The report of the National Liberal Federation to the Cardiff
meeting on Thursday was not a very hopeful document. It was conceived in a melancholy spirit. In reviewing the general situation it does not pretend to ignore the difficulty of the position and the complexity of the programme which the Liberal party, with a very slender majority, is bound to try to carry out ; nor does it appear to be at all sanguine as to its success. This is modest and sincere, but the democratic organs do not like modesty and sincerity when modesty and sincerity look forward to failure. The National Liberal Federation are advised to screw up their hopes to a somewhat higher pitch, and our democratic contemporaries appear to expect that by making-believe very much, they will perhaps secure a majority again. Perhaps. But more likely not. Making-believe is not a persuasive process. Low spirits will out, more certainly even than murder itself. The omens for the National Liberal Federation are not favourable.
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