28 MARCH 1908, Page 14

A NEW SECRET SOCIETY.

[To THE EDITOR Or THE "SPECTATOR."] have been a subscriber to your admirable paper for years, but I must take exception to a paragraph in your issue of March 21st in your article headed "A New Secret Society." You say that Lord Robert Cecil ought to have the support of Unionists "because he is not prepared to subordinate the interests of the millions of the Old Country to the supposed interests of young and growing communities which are quite able and quite willing to take care of themselves." Surely you cannot contend that this is an accurate description of the views or intentions of Tariff Reformers. So far as I know, the Tariff Reformers are thinking quite as much of the future welfare of the "Old Country," and would not make the concessions in' favour of the "young communities" unless they thought they were going to get reciprocal advantages. Now suppose thirty Unionist Members are returned who are Free-traders at the next Election, and the party is returned with a majority of fifty. Every vote counts two on a division, and as one of the first items on the programme will be Fiscal Reform, the new Government would be beaten by ten on the first division and have to go to the country again. In the name of common- sense, what is the good of running a General Election on these