GIVE THE DEVIL HIS DUE.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.") STR,—Mr. Harry H. Marks, M.P., has again been attracting attention. His character may be as bad as, and even worse than, the Times and you, represent it ; but as I have fought against him in two elections in Thanet, and fought a campaign extending over two years against him, may I say this about him ? He is a wonderfully clever and astute politician, always able to gauge the temper of the people and affairs at any moment, an excellent speaker, always awake and industrious, and sometimes quite singularly adroit. Witness his success on Thursday week with his amendment bringing two million domestic servants within the scope of the Employers' Liability Bill,—a atroke more useful than anything any Tory Member has achieved for a very long time. Now it is just such men that the Tory Party absolutely lacks at the present moment. With the really ludicrously feeble leadership of Lord Lansdowne in the Lords, denouncing Bills like the Trade Disputes Bill and then letting them pass, and with no one stronger than Mr. Balfour in the Commons, the Tory Party absolutely needs Mr. Marks. That is the reason why letters to the Speaker and articles in the Press will produce absolutely no effect. He is one of the very few able men left in the Protectionist Party, and though they may not love him, they must embrace him.—I am, Sir, &c., [Mr. King's irony is by no means agreeable to us as Unionists, and we cannot agree that any section of the Unionist Party is in need of Mr. Marks. At the same time, we must regretfully admit that so long as the Central Con- servative Office continues to recognise Mr. Marks's Association, and so long as a man of Cabinet rank like Mr. Akers-Douglas is allowed openly to support Mr. Marks, we cannot be surprised if taunts so dishonouring to the Unionist Party as those of Mr. King are levelled against it. The toleration of Mr. Marks by the Central Conservative Office. is, we are convinced, doing immense harm to the Unionist cause throughout the Kingdom. Members of Parliament may indulge in 'an easy tolerance of Mr. Marks, and admire his stony imperturbability under accusations such as have seldom or never before been made publicly against a Member of the House of Commons. In the constituencies, however, older-fashioned views prevail as to the proper way of clearing one's character from attack, not by professional blackmailers, but by men who have no private spite to satisfy, and who, if they are wrong in fact, can easily be proved wrong to their complete discomfiture.—En. Spectator.]
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