We shall say something later about Mr. Austen Cham- berlain's
Optimism . and the unemployment figures, but -first let us turn to Mr. Baldwin's speech at Aberdeen on Thursday, November 5th, and to his Rectorial Address at Edinburgh on the 'next day, as these two speeches seem to us to have struck the very note that the nation needs.. They were quiet in- tone, but they had a reasoned confi- denoe, a fine tolerance, a sympathy and a thoughtfulness which are simply invaluable elements in the make-up • of a truly national policy. Speaking at Aberdeen of the situation in Syria, Mr. Baldwin said that he valued the growing " sensibility of wrong " in this country, but when it came to a demand that summary judgment should be passed on France he must invite Englishmen to reflect upon their own failures and to . ronember the great difficulties of the Mandatory system. Passing to British trade lie said that though we - were not in a boom we were not in a bottomless pit either, and he felt more hopeful than he had felt for five years. . Our position was more stable and promising than that of any other European nation. In spite of all the depression an unprecedented standard of life had been maintained for the. wyorkless. A fall in the cost of living might be expected.
