We leave this chronological table to speak for itself. But
we would ask those Free-trade Unionists who think that the Spectator has been too hostile to Mr. Balfour, and has gone much too far in describing his Administration as a Pro- tectionist Administration, and so quite as much requiring to be opposed by Free-traders as Mr. Chamberlain and his associates, to reconsider their condemnation of the Spectator for "its prejudice and blindness in trying to fasten the charge of being a Protectionist on Mr. Balfour and his colleagues." It is clear that in August Mr. Balfour's conversion to Protection was complete, and that his refusal to proclaim himself a Protectionist who favoured the taxation of food and preferential duties was merely a piece of political opportunism. As we have said again and again, the present Ministry is an impossible place for Free- traders, and those who continue to remain in it will find them- selves gradually placed in a most painful and humiliating position. We have only to add that Lord George Hamilton's manly conduct in the whole affair places him, for clear thought and straightforward conduct, among the inheritors of our best and most honourable political traditions.
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