Mr. Balfour, who addressed a Unionist meeting at Hadding. ton
on Wednesday, effectively dissected Mr. Churchill's " Home Rule All Round" speech. Applying the methods of the higher criticism to that much-misunderstood masterpiece, Mr. Balfour came to the conclusion that Mr. Churchill, con- vinced of the impossibility of Home Rule by his famous Belfast expedition, but unable to convert and unwilling to break away from his colleagues, resolved to carry out his object by making Home Rule ridiculous. "It was one thing to talk about Home Rule for Ireland; it was another thing to apply the system of decimal fractions to the United Kingdom, and he knew perfectly well that when he made that speech the whole cause of Home Rule was made utterly absurd in the eyes of every man who read it." Mr. Balfour's speech was cast in the form of delicate raillery, but it was none the less a most damaging criticism. When a man so clever as Mr. Churchill reduces the policy of his party to absurdity, it is hard to acquit him of deliberate intent.
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