The fiscal debate in the Commons closed on Monday in
a division in which the Government majority fell to 51 (327 to 276),—an astonishing diminution when we remember that before Mr. Chamberlain by his rashness, and the Government by their feebleness and indecision, had wrecked the Unionist party the majority was something between 120 and 140. The discussion was marked by some excellent speaking. Mr. Arthur Elliot, for example, made a real contribution to the controversy. It was all very well for Mr. Chamberlain to go to the Guildhall and tell people to think Imperially, but it was very long indeed since elections had been fought on such local, almost parochial, interests as those which had come before the electors at the by-elections. That is a point which needs emphasising by all Free-traders. When tariff is the issue there is a standing danger that the country will be asked to consider, not matters of national and Imperial con- cern, but whether this or that industry cannot be created or revived or improved at Little Peddlington,—and not by the industry or ingenuity of the people, but by the enervating magic of a 10 or 15 or 20 per cent. duty.
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