29 APRIL 1905, Page 19

Mr. Brodrick made a speech at Godalming on Thursday which,

if the present Government were like any Government of which the nation has had experience, or if Mr. Chamberlain were not so politically crushed and broken by the failure of his hopes, must surely have consequences, and those of a most momentous kind. Mr. Brodrick, in spite of a few clumsy and perfunctory attempts to show that Mr. Chamber- lain is not a Chamberlainite, devoted the greater part of his speech to the denunciation of Chamberlainism root and branch. Mr. Balfour's policy, he insisted, was not merely "a diluted edition of Mr. Chamberlain's policy, or rather of those extreme Protectionists who had endeavoured to cover their policy by using Mr. Chamberlain's name." Again, "the Sheffield policy was not a mere Birmingham-and-water policy, —not merely a Protectionist policy mixed with water; it was a policy in itself." Considering that no one in the Birmingham area ever dreamt of advocating the Chamberlain policy till Mr. Chamberlain did, and that since he promulgated it the Birmingham Members have wisely said "ditto" to their chief, this denunciation of the Birmingham policy by name is not a little noteworthy. Finally, Mr. Brodrick declared that the Brighton defeat was due "to the fear that their party was going to the very extremes of that fiscal legislation the futility and the unwisdom of which he had pointed out." We should like to hear the opinion of Mr. Loder on this point, and also of the Tariff Reform League. We always under-