As we have stated elsewhere, we are not going to
do the Unionist Party the ill service of indulging in recriminations. We shall, therefore, say as little as we can upon the whole subject. We must, however, express here as elsewhere our unqualified admiration for Lord Lansdowne's speech and for the admirable temper which he has shown throughout this trying crisis. As we have said in our leading columns, the success of the policy of abstention justifies it and relieves Lord Lansdowne from criticism of the risks he ran. At the same time we cannot help expressing the deep debt that the Unionist Party, the House of Lords, and the peerage owe to those gallant and self-sacrificing Unionist peers who, in the interests of the country, put aside all party feeling and gave a vote which, though we are sure it will not in fact be misunderstood in the country, was liable to mis- construction and which undoubtedly exposed them to threats and to accusations of cowardice and treachery.
