Mr. Balfour went on to speak of the " legend
" of the com- promising letters proving the truth of the charge, and flatly denied their existence. " There are no such letters. The charge is false from beginning to end. If there are such letters, let them be produced. I give full leave to the fortu- nate possessor of those incriminating documents. Let him come forward in the light of day, and let us have no more of these whisperings and rumours in dark places." We note this declaration with great satisfaction. It should lead to the immediate publication of the correspondence. After Mr. Balfour has thus publicly and unreservedly authorised Sir Antony MacDonnell to publish the letters, the latter cannot withhold them without exposing himself to misconstruction. We do not ourselves suppose that there is anything discredit- able in the letters to any of the people concerned, but the public will not be convinced of this till they are produced, and will be certain to assume that those who could publish, but do not, have something to conceal. Of Tariff Reform, we may observe, there was not a single word from beginning to end of either of Mr. Balfour's speeches.
Previous page
