Mr. Balfour, who followed Mr. Asquith, pointed out that the
Budget was the price of the agreement, an agreement which left both parties poorer than they were :—
" The Irish Party are going to accept a Budget they dislike, and are going to accept it because they think that policy conduces to that larger object they have in view,—Home-rule for Ireland. Well, they are going to get what they do not want in the shape of the Budget, and I ant not at all sure that they are going to get what they do want. That is their position. The Government position is that they get the Budget on which they had staked their reputation, which was to be passed without the alteration of a comma; and, in order that it may be passed without the altera- tion of a comma, they have paid what seems to me an extravagant price. What has the right hon. gentleman done ? He made a speech on the first day of the Session in which, in eloquent terms, he described the policy which a Minister of the Crown, having to advise the Sovereign, ought to pursue in that delicate and difficult position. We all heard him with interest and with a large measure of agreement. In what position has the right hon. gentleman put the Crown by the statement he has made to-night ?"
