds," with all respect to the Committee, that Englishmen will not submit to it, and if I am not thought to be a satisfactory judge of English opinion, I .can assure the Committee, again with all respect, that I know enough of my fellow-countrymen north of the Tweed to be pretty cohfident of what they think of this limitation of freedom." We find ourselves under no obligation to defend Lord Balfour of Burleigh's action, which is what we have always recommended in these columns. But the incident is worth recording as a clear indication of the policy of proscription and ostracism by which the Tariff Reformers are resolved to establish Protection as the crucial test of party loyalty.
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