The by-election in North Hertfordshire is being fought with no
little spirit. We need hardly say how very strongly we hope that Lord Robert Cecil will be returned. Though from a purely personal point of view we could not endorse the compromise between his own views and those of the Tariff Reformers adopted by Lord Robert Cecil, we are perfectly sure of the absolute sincerity of Lord Robert's attitude. There is no man of whose political honour and perfect good faith we feel more sure than we do of hir. We must also congratulate the Hertfordshire Tariff Reformers on having adopted him, for no doubt they form the vast majority of the Unionist electors in the division. At the same time, and though we hold that at the present crisis Unionist Free Traders must be prepared to give loyal sup- port to Tariff Reform Unionists, we are quite certain that the Tariff Reformers will be guilty of a capital error if they insist upon their full pound of flesh. This is a time when no other cause whatever should be put before that of the Union.
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