LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
THE POLITICAL SITUATION.
[To THE EDITOR Or THY "SPECTATOR:1 Sin,—The present moment seems opportune for an endeavour to take stock of the political situation. I think it must be admitted that both sections of the Unionist Party deserve credit for the part they have played and that the position is less disastrous than if either had been unanimously sup- ported. Had the whole party in the Lords abstained from voting there would have been a tame surrender and the country would not have been aroused as it now has been to the critical importance of the Parliament Act. Had all voted against it we should have been within measurable distance of civil war, as the passions of all the most disruptive elements would have been roused to fever heat, and the Government, whether they liked it or not, would have been driven to even more revolutionary and destructive courses.
There has been hitherto no suspicion of subterfuge or dishonourable motive on the part of either section of the Unionists ; both have displayed equal courage and conscien- tiousness, and the use of such words as " traitor " by one against the other is much to be deplored.
As matters stand it may be taken as admitted that—(1) the cry against the House of Lords has, for the present at any rate, been silenced; (2) the pledge of guarantees has been wiped out and is not likely to be revived ; (3) the Government have learned that it is not so easy a matter as some of its members supposed to carry things with a high hand; (4) there is a growing feeling of resentment and disgust at the way in which the King has been treated in the matter of the guarantees; (5) the Home Rule Bill and similar measures will have to be openly laid before the country for two years, at any rate, before they can become laws.
There is now a. breathing time, if no more, and it is to be hoped that both sections of the Unionist Party will unite to educate the country and explain the situation as it has never yet been explained to them ; to show them clearly and calmly —(1) how the Government have used their powers and how tyrannical are their ideas of Cabinet autocracy. (2) What a huge burden of taxation has been laid upon the country, a burden which must fall upon all classes. (3) That subser- vience to the Labour Party has brought the country within reach of an actual scarcity of the means of subsistence.
(4) That bad and reckless finance has lowered the value of the best securities, and that must react on the poorest classes.
(5) That all this has been done at the dictation of the Irish Party, who happen to hold the balance owing to an unjust distribution of voting power.
To do this involves a campaign such as has never been undertaken before by any political party ; it calls for great labour and self-sacrifice on the part of public speakers and workers throughout the kingdom. The cause is, however, worth the effort; the work and the self-sacrifice it calls for will be greater and more exacting than "dying in the last ditch"; but it can be done, and the result will be the saving of England in her hour of great peril.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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