Mr. Austen Chamberlain has written an admirable letter to a
correspondent, who described the existence of dissatisfaction within the Unionist Party at the policy of those Unionists who prevented the creation of peers. Some of the dissatisfied persons had threatened to resign from the party. Mr. Austen Chamberlain wrote :-
" I can well understand and share their disappointment and even their indignation, but I put it to you and to them that to resign their membership of Unionist associations on this account will not advance our cause or strengthen the hands of those who, under Lord Halsbury's leadership, continued the fight to the end. I agree with you that it is useless to waste regrets over the past. Our task is now with the future. It would be worse than useless —it would be suicidal—to abandon our position in the party organizations and to abstain from further exertions because our past efforts were not more successful. There is plenty of work ready to our hands. . . . Those who shared our views and supported our action during the recent crisis will best assist us and best serve the cause for which we worked by remaining loyal to the party to which we belong and by throwing their whole strength into the work of extending and popularizing its organizations:
We felt certain that the gloomy forebodings of those who argued in favour of compelling the creation of peers in order to avoid a party split were utterly ill-founded. Here is the proof, and we are glad that it has come in such wise words from Mr. Austen Chamberlain. It was indeed inconceivable that any Unionist should refuse to fight Home Rule for the pleasure of pursuing private recriminations.
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