Lord Salisbury went on to ask, "What do we stand
for ? " Though we maintain our non-party position we, are bound to say that we find his answer in almost every respect satisfactory. He and his friends stand for :—
" A stable foreign policy ; the development of Imperial trade ; strict economy, lower taxation and the encouragement of private enterprise ; a policy of reasonable advance in legisla- tion, but upon cautious and well-assured lines ; an effective Second Chamber, so that the people may have the opportunity of exercising their considered judgment; the -end -of -vacillation in Ireland—for the Treaty, however much we may regret it, now that it is passed, hut only if it is carried out on both sides in the letter and the spirit ; the restoration of order out of chaos in that unhappy country without intolerable delay."
On the negative side Lord Salisbury was equally plain-spoken :— " We stand against abortive international conferences ; against an unnecessary bureaucracy ; against ill-considered and experimental legislation ; against concession to crime ; for clean government and against the traffic in honours ; for Principle and against opportunism. In a word, we stand for the spirit of Conservatism and against the spirit of the Coalition."
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