The crux of the speech was, however, the Duke's declaration
that if he had heard Mr. Balfour declare that opinion was not ripe for the taxation of food, he should have been tempted to interject the observation, "And I hope to Heaven it never will be ! " No Free-trader could possibly have made Mr. Balfour's remark. To go on canvassing the question whether Mr. Balfour is or is not a Free-trader is, indeed, not a little ridiculous. Does any one really suppose that if Mr. Balfour were a Free- trader he, as Prime Minister, could have made Mr. Austen Chamberlain his Chancellor of the Exchequer, and, without a word of protest, allow him to go up and down the country preaching pure Protection ? Happily, after the Duke of Devonshire's speech there can no longer be any pretence that Free-trade Unionists may consistently support Mr. Balfour.
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