On October 8th, in an article on Mr. Balfour's very
remark. able speech to the Scottish Conservative Club which may be said to have opened the autumn political campaign, we ven- tured to urge very strongly that the only way for the Unionists to win was to show Free-trade Unionists and moderate men throughout the country that at a political crisis they might safely support Tariff Reform candidates. Tariff Reformers, we argued, though maintaining their Tariff Reform convictions, should promise that at the next Election votes given for Tariff Reformers would not be used to pass Tariff Reform without a further appeal to the people. We admitted that such a suggestion would be called Machiavellian, but that we would run the risk of such an accusation because what we wanted was a Unionist victory at the polls. "By making such a concession the Unionist Party would, we believe, sweep the country." We repeat that we do not claim nor have we any right to claim credit in this matter. It may interest our readers, however, from the historical point of view, to see the genesis of the idea.
