On Monday night there was a final debate in the
House of Lords, raised by the Duke of Rutland, remarkable for the- extreme pains which Lord Beaconsfield took to conciliate- the farmers. After disposing of the Duke of Rutland's ideas in favour of reciprocity as simply "impossible," in conse- quence of "the most-favoured-nation clause" in all treaties, he- proceeded to express his admiration of the patience with which farmers had borne their distresses, their abstinence from sedition,. and their moral worth. He did not think, however, that their- danger from American competition had been demonstrated, or- could be demonstrated, till that competition had been watched after one good. harvest, or that if it existed it could be remedied by any readjustment of local taxation. He placed his hope mainly in a season of abundance, though he admitted that something might be done by legislation to relax restrictions on cultivation, and to carry out more fully the Agricultural Holdings Act. It was a strictly electioneering speech, and will be read by the farmers with a keen recollection that, after six years of absolute power, the Tories have done nothing for them beyond a slight readjustment of rates, and have declined to entrust them with municipal power in the counties.
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