THE BY-ELECTIONS.
[To TEE EDITOR or THE "SPECTATOR."]
SIR,—Frankly, if Unionists can extract much comfort from the recent by-elections, they must be made of sanguine stuff. Surely the voice of the electorate can only be described as hesitating and undecided; and the reason lies ready at band for those who are not blinded by party prejudice. The . country (that is, the balancing elector who decides all issues) is divided and distracted between disgust with the Govern- ment and distrust of the Opposition. He says to himself :—"If I keep these, it means truckling to Socialism and hen-roost' Budgets; if I substitute those, it means Tariff Reform and dearer food. In either case I am harassed and harried, and
t, nobody offers me what I am most in need of,—a quiet, peaceful, undisturbed time, and breathing-space to think whither all this hustling and bustling is to lead me. With either party my fate is hard; it is the choice between Scylla and Charybdis, between the devil and the deep sea, between being robbed by the brigands of the mountain or the brigands of the plain." That is what I imagine the average voter is
thinking to himself. Hence these indecisive results. Half of these Radical strongholds might have been captured if the Unionists would have abandoned their Tariff Reform obsession, and have offered the country a firm, quiet, and restful regime.
[That the Unionist Party would do very much better at the by-elections if it were to drop Tariff Reform and return to the principles which inspired it under the leadership of Lord Salisbury we do not doubt. Yet, even handicapped by their fiscal views as they are, the Unionists have very much improved their position during the past year (in fact, since the passing of the Old-Age Pensions Bill), so great is the dread of the so-called social reform policy of the present Government. The moderate elector who decides elections hates, as we do, both Socialism and Protection, but he feels also, as we do, that he must deal with the evil—Socialism—. which is nearest. —En. Spectator.] •
Previous page
