The speech made by Mr. Balfour to his constituents at
Manchester on Monday last, as is usual with his utterances, was marked by real originality of thought. He very properly insisted not only that it was necessary for the good government of the nation that the Liberal party should revive, but that it certainly would revive and find a man and a policy. " Vast bodies of our fellow-countrymen by tradition belong to that party, and they only await the man and the policy again to become great and important factors" in our public affairs. The Liberal party would not, he believed, touch the House of Lords. They owed too much to that body, for it had saved them from the last Home-rule Bill. Circumstances, however, would, though with reluctance, oblige the Liberal party again to advocate Home-rule, and also to take up Disestablishment. Seventy organised votes would compel their advocacy of Home-rule. They would be forced to take up Disestablishment, because inside the party there was a vigorous, well-organised body who were eager for Disestablishment. Mr. Balfour ended his speech by an eloquent, and evidently deeply-felt, passage dealing with Great Britain and the United States. The idea of the fellowship of the whole English-speaking race has no warmer friend than Mr. Balfour. He upheldi and did his best to further that idea long before it had received the popular attention it now enjoys.
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