LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
MR. BALFOUR'S LEADERSHIP.
(TO TIM EDITOR of THE "SPEOTATOR.1
SIR,—I sincerely trust your article in the issue of Novem- ber 2nd in support of Mr. Balfour will be widely read, and that the folly of making Tariff Reform a test question at the next Dissolution will be understood. I have never been a fanatic admirer of his. I differed with him on the wisdom of his Irish legislation. The Council Act has thrown the county adminis- tration into the bands of the Home-rule and Land League Parties ; and Mr. Wyndham's Act, though in intention good, has failed to settle the agricultural question. The refusal to diminish the Irish representation was a fatal error. But with all his faults, he cannot be replaced. His attitude on Tariff Reform is very natural. He is between two fires. One thing he ought to understand. The country has not come round in the greater part to Tariff Reform; nor have Tariff Reformers proved their case, except in their own estimation. Mr. Balfour is a man of high character and great ability, and has shown during the late Session great resource, grasp of a very difficult position, and admirable powers of debate. Where are you to find his successor ?—I am, Sir, &c.,
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