Mr. Bonar Law was enthusiastically received in Edinburgh on Friday
week when he spoke on Unionist policy. Dealing first with the recent crisis in the party, he remarked that probably he would be told that after saying at Ashton that he would not haul down the flag of Imperial Preference he had come to Edinburgh to haul it down. If that were true he would not be there. It was quite true that he had done something which at Ashton he had not thought possible. At the time of the Ashton speech both he and Lord Lansdowne had recognized that a majority of the party did not wish Food Taxes to be an issue at the next election, but they had nevertheless believed that on that basis they could not lead a united party. They had never, however, considered that the guarantee of a second general election involved any question of principle. Why then had they threatened to resign when they discovered thatafter all the policy of a second general election actually united the party ? There were two reasons. The first was the fact that the Ashton policy had not been accepted seemed to involve the leaders in a loss of prestige. And that was a bad thing for any party The second reason was that they did not know till the memorial of the party was received how willing the minority were to forgo their differences of opinion with the majority.
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